Mouth... Watering...

This is a great dish, the natural sweetness of the sweet potatoes is accentuated by the warm, fresh flavor of the curry. The addition of coconut milk give the finished product a pleasingly smooth texture and a great flavor.

Here’s what you need:

4 medium sweet potatoes-washed and cut as below.

Sweet!!! Potatoes.

Cut into wedges, try to keep them the same size.

Cut into circles.

1 small onion halved and cut into strips.

1 Tablespoon garlic

1/4 cup homemade Green Curry Paste

1 Can Coconut milk

3 Tablespoons Oil

Salt to taste

Here’s how:

Heat a large skillet on high temp, add oil.

When oil begins to shimmer , add the onions and the sweet potatoes. Continue cooking on high heat, stirring regularly so the sweet potatoes don’t burn. You want them to brown on the outside if possible. That of course is called caramelization and it brings out a great flavor. Just be careful not to burn them though because that is not a great flavor.

Once sweet potatoes are browned, reduce heat to medium high (7) and add the garlic. Again, be very careful not to burn the garlic, the pan will be very hot and garlic burns easily, stir frequently.

Add the green curry paste and stir to coat the sweet potatoes. Sautee for another 2 minutes or so. I wouldn’t blame you if you stopped at this stage and ate the sweet potatoes without the coconut milk, they look and smell fantastic. For these purposes we’ll keep going though.

Good Enough To Eat.

Add 1 can of coconut milk or whatever you have leftover after making your paste. Stir well.

Could use some more green.

If your green curry isn’t green enough, add some more curry paste and stir it in. When the sauce is hot and the potatoes are at the desired texture, remove from heat. Taste it, add salt as necessary, tasting all the way. Serve over rice.

Ok, so I never traveled to India, a chef can dream can’t he. Here’s the real story. I developed my Love for curry working for Bon Appetit at Intel in Chandler, AZ. Our cook, Jim a nice Jewish man from New York, made some good stuff, but mostly he just used the pre-packaged curry paste that you can pick up anywhere. He did, however, have a great recipe for a green curry paste that I just loved and this is the recipe that I’d like to share with you today.

Here’s what you need:

3 bunches cilantro-You can throw the whole bunch in there, stems and all, just make sure you wash it first.  I used the Leftover stems from the Chimichurri.

1 Serrano Pepper (Optional, but recommended)-Cut the Stem Off.

1 Tablespoon Curry Powder or Garam Masala

2 Tablespoon Coconut Milk (Optional)

2 Tablespoons Oil

1 1/2 Tablespoon Lemon Juice

2 Bunches Green Onions-Just the green part.

Chopped Ginger

2 Tablespoons Fresh Ginger-Chopped

1 teaspoon salt

Here’s how you make it:

Just Throw it All In

Place all the ingredients in your food processor and let it co until you have a paste. Its Done.

Pasty

A few things:

The serrano pepper makes the whole dish, if you don’t mind spicy, add it (and another). I leave the pepper out so the kids can eat the curry. If you want to use the pepper but you also want to cut back on the spice try cutting off the tip, removing the seeds and the ribs. The heat in hot peppers is concentrated mainly in the tip, but it travels down through the ribs and the membrane on the inside of the pepper. The seeds themselves are not spicy, but they tend to rub against the membrane of the pepper and accumulate spiciness that way.

The coconut milk is not necessary, but it does give the paste a great texture. When we make our curried sweet potatoes you’ll need coconut milk anyway so you might as well buy a can.

I’l post some recipes to use this paste, but feel free to improvise with it. While sauteeing some veggies toss in 2 tablespoons of paste for a nice curry flavor. Rub it on your tofu (or chicken) before baking, or simply mix it in with some cooked rice for an easy meal.