Thai Chicken Curry in Jiffy

What makes Thai dishes authentic?

If you have tasted Thai dishes you are likely to discover that it has the strong taste of Basil and lime leaves. The dishes are pungent with a sweetest tinge.

Once you have developed the taste for Thai cuisine, there is no going back. Long after you have returned to your own hometown, the taste haunts you. You have to learn to cook.

During my visits to Bangkok, eating street food is a must. The food sold in carts is spicy and nutritious. You walk down the street, the weather is warm and the whiff of flavors surrounds you till you drool. You don’t care about the hygiene, not the pollution nor noise, stopping and taking a bite is unavoidable.

There is a dip that I particularly like and it compliments number of salads and freshly grilled seafood. It is called Yum sauce and this is the finger licking combination of sugar, garlic, chili, coriander leaves, lime juice and fish sauce. This yum sauce can be relished with grilled meat or seafood or it can be poured over freshly cut salads to add zing to the meal.

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Cooking Thai food is very easy and quick to make. My fridge is always stocked with few essential ingredients that include oyster sauce, fish sauce, chili, garlic, shallots, lemongrass, basil leaves, limejuice and coconut powder

I have a habit of marinating chicken in small portions and storing them. It is difficult to order home service of the frozen/fresh chicken in small quantity. But I cannot eat one kilo in one go, right? I normally divide one kilo of chicken into four portions and I marinate each portion differently, Chinese sauce, Indian curd masala, tandoori masala and other just garlic-ginger-onion-chili paste.

Last week I entered my kitchen with no plans on what I would cook. There was marinated chicken in the fridge. I picked up the chicken portion marinated in garlic-ginger-onion-chili paste.

Still unsure, I started to stir fry the marinated chicken in 2 tablespoons of oil. The chicken became light brown on both sides. I added 2 glasses of water and let it cook.

I opened my fridge to see what I could add.

There was Tom Yum chicken cube, kaffir lime leaves, coconut powder and the decision was made to make chicken Thai style.

Added the kaffir lime leaves and Tom Yum chicken cube into the stock, then looked for veggies to add and grinned ear-to-ear when I discovered I had all the veggies that I would need.

Started to chop vegetables like carrots, capsicum, broccoli, cabbage, mushrooms, shallots, basil leaves and green beans.

Added the veggies that take some time to become tender, veggies like chopped carrots, mushrooms and green beans to the stock.

Added red chili powder and lime juice to the stock

Dissolved coconut milk powder in half cup of warm water and added to the stock.

Finally added veggies that require just steam, veggies like broccoli, shallots, basil leaves, cabbage and capsicum.

Added few drops of fish sauce.

Covered the pan for two minutes then sat down to relish with it white rice.

The experience in cooking teaches you to add the ingredients as you wish, and tasting several times helps you decide its’ correct taste. Thai cuisine is the moderate combination of sweet, sour and spicy. I don’t use salt in Thai cuisine, fish sauce and Tom Yum cube is quite salty.

But for those who want some reference to quantity, you could add ingredients as:

250grms chicken

1tbsp garlic

1tbsp ginger

1 small onion

2tbsp lemon juice

Few drops of fish sauce

2tbsp oil

1 Tom Yum chicken cube

7-8 kaffir lime leaves

8-9 red chilies

1tsp red chili powder

50grms coconut powder

½ carrots

½ capsicum,

2 florets of broccoli

¼ cabbage

2 mushrooms

2 shallots

10-15 basil leaves

4 strings of green beans

Makes enough for 2 persons

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 There is red and green Thai curry paste available at a grocery store that can be used for preparation of this curry. I have a family in Bangkok, who knows my taste and they do bring for me the freshly prepared Thai curry paste from the market. This masala has to be fried with spring onions and garlic before using in the recipes or else it might taste bitter. This paste can be used instead of Tom Yum chicken cube that I have used in this recipe.

Dish Of The Day - Fried Rice

Fried rice for dinner

 stir fried with brocoli, spring onions. Spinach, green n'red capsicum and garnished with 5 spice powder, green chilies and soya sauce

Five Point Program For Staying Fit

The other day, I went for lunch buffet to Global Fusion with my cousins, I noticed that they did not visit the salad station at all, instead ordered steamed and stir-fried dishes.

With too many pesticides used during growing vegetables, it is becoming more dangerous to eat raw vegetables. Yet, when I went to this fitness chat with dietician Namita Jain, (I was invited by Nature Basket to attend her session on ‘Healthy Eating for Healthy Living) she started the session with Pomegranate salad using all the raw vegetables such as spring onions, carrots, capsicum, cauliflower and garnishing with grated ginger, lime juice, dates and salt.

It tasted good. It had no high cholesterol dressing like Mayonnaise or creams, but still I was hesitatant since all the veggies were raw. Were they washed? How many hours before the session were they chopped? I was not sure about that.

While we munched on the salads and orange juice, Namita started to discuss the 5-point program for staying fit.

Point I: Calories In equals Calories Out

First point to remember is that there has to be a balance between calories that we take in and calories burnt out. If the balance is not maintained then excess of undigested food is converted to fat.

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Always eat light and exercise to burn the calories.

Calories are basically the energy in food, it is not possible to calculate every single calorie that enters our body, but it helps to remember that larger portions have more calories. So the easiest way is to eat smaller portions, fewer snacks and healthy meals. It is much easier for body to extract nutrients from cooked food than from raw food. For raw food you need to chew the food properly in order to digest it.

Burning calories is not just jogging or spinning on a wheel, they include other activities too. Almost all the activities that we do during the day- time burn up calories. For example, cooking for an hour burns 140 calories, taking care of elders uses 232 calories, gardening burns 298 calories, even playing cards/board games burns calories.

Point 2: Always have a square meal.

Every square meal must contain carbohydrates, fat, proteins and cereals. Actually our Indian Thali is such that it verifies the concept of a square meal. There are three types of calories that we take, active, semiactive and couch-potato calories.

Active calories are found in lean meat, fish, poultry, fruits, vegetables, whole grains, beans and legumes.

Semi-active calories are in fiber rich cereals, whole-grain, low-far dairy, soups.

Couch potato calories from pastries, cookies, pies, cakes, fatty processed meats, chips, pretzels, snack food, greasy fast food.

However, too much of anything is bad and undigested food is converted to fat. The built up of fat in the arteries can narrow the blood vessels, leading to high blood pressure. But too little is not good either. Our body needs enough calories to give nourishment; or we will feel tired all the time. On an average it is important to have more than 1200 calories per day.

During my last visit to Hong Kong, I had noticed that Chinese ate several times a day and yet remained slim. I realized that it’s not how many times you eat but what you chose to eat determines our weight. Research shows that frequent meals prevent a high influx of fatty acids that contribute to high cholesterol level.

The second demo dish ‘Multi-grain Tortilla wrap’ was prepared and passed around. The stuffing consisted of crumbled cheese, green onions, coriander leaves, chat masala and chili powder. It was quite dry, even though I had it with tomato salsa.

Point 3: Indulgence and compensation.

There are times when we go for parties and we tend to overeat at the buffet tables. In such times it is important to compensate the next day by eating less. Actually it is important to detox once a week and maintain good eating habits. For detox you could have soups, steamed vegetables, fruits, milk and citrus fruits.

Point 4: Stop before you are full and eat before you are hungry.

Eating too much can lead to acidity and indigestion. Body needs fuel every 3-4 hours. You could eat small snack in between meals like apple, grams, or cracker so that you are not starved during the lunch hour.

Point 5: Self belief.

Mind is powerful; it can be trained to think positive for positive results. People don’t succeed because they believe that they cannot.

Banana nut spread was being prepared at the cooking station while she informed us about staying fit. Her assistant mixed the mashed banana with raisins, chopped dates and chopped nuts and served on cracker.

There were question–answer session after her talk, there was lots of interaction. The room had full attendance of about 100 people.

Women complained that the media and ads publicized the product too much, causing too much confusion and sometimes had adverse effect on their health.

Namita Jain counseled that the new product be tried in small quantities before including it in the regular diet because it may agree with some and with others it might not.

To stay fit, she advised that water is very important for our system and must be consumed at least 3 liters a day. One must eat light food at the later half of the day because detoxification takes place in the night.

Exercise is important because it helps reduce bad cholesterol. It is not advisable to go for walks immediately after eating. If you get tired after exercise then you are not doing it right. Many youngsters are overdoing it resulting in fatigue. She said that instead of taking advise from gym instructor, it is better to consult doctors before taking any steroids.

On being asked what suitable oil to be used in cooking, she advised that any unrefined oil can be used and brand of the oil can be changed frequently.

There was nothing new that we learnt from these talk/demo sessions, but it was worthwhile to attend it to refresh our knowledge and re-adapt to live the healthy way.

Came home with a damage of 3k to my pocket because although the demo is free, the bottles on the shelf are not, it is difficult to resist the grocery shopping when the food is all around you.

Chicken Roti of Suriname

I have happy memories of Surinam. Whenever I think of Surinam I am reminded of the food that I enjoyed while I was there and the memories comes alive whenever I have visitors from that place. We discuss food and relish the virtual taste, sometimes exchanging notes. I used to love the street food the most, there is a different kind of pleasure while eating in the open air on the wooden benches.

Just next to my house (in Surinam) lived a Javanese family who ran a restaurant. On the days when I was too lazy to cook, I would order duck Bami with mixed vegetables from my balcony. She would pack a large portion which would last me for two full days, full value for money.

The food in Surinam had a very peculiar taste that I have never been able to find anywhere else. My favorite used to be chicken roti. I have often asked my cousins (who live there) to pack me the cooked Surinamese food whenever they make their trip to India but they just laugh it off. 

They do come and cook for me whenever they visit me, replicating the taste as closely as they can but alas! It is just not the same.

The main taste of this chicken gravy is in Surinam masala. I must ask my cousin to send me this

I asked my cousin to send me the picture of Roti Chicken so that I could drool on it and she sends me this.

Well, this is not the way we used to get back then. It used to be dhal roti brushed with the layer of chili chutney and stuffed with chicken gravy, potatoes and beans, folded like a roll.

I came across this blog of Kayotic Kitchen and she explains step by step, the method of preparing this dish, which is quite time consuming but very tasty. She has used potato stuffing for roti pancakes but the authentic roti is the one made of dhal.

To make the stuffing of Dhal, you need to soak split peas overnight then boil until soft. Place the boiled split peas in a food processor, add cumin, onion, garlic and salt, process until well-blended but not pureed.

A similar Roti chicken is also sold at Trinidad roadside stalls, but the taste is a bit different. I think the taste lies in the curry powder and how it is used. For example, in Tom’s recipe of Chicken curry, he has mixed curry powder and turmeric powder, added water and stir fried till it becomes a thick paste and then added the other ingredients. His chicken also has mustard paste in the marinate mixture. But the results are equally good.

Some things are best enjoyed when cooked by native chefs. Also the person who has tasted, can cook it too if she has the right ingredients, maybe I can too, if I have the right ingredients….

 Hello…you hear me?? My family in Surinam?? …So now you know what to get for me when you visit me in India.