Thai cuisine uses curry paste as an ingredient in stews, soups and entrees. It is a mixture of dried peppers and spices, which are ground together. The types of spices used determine the final color and flavor of the curry paste. Flavorful and spicy, red curry paste made with ground chiles is the most commonly seen curry paste in Thai cooking. It appears in chicken or beef. Yellow curry paste, also made with ground chiles, has turmeric in the mixture, giving this paste its brilliant hue. Yellow curry paste is milder than red curry, but cooking the red curry paste in coconut cream will mellow its taste.
Instructions
1. Heat a saucepan over medium heat.
2. Warm the oil and spices for your recipe in the pan until the spices brown.
3. Spoon 4 tbsp. of coconut cream from the top of the can into the pan.
4. Add an equal amount of red curry paste for the yellow in your recipe. Decrease the amount to three-quarters of the yellow curry paste amount for a milder flavor, if desired.
5. Cook the curry paste and coconut cream. Whisk the mixture as it cooks until the oil separates from the cream.
6. Add the rest of the coconut milk to the dish, and replace additional liquids in your recipe with water. For instance, if you have 1 cup of left in the can after removing the cream, and your recipe calls for 2 cups of water, use the 1 cup of coconut milk and add 1 cup of water. Continue to prepare the recipe as directed.
Tags: curry paste, your recipe, coconut cream, coconut milk, curry paste, curry paste coconut, ground chiles