Thai food part 2

     Since I had such smashing success with my previous attempt at making Thai food, I decided to try a few more of my favorite Thai dishes: a curry dish and basil eggplant.

Classic Curry Chicken (with Potatoes)
from about.com http://thaifood.about.com/od/thairecipes/r/yellowcurrychic.htm

Ingredients:
1 lb chicken breast or thigh, chopped into small chunks, OR whole chicken pieces
2-3 potatoes, chopped into chunks
optional: 1-2 medium tomatoes, chopped into chunks
1/4 cup fresh coriander for garnish
2 Tbsp. Thai curry powder , OR 3 Tbsp. Madras curry powder or regular curry powder
1 bay leaf
optional: 1 cinnamon stick
1/2 to 1 tsp. chili flakes or cayenne pepper, to taste
2 shallots OR 1/2 cup purple onion, diced
4-5 cloves garlic, minced
1 thumb-size piece galangal OR ginger, grated
1/2 cup chicken stock or broth
1+1/2 Tbsp. ketchup OR sweet tomato puree
1 can thick coconut milk
2-3 Tbsp. fish sauce
optional: 1/2 tsp. sugar
2-3 Tbsp. vegetable oil for stir-frying
Optional: 1-2 whole kaffir lime leaves (available at Asian food stores) Procedure:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees (if using oven method).
Place a wok or large frying pan over medium-high heat. Add the curry powder, bay leaf, cinnamon stick (if using) and chili/cayenne. "Dry fry" these spices 1-2 minutes, until they are lightly toasted and fragrant.
Add 2 Tbsp. oil, plus the shallots, garlic, and galangal or ginger. Also add a few Tbsp. of the chicken stock - enough to keep ingredient frying nicely. Stir-fry 1 minute.
Add the chicken and potatoes, stir-frying 1 minute to coat with the spices.
Add remaining stock plus ketchup/tomato puree, stirring well to combine. Finally, add the coconut milk, fish sauce, sugar, cinnamon stick and kaffir lime leaves (if using).
Bring to a boil, then cover and reduce to simmer for 30 minutes until cooked. OR transfer curry to a large covered casserole dish and bake 1 hour at 350 degrees. Add tomatoes during the last 10 to 15 minutes of cooking (not before, or they will keep potatoes from becoming tender).
When chicken is cooked and tender, taste-test the curry for saltiness and flavor, adding more fish sauce as needed until desired flavor/salt level is achieved. Also add more cayenne, chili sauce, or fresh-cut chilies if you prefer it spicier. If too spicy, add more coconut milk or a little plain yogurt. Add a little more sugar if it's too sour for your taste.
Sprinkle over the fresh coriander, serve with plenty of Thai jasmine rice, and ENJOY! Basil Eggplant
from thaitable.com:
http://www.thaitable.com/thai/recipe/basil-eggplant

Ingredients:

2 chili peppers
2 eggplants
2 tablespoons fish sauce
2 cloves chopped garlic
1 tablespoon sugar
1 bunch leaves picked from the stem Thai basil
1 tablespoon vegetable oil

Procedure:

For a vegetarian dish, substitute soy sauce or salt for fish sauce.

Slice the eggplants into irregular shapes for easy turning in the pan. When it is sliced into a small disk, it tends to stick to the bottom of the pan and makes it difficult to flip or turn.

Chop garlic and slice chili peppers. Pick the leaves from the stem of the Thai basil.

Heat a pan or wok over high or medium high. Add oil, chili peppers and garlic. Stir until the garlic turn golden brown. Add eggplant and stir. Add a cup of water and cover the pan or wok with a lid. Keep the lid close until the eggplant is cooked. It should take about 5-7 minutes before the eggplant is done. The eggplant turns from white to translucent when it is done. Almost all of the water should have been evaporated at this point. If the eggplant is still not cooked, add a little bit more water and keep lid closed until the eggplant is ready. Add fish sauce and sugar and stir. Add Thai basil and quickly stir to heat the basil, so that it retains it color. Turn off heat immediately.

Serve hot with rice.

     All in all, not bad although certainly not as good as my first try with Thai food.  The curry wasn't thick enough and didn't quite have the right flavor.  The basil eggplant was good but I used regular basil instead of Thai basil and it came on as too strong.  I would definitely make these dishes again, but I might try a different recipe.  And as a quick aside, who knew Staff of Life had so many thai options?  They actually had kaffir lime leaves!