Thai-style chicken curry

Thai food was one of my earliest loves. A looong time ago, when I was a young magazine editor working for a trade publisher in Manila, my boss took his crew out to lunch to Sukhothai in the old Makati commercial center. I believe it was called Quad something back then. I've never forgotten the spices, the flavours, the aromas! It was a discovery for my palate. Some Filipino regional cuisine, for example Bicolano cooking, is rife with chilli bombs and coconut milk too, and I love it. The Thais' combination of sour, sweet, spicy, salty notes was, however, a revelation. A door into a new world if you will. Over the years I kept trying new Thai restaurants in Manila and then in Hong Kong when I was reassigned to work overseas. A few weekend jaunts to Thailand simply increased my fascination with Thai cooking.

I heard from a former colleague and friend yesterday. She'd signed up for a nine-month culinary programme at the Dusit Le Cordon Bleu in Bangkok. We'd done a day course in Cantonese dimsum in Hong Kong in April last year, and she and I share a fascination for all things culinary (and alcoholic). I hope you're having a blast, M!

Thai-style chicken red curry

I've never made curry mixes from scratch. I bought a bottle of prepared red curry paste in which I marinated some chicken pieces overnight, adding a bit of cumin, ground coriander and ginger to the marinade. The next day I simply stir fried the chicken in some oil, tipped in what was left of the paste-marinade and added about half a cup of water to let it simmer, slowly, for 15 minutes. I added some quartered potatoes and carrots and let it simmer away for a quarter of an hour more, then dumped in a can of coconut milk and let it cook at a gentle simmer for 15-20 minutes.

It was delightful straight from the stove, the chicken tender and falling off the bone and the veg adding a nice heartiness that may not be traditionally Thai but delicious nonetheless.