Thai Curry

This is one from the archives! Mom and I made this Thai curry frequently for an easy, quick, and incredibly delicious weeknight dinner. The whole family craves this; I have many memories of aching for it in the hours before 6pm, when mom promised dinner would be ready. Well, 6:15, to be more precise, as mom often was.

A couple of notes:

• Curry paste is cheaper and tastier if you buy it at your local Asian market.

• Looks like mom topped it with basil here. While not required, it looks fun!

Picture taken by mom

Thai Curry

INGREDIENTS

• 1.5 tablespoons yellow curry paste

• 1 can coconut milk

• 3 tablespoons fish sauce (or vegan alternative)

• 2 tablespoons brown sugar

• ⅓ cup chicken or vegetable broth

• 1 package extra firm tofu

• vegetables of choice (peppers, onions, eggplant, tomatoes, carrots, celery,

  zucchini, chard, spinach, whatever you like—HBs like:

  • 1 onion, 

  • 1 sweet potato 

  • 3 long carrots 

  • 1 red pepper

• Salt to taste

• Rice prepared to your liking

INSTRUCTIONS

Prep: Place the tofu on and cover with paper towels and let sit for at least ten minutes to remove some of the liquid. Chop vegetables into uniform, bite-size pieces.

Start: Stir together curry paste and coconut milk in a large sauté pan over medium heat and simmer for 5 minutes. Then add fish sauce, brown sugar, and chicken broth to the coconut and curry mixture. Stir until combined. Add chopped vegetables, add some pinches salt, and cover the pot. Simmer for fifteen minutes or so, until tender crisp or to your taste. If using, you might want to add the red pepper 7 minutes later than everything else. 

While everything is simmering, cut the tofu into 3/4-inch squares. Once the vegetables are cooked, add the tofu to the pot for a few minutes, just long enough to warm it. Taste and add more salt if needed. Serve hot over rice and savor the deliciousness.

Mom’s notes: This is a convenient dish for when the refrigerator is overflowing with vegetables, or there is a meat shortage, or your beloved vegan cousin is coming over for dinner. Even before the girls left behind their “I hate vegetables stage,” they loved to eat this. 

A Simple, Perfect Roast

Recently we’ve taken to having a roast on the first Sunday of each month, when we’re all extra hungry for dinner and ready for something soothing, warm, and filling. This recipe hails from our friends the Gublers when they were living in a predominantly Jewish neighborhood and learned they could get brisket on sale on Saturdays. They started making a weekly roast with the meat. We’ve changed the recipe a bit and changed the preparation from oven to slow cooker, but we’ll ever be grateful to the Gublers and their neighbors for the original inspiration of slow-simmered roast with carrots and onions.

This is a very good roast. The carrots are a favorite of mine (Amelia); they get soft and succulent from the dripping meaty juices. In combination with the warm meat, it’s to die for. We love serving this with a slice of good bread to soak up the juices.

 A Perfect, Simple Roast

 

2 medium to large onions, quartered

10 long carrots, cut into thick coins or diagonals (around 1 1/2 pounds, although the amount isn’t important. You could also use baby carrots for ease, they’re just a little less attractive imo)

Chunk of butter*

2­–4 pounds rump roast or brisket, depending on your needs

Salt (around two teaspoons, but a bit more if the roast is over two pounds)

1 cup red wine*

2 tablespoons tomato paste (3 if the roast is over 3 pounds)

4 cloves garlic, smashed and peeled but left whole

pepper

Place onions into the slow cooker, followed by most of the carrots.

Heat a large sauté pan (large enough to hold the roast) on the stove over medium-high heat. Melt butter on the hot pan, then add the meat to brown for a few minutes on its side. Brown another side or two, in the same manner. Salt it generously on different sides as it cook. Then move the roast into the slow cooker, setting it on top of the carrots and onions.

Pour wine into the hot sauté pan to deglaze, stirring up any meat bits left from the roast. Then add the tomato paste and let it melt in the hot wine. Pour the liquid over the roast, toss in the garlic cloves, then cook on low for 8 hours or high for 1 1/2 and low for 5-6.

Although we usually eat this with a slice of good bread, as mentioned above, it’s also very good over egg noodles. Sometimes we slice it, as in the photos here, but other times we pull it apart with forks into large chunks.

*As for the butter, one of the best cooks I know, a tall robust, and elegant woman with black hair and bright blue eyes from Azerbaijan, taught me that red meat always tastes better cooked with butter than with oil. I don’t cook a lot of red meat, and when I do the dish doesn’t always accommodate her advice. But it does here and I wanted to pass it along.

*We know very little about alcohol, so at the liquor store we ask an employee for help, explaining we need a red wine for cooking a roast in the range of 7 or 8 dollars. Please don’t use cooking wine—it will taste terrible. We’ve wondered about making this with grape or cranberry juice—let us know if you try.