The thing with coconut milk is that when it's boiling hot - fat gets separated from the rest of the liquid (that's was left after water evaporated.) This makes the curry so thick that it can be use as a sauce or dressing over meat (usually seafood) or vegetables cooked separately.
Ingredients
2 pounds large shrimp (cleaned and butterfly)
3 tablespoon red curry paste
1 1/2 cans coconut milk
5 cloves garlic (finely chopped)
5 shallots (finely chopped)
2 stalks lemongrass (finely chopped - use only bottom half)
1 inch galangal (finely chopped)
1 inch ginger (finely chopped)
1 teaspoon ground red pepper
1 tablespoon brown sugar
fish sauce to taste
15 lime leaves (chopped)
1 pound string bean (blanched)
1 pound collard green (blanched - I used leaves for the Miang Kum and saved the top part for this dish)
Chopped spices for the curry
Directions
1. Heat up coconut milk in a thick bottom pan on medium high heat. Add curry paste and all the chopped spices except lime leaves. Stir until fragrant and the curry is bubbly hot and thick. Add sugar, red pepper and fish sauce to taste. The curry should be thick and spicy with a bit of sweet hint.
2. Throw in shrimp. Cook for a few minutes. Turn of the heat. Sprinkle chopped lime leaves on top. Don't over cook the shrimp.
3. Serve over steamed rice and blanched vegetables.
I made this and 3 cups of rice to serve 6 people (after we had Miang Kum as appetizer. We had a bit of leftover but I finished it the same night after everybody left.... (ummm... would what I ate be called leftover? since I finished it the same night?) The curry over rice was still really good even when it's cold...
