Thai eggplants
We use these eggplants a lot in curry. In Thailand, we call them striped tomatoes. We call all eggplants some kind of tomatoes. For example, purple tomatoes for the purple Chinese eggplants. What do we call tomatoes? Red tomatoes... Duh.. I didn't like eating them so much for they were a little bitter. But now whenever I see them in Chinatown, I get extremely excited. Not that I like eating them any better, I just get excited.
Chinese string beans
Actually, these are the only kind of string beans I had until I came to the U.S. Don't they make much more sense than American string beans? They take less time to trim and clean. They taste much more like string beans to me. And because they are so long, I can tie them up into pretty knots. Also, nuts and beans are the same word in Thai. I guess we don't have too many words to call things. We just keep reusing them and add adjective to identify what we actually mean.
When you say curry, Thai people will assume you mean red curry. Therefore, when I was asked to make beef curry, I made this.
Ingredients (Make 10 to 15 servings)
- 4 pounds beef - any flavorful cut - I used London Broil - cut into strips
- 2 pounds Thai eggplants - quartered - or any firm eggplants
- 1 pound Chinese string beans or normal string beans - cut - and if you are like me, tie them into knots
- 3 cans coconut milk
- 1 tablespoon cooking oil
- 1 cup red curry paste
- 1 head garlic
- About 2 inches knob of ginger
- 6 shallots
- 3 stalks of lemongrass
- 1 tablespoon dry red pepper flakes
- 1 tablespoon brown sugar
- Fish sauce
- 1 cup Thai basil
Directions
- Peel garlic, ginger and shallots. Discard a few outer layers of lemongrass. Trim away its head and about 2/3 from its tail. Keep the middle 1/3. Chop all the spices together (I used food processor.)
- Heat oil in a large stock pot. Stir in chopped spices and curry paste. When fragrant, add the first can of coconut milk and beef. Let cook. Stir occasionally until the meat is almost cooked.
- Add the rest of coconut milk. Season to taste with red pepper, sugar and fish sauce. Let simmer. Add water if necessary.
- When the meat is tender, add eggplants and string beans. Let cook for 5 more minutes or until the vegetables have desired texture. I like mine soft but still a little crunchy.
- Before serving, tear Thai basil and sprinkle on the curry. Serve with rice.
