Thai green curry
I have some corn lying in my fridge for a few days now and I know that if I keep it any longer it is going to get dry and loose all its sweetness and flavor.
Corn should be cooked and eaten soon after picking for the best taste.
Fresh sweet corn is one of summer's culinary treats, whether it's sautéed, souffléed or boiled on the cob.
The main ingredient of today's dish is corn, but rarely used in this style - Thai . The curry is a cross between makai paka an east African dish and Thai green curry. It's east African, as I have used American sweet corn on the cob in a coconut gravy and Thai, as the spices used are for a spicy hot green curry. The curry is vegetarian to the core with no shrimp paste or fish sauce added.
Since this is a green curry, I have tried to use all the green Thai ingredients like lemon leaves from my kitchen garden), as it is very hard to find kaffir lime leaves here, lemon grass, green chillies, basil and coriander leaves. The other ingredients used are galangal & Szechuan pepper.
Szechuan pepper is a common spice used in Asian cuisine. Even though we call it pepper corns, it is no where near to a black pepper or chilli pepper. The husk around the pepper seeds may be used whole or used as a finely ground powder. It is one of the blended ingredients for the five-spice powder. They give off a tingly, fizzy feeling on the tongue and when used sparingly, are incomparably delicious. This spice is very commonly used in the Chinese cuisine and very widely used in the Mangalorean konkani cuisine.
Now let's get started as this one is quite a lengthy process
What you'll need:
2 corn on the cob cut in 3 pieces
1 tbsp of finely chopped onions
Chopped Thai vegetables - red & yellow pepper, mushrooms, carrots, beans
1 tbsp olive oil
1 cup of fresh coconut milk with a tbsp of corn flour dissolved
1 tsp brown sugar
6-7 schewan pepper corn
1/2 tbsp tamarind paste
Green curry paste :
1-3 green chilies, sliced
1 thumb-size piece of finely sliced galangal
1/2 cup chopped fresh coriander leaves with stems
1/4 cup fresh Thai basil
1 stick lemon grass (use only the base)
Kaffir lime leaves - 2
How to:
Boil the corn on cob in salted water for around 3-5 min on medium flame. Drain the water and allow to cool.
Finely grind the ingredients for green curry paste to a fine paste using a mortar and pestle (or in my case I used a blender).
In the same grinder used for making the green curry paste, grind the schewan pepper corns with half a cup of water. Blend for around 30 seconds. The seeds of the peppercorns remain intact but the outer fragrant pink husks of the peppercorn are somewhat crushed. Strain the liquid to get rid of all the husks and seeds. Keep aside the flavored water
In a heavy bottom pan, saute finely chopped onions along with a few lime leaf stands, whole lemon grass, galangal until translucent using olive oil. Add the green curry paste, tamarind paste, coconut milk and schewan flavored water. Adjust the salt & sugar as per taste.
Add partially boiled Thai vegetables to the green gravy and simmer for around 2 minutes. I used some red and yellow bell peppers to enhance the color of the green curry along with corn. Serve hot with jasmine rice.
