Chiang Mai Market Follow-up 2 18-Jul-2018

Chiang Mai Market Follow-up 2, 18-Jul-2018, NOT Phat Phet

At Tanin market the other day, at the last minute and with no plan in mind, we picked up ingredients to try to make phat phet. We got the kra-chai (fingerroot ginger), green peppercorns, small pea eggplants, kaffir lime leaves and the curry paste. I couldn’t think of what else. We later supplemented that with the round white/green eggplants, sweet basil, coconut milk and chicken thighs from Tops Supermarket.

By the time it was time to cook, I was still ill-prepared, but decided to wing it (improvise). I skinned the chicken thighs, cut the round eggplants in quarters, washed everything else, picked off the basil leaves, cut the peppercorn stems into smaller pieces and halved then cut the kaffir lime leaves into thin pieces.

I started by frying the curry paste with a smashed garlic and a couple of sliced shallots. I started with half of the curry paste, but decided that the lady at the market knew I only wanted the paste for one time so I put the whole sack into the pan. After a bit, I threw in the chicken thighs and as it started to brown, I thought what am I doing? I should put in the coconut milk to help tenderize the chicken. So I threw in some coconut milk. Impatient as I was, I began to throw in the eggplants (both kinds) and some of the krachai… then I threw in more of the krachai. Then thought, the chicken thighs are not going to be cooked. So I pulled them out and cut them up into bite sized pieces and threw them back in along with the bones. I let this cook awhile then threw in a few pieces of the peppercorns. When I thought it was close to done, I tasted the sauce and thought it needed some sweetness as it was too hot (too much curry paste!) so I added some more coconut milk. It still needed something on a subsequent taste so I added about a half teaspoon of sugar and a few squirts of fish sauce. I added the remaining peppercorns, kaffir lime leaves and the basil.

So we ended up with a red curry chicken with some phat phet flavors in it. Luckily, the resulting dish tasted very, very good and Hubby ate his fill. I would definitely make it this way again, but it is not “phat phet”. Next time I want to make phat phet, I will find a recipe to guide me from someone experienced before I buy the ingredients!

So I call this Red Curry Chicken with krachai and kaffir lime leaves…

CNX Pub: 2018-Jul-18 19:30 Places - Southeast Asia, Chiang Mai,
CNX Pub: 2018-Jul-18 19:30 Markets - Siri Wattana market (Tanin market), Tops Supermarket
CNX Pub: 2018-Jul-18 19:30 Food - Not Phat Phet, but Red Curry Chicken