I’m not what you would call a picky eater (although many of you who have dined with me might call me an inquisitive one!), but there are a few foods I just can’t stand: coconut, ginger and blue cheese–each with their own strong, distinct flavors, united by a common bond of grossness that makes my tongue want to seek the nearest emergency exit from my mouth. So no one could be more surprised than me to find myself cooking a recipe with coconut and ginger to make the most super-awesome-delicious Thai red curry EVA!!!
I have to give full credit to Savory for inspiring this one; he ordered red curry at the Cheesecake Factory and, after grimacing in disgust at seeing coconut milk listed in the ingredients, I tried it anyway. Turns out coconut milk is much more pleasant than its evil twin, aka actual coconut–who knew??
coconut milk playing coy, upper right
The original recipe calls for halibut, but I used cod instead, and if you’ve ever heard me talk maybe once or 50 times about my favorite cod book you know what a big deal it was for me to finally try the fish that changed the world (and with good reason–it’s freaking tasty).
cod playing dead, left; shrimp, also playing dead, right.
What I love about this recipe even more than the fact that it is easy to make is that the yum factor never diminishes; I was equally excited each time I ate it, and may have gone through a brief period of mourning after devouring the last bowl.
red curry playing delicious, center
¡BONUS POP QUIZ!
Q: What is curry made from?
A: Three spices found in most curry powders are turmeric, coriander, and cumin.
Q: What makes red curry red?
A: The main ingredients in red curry are garlic, shallots, (dried) red chillies, galangal, shrimp paste, salt, kaffir lime peel, coriander root, coriander seeds, cumin seeds, peppercorns and lemongrass. My money’s on the dried red chillies and shrimp paste.
Q: Can I come over for dinner and have some of your red curry?
A: Heck yes you can!
Note: Thanks to James Dowd, Jame’s Dowd’s iPhone and Wikipedia for sleuth support.
Tags: blue cheese sucks, cod, curry, shrimp, spices
Shrimp and cod and two of my favorite foods. Which makes this dish look really mouth watering. Thanks for sharing the post but I would also like to have the recipe. And please don’t tell me I have to look on facebook to get it.
How come you never cooked cod when we were growing up??? I’ve been so deprived. Click on the link in the first paragraph for the recipe–it’s from epicurious.com. :)
I’ve actually only recently discovered cod so that’s why we never had it. Another good fish is Sea Bass. Your Dad ordered it at Carrabbas recently and it was divine.
This post made me laugh so hard. Mostly because I know how much you hate those ingredients, and also the Cod book. This was a big step, GBo.
Thank you for recognizing my accomplishments, Liz.