As I said, I had a curry craving. Since I was already at the San Gabriel Superstore, I figured I'd experiment and make a red curry with roast duck. I think that's also because I had a weird craving for roast duck. Weird, only because I hardly ever eat roast duck.
As I wandered around the grocery store that day, I was struck by this gorgeous pumpkin. I like bamboo shoots in my curries so I grabbed a handful from the fresh bins. And of course, on top of that was a small package of Thai eggplants so I tossed that into my cart too.
Now I'm ready to cook!
Thai Red Curry with Roast Duck, Bamboo Shoots, Eggplant, and Pumpkin
For a very large pot, you'll need:
Thai Red Curry Paste
About 1 cup pumpkin or any other squash of your choice, diced
About 1 cup bamboo shoots, sliced
About 6 Thai eggplants, cut into segments and soak in salty water to draw out mucous
2 13-oz cans Coconut Milk
1/2 roast duck, deboned
As many sprigs of Thai basil as you'd like, leaves removed
Nuoc Mam (Vietnamese Fish Sauce), to taste
Begin by making my recipe for Thai red curry paste, or use packaged paste. Set aside.
Dice the pumpkin into 1-inch chunks. If the pumpkin rind is too hard, pop it in the microwave for 5 to 10 minutes to soften.
Cut the Thai eggplant into quarters or eighths and let them soak in salty water to draw out the black mucous. You may substitute with one Japanese eggplant or a small Italian eggplant.
Pull the roast duck from the bones, skin also if you wish. Set aside.
Do not shake your can of coconut milk. See the coconut cream in the photo below? Spoon that out, reserving the liquid in the can. I like my curries very creamy, so do this with both cans. If you want to cut down on coconut milk, then use just one can and sub water for the rest.
Dry fry the coconut cream with as much curry paste as you'd like. I like a lot, so I used my whole batch. You can start with 1 or 2 tblsp of paste and see how you like it. It's easy enough to add more, but you can't remove it once everything is incorporated.
Keep stirring until you get a nice, smooth paste.
Then add in the rest of the coconut milk liquid. Then fill each can halfway with water, swish it around get the last of the coconut milk and pour that into the pot. If you're only using one can of coconut milk, then fill up the can completely so that there's enough liquid for the curry. Drain the eggplants and add them, along with the pumpkin and bamboo shoots. Make sure there's enough water to cover all the ingredients. Turn the heat down to medium-low and let simmer for about 20 minutes to half an hour to soften the pumpkin.
Check to see if the curry has thickened to your liking and the vegetables have softened. Add a few squirts of fish sauce if necessary. Add the roast duck and Thai basil leaves and let simmer for an additional 5 minutes.
Serve plain or with rice.
Enjoy!
Who else made Thai red curry?
Darlene of Blazing Hot Wok made a red curry with pork and bamboo shoots.
My other Thai curry recipes:
Gaeng Kiaw Waan (Thai Green Curry with Thai Eggplants)
Pumpkin Curry
*****
1 year ago today, Mahan Indian Restaurant - Alhambra.
2 years ago today, Macau Street - Monterey Park (Closed).
Duck is the best to put in red curry! Along with pineapples or lychees! Now you've got me craving this!
ReplyDeleteIsn't it so easy to make your own paste? Just throw everything in the processor. I grew up eating the store-bought paste, and I always have some handy but also enjoy making my own. The cool thing about the homemade stuff is that you can freeze it, so you can make a big batch that will last a few times.
Many people use ginger instead of galangal. I'm not a purist so it doesn't bother me one bit but I'm sure you'll cause some people to lose sleep at night:-). In place of the kaffir lime zest you can use the leaves. My mom brought me a gallon sized ziploc bag last september. I keep them in my freezer and I'm still going through them. Awesome.
Duck curry is one of my absolute favorite curries! I really need to start making duck at home more often, and curries too!
ReplyDeleteDarlene,
ReplyDeleteI did see recipes for red duck curry with pineapples and lychees. But for some reason, I just wasn't in the mood and wanted to make pumpkin instead. I didn't know frozen kaffir lime leaves lasted so long. I'll have to remember that next time I go to the store.
Gaga,
I've only cooked duck once at home and it turned out really well. But for some reason, I just don't cook with it often, preferring chicken instead.
I loosely followed this with scallops and prawns for our in-law TG. I used alligator squash instead of pumpkin. The grocery didn't have thai chilies, so I used serrano. It was spicy, but not too bad. Overall, a hit!
ReplyDeleteThank you for this recipe. I have always used the recipe that comes with the paste. I find it comes out too thick. This was the perfect consistency.
Jan Frederick,
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you liked the recipe, or the base of it anyway. Adaptations happen all the time. :) What's alligator squash? Google wouldn't tell me. I'm so curious.