More cooking experiments - Red Curry Beef.
Last night, working from a recipe in the San Jose Mercury News, I tried making red curry beef. The results were... less good than I might have hoped. Not bad, exactly, but I seriously have to question the taste of the end product. Here's what I made, with my commentary and slight changes:
Red Curry Beef
Serves 4
* 2 tablespoons canola oil
* 1 1/2 tablespoons red curry paste
* 1 tablespoon soy sauce
* 1 tablespoon sugar
* 1 pound lean ground beef (I used a package of 1.25 lbs ground beef, 85% lean)
* 1/4 cup coconut milk (note to all -- pouring 1/4 cup of coconut milk out of those cans is a PAIN IN THE ASS. I got coconut milk EVERYWHERE trying it. Consider decanting the milk into a more pourable container first.)
* 6 scallions, thinly sliced (why can't recipe makers just call these "green onions", honestly?)
* 5-ounce bag baby spinach (skipped, because I'm not a fan of spinach)
* Zest and juice of 1/2 lime
* 1/2 cup shredded fresh basil (Even at first glance, this looked like way too much basil. I used HALF that measure -- 1/4 cup -- and still the basil taste was overwhelming. Next time I attempt this dish, I will cut it WAY down.)
* 1/2 cup crushed unsalted peanuts
In large, deep skillet over medium-high heat, combine oil, curry paste, soy sauce and sugar. Cook until fragrant, about 1 minute. Add ground beef and saute until cooked through, about 8 minutes. Stir in coconut milk. Return to simmer. Mix in scallions and spinach and continue cooking until greens are just wilted, about 2 to 3 minutes. (So far, everything's good -- it smells fascinatingly tasty, and the admittedly limited curry had a deep color and aroma. However, then...)
Mix in lime juice, zest and basil. (In my opinion, this is where the recipe goes wrong. There's just way too much basil there. And I'm not sure, but it seems like the lime juice negates the tangy bite of the curry quite a bit -- something I wasn't in favor of.)
Serve over rice, garnished with peanuts.
In the end, when I served it over rice, this dish had very little bite and seemed almost bland. The basil overrode virtually all other flavors, with the exception of the peanuts. So my rating of this recipe, as written, would be 2.5 stars of 5 -- it's not bad as written, really, it simply doesn't distinguish itself on the palate at all. It is fairly easy to prepare, but so are a lot of other, tastier, dishes.
Red Curry Beef
Serves 4
* 2 tablespoons canola oil
* 1 1/2 tablespoons red curry paste
* 1 tablespoon soy sauce
* 1 tablespoon sugar
* 1 pound lean ground beef (I used a package of 1.25 lbs ground beef, 85% lean)
* 1/4 cup coconut milk (note to all -- pouring 1/4 cup of coconut milk out of those cans is a PAIN IN THE ASS. I got coconut milk EVERYWHERE trying it. Consider decanting the milk into a more pourable container first.)
* 6 scallions, thinly sliced (why can't recipe makers just call these "green onions", honestly?)
* 5-ounce bag baby spinach (skipped, because I'm not a fan of spinach)
* Zest and juice of 1/2 lime
* 1/2 cup shredded fresh basil (Even at first glance, this looked like way too much basil. I used HALF that measure -- 1/4 cup -- and still the basil taste was overwhelming. Next time I attempt this dish, I will cut it WAY down.)
* 1/2 cup crushed unsalted peanuts
In large, deep skillet over medium-high heat, combine oil, curry paste, soy sauce and sugar. Cook until fragrant, about 1 minute. Add ground beef and saute until cooked through, about 8 minutes. Stir in coconut milk. Return to simmer. Mix in scallions and spinach and continue cooking until greens are just wilted, about 2 to 3 minutes. (So far, everything's good -- it smells fascinatingly tasty, and the admittedly limited curry had a deep color and aroma. However, then...)
Mix in lime juice, zest and basil. (In my opinion, this is where the recipe goes wrong. There's just way too much basil there. And I'm not sure, but it seems like the lime juice negates the tangy bite of the curry quite a bit -- something I wasn't in favor of.)
Serve over rice, garnished with peanuts.
In the end, when I served it over rice, this dish had very little bite and seemed almost bland. The basil overrode virtually all other flavors, with the exception of the peanuts. So my rating of this recipe, as written, would be 2.5 stars of 5 -- it's not bad as written, really, it simply doesn't distinguish itself on the palate at all. It is fairly easy to prepare, but so are a lot of other, tastier, dishes.