Always being up to test anything, I was asked to try out this thai red curry kit. As many of you know I am a keen advocate for making from scratch and dislike much processed foods, however I am not blinkered in this view. There is a time and a place for everything. Saying that, on 1st inspection these kits are great. They are more of an assemblage of ingredients. The herbs and spices are clear to see, simply dried. The coconut cream included is a powder, rehyrdrated when added to the liquid. The curry paste is ready made but again when you look at the ingredients list for it is an authentic list of ingredients with no added rubbish chemicals or flavour enhancers. Simply the usual suspects of chiili, lemongrass, garlic, shallots, shrimp paste, kaffir lime, and cumin. Immpressive. Not many companies would stick with authenicity and flavour over cost and ease.
I decided to make this one night where we came in late, after the usual after school demands, fed the kids quickly, and realised that left us! Looking at what we had in we had some leftover chicken some king prawns, pak choi, and sugar snaps. Perefct ingredients to test this kit!
I've made thai currys before and although not difficult, you do need a lot of ingredients. Some of these are store cupboard ingredients. As I make sporadic trips to a chinese supermarket I am normally well stocked with shrimp paste, fish sauce etc, but the desire to make a curry sauce at 7 oclock at night doesn't happen often.
Therefore kits like this do have appeal. The paste is made for you. This a good paste too.
So the actual cooking time looks short and indeed it was. The instructions were good but I did make a couple of adjustments and 'tweaks'. That is the beauty of these things though. Even though there are instructions to follow, don't be afraid to trust your own palate and cravings and add, delete or adjust whatever you think.
You fry the paste for 1 minute in a tablespoon of oil. It suggestes you use varying degrees of the paste depending on the the heat you like. We used it all.
Our chicken was precooked so I didn't add that as suggested (for raw chicken). Next I added the coconut cream powder and water to create a sauce. This needs whisking in to get a smooth sauce. Then I added the cooked chicken, and the packet of herbs and spices and simmered for 5 minutes.
The vegetables I used needed a minute or so, so they were added next, but if you used green beans as suggested, they would be added earlier (as per instructions).
A teaspoon of sugar is suggested ( I only added half, but that would be preference). It says fish sauce to taste ( I used just over half of the given sachet). I also added for my own taste about a teaspoon of lime juice.
The finished curry was excellent and finished in less that 10 minutes. Brilliant. It had a really good background heat that was pretty hot but not fiery. Good flavour, and tasted fresh. We did think it should be suggested to remove the spices and herbs (dried chillis, basil, lime leaves, and chilli) before you serve. However if you don't mind pushing them to the side of the plate as you eat then don't worry.
All in all this is a great buy. A delicious curry made from your store cupboard, in inder 10 minutes. Brilliant.
You can order a range of products via their website http://www.thaicurrycompany.com/ or from http://www.amazon.co.uk/
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