Curry has become very popular in the western world the past decade and in countries like England Indian curry dishes are soon found on every street corner. The word curry or kari originates from southern India in the region Tamil. In Tamil curry mean carbon! You would not eat coal though, but in culinary terms it refers to that you fry it until it becomes dark. In the western world curry has been associated with a spice mixture that is a variant of garam masal. There are hundreds of different curry varieties, more or less authentic. In the Thai cuisine the most common ones are Thai green curry, masaman curry and yellow curry. The following dishes are both easy to cook and a treat to eat.

Chicken green curry

Ingredients

300 grams of chicken
3 tbsp. of green curry paste
½ cup eggplant cut into bite-sized (can be substituted for sweet peas)
1 cup of coconut cream
1 ½ cup of coconut milk
¼ cup of sweet basil
2 kaffir lime leaves
1 tbsp. sugar
1-2 tbsp. fish sauce
1-2 tbsp. cooking oil
1-2 red spur chilli for garnish

1. Cut the chicken into thin slices, season with ½ tsp. of salt and fry until dry.
2. Fry the chilli paste until fragrant, reduce heat and add coconut cream a little at a time and stir it while cooking until the cream begins to have an oily sheen.
3. Add the chicken and kaffir lime leaves and simmer for a short time
4. Add the coconut milk, sugar and fish sauce and heat. When boiling add the eggplant or peas. When the meat is done garnish with basil leaves and chilli.

Stir fried prawn with red curry paste

Ingredients

1 cup of rice straw mushrooms sliced in half
6-8 shelled prawns
½ cup eggplant, sliced in to bite sized pieces
¼ cup of fresh green pepper
1-2 tbsp. fish sauce

1-4 thinly sliced red spur chilli.
½ cup of sweet basil leaves
2-3 tbsp. red curry paste
1-2 tsp. sugar
½ cup water
½ cup cooking oil

1. Heat the oil in a wok. Stir fry the red curry paste until fragrant and add prawns and mushrooms. Take care not to fry the prawns to long- 1-2 min is enough.
2. Add fish sauce, sugar and water.
3. Add eggplant, green pepper, sweet basil, chilli and continue stir frying until the eggplant is done.
4. Ready to serve!