Massaman Curry

It is the perfect recipe for ingredients from the CSA produce this week: new potatoes, onions, Thai basil. I recommend getting the curry paste in the tubs (photo below). You can buy it in small cans, but these are extremely spicy. Massaman curry is less spicy than red curry. It has all the traditional ingredients in the paste such as red chilis, lemongrass, galangal, garlic and shrimp paste, but adds the flavors of coriander seed, cumin, cardamom, mace, and cinnamon.

Massaman Curry
2 lb boneless, skinless chicken breast, cut into bite-sized pieces
2 lb potatoes, 1/2" cubes
1 lg onion, 1/2" pieces
4 lg carrots, 1/2" pieces
1 can thick coconut milk
1 can light coconut milk
1/4 -1/3 c massaman curry paste
3 T sugar (palm, if you have it; brown is also nice)
1 T tamarind paste (optional)
2 T fish sauce
1 c peanuts (reserve a few for garnish)
thai basil (optional)


Add 4 T of coconut cream to a large wok over medium high heat. Add the curry paste and cook until fragrant. Add more of the thick part of the coconut milk and the chicken. Stir fry a few minutes. Add the remainder of the can, the can of light coconut milk, and the veggies. Stir to coat and bring to a boil. Turn down to simmer until potatoes are done, about 5 minutes. Stir in peanuts, sugar, fish sauce, and tamarind paste and cook a few minutes more. Sprinkle basil over the top and a few reserved peanuts.

Serve with rice.

Serves 10 (extra curry freezes well)

CSA Week 8 -- July 25

This week's veggies include: new potatoes, cucumbers, cherry tomatoes, cabbage, yellow squash, turnips, Asian basil, onions, and heirloom tomatoes

Reverting to old favorites: Broccoli and Cilantro Soup and Kale, Tomatoes, and White Beans

This week I had to delay making recipes from my CSA veggies because I went on vacation for a week. I put them in the fridge and hoped they would survive for the week. They did! Now I need to cook up many things at once so I'm going to rely on some old favorites such as Broccoli and Cilantro Soup and Kale, Tomatoes, and White Beans.  The house smells so good. I added some cauliflower to the soup, instead of roasted corn, and I think I will serve the kale over polenta to mix things up.

CSA Veggies - July 11

This week's veggies included: cilantro, beets, carrots, kale, onions, tarragon, basil, green beans, zucchini, cabbage, broccoli.