Friday, May 8, 2009

Thai Red Curry and "Kanom Jean"

I've been craving red curry served on top of "kanom jean" (thin somen noodles) that my family eats all the time, especially at holiday parties. My auntie usually makes a big pot of red curry and a big bowl of "kanom jean" prepared into coiled mounds. Since the curry is always meat based I haven't been able to partake in this wonderful marriage of foods. There's something about the noodles that works so well with the curry. They provide a soft, neutral cushion of slippery noodle goodness for the spicy curry that rice doesn't quite do. The only problem is that it goes down so well, you can eat bowl after bowl very easily!


Little coiled mounds of cooked "kanom jean".


My curry was made with coconut milk, chickpeas, zucchini, baby corn and thai red curry paste. I served it with a side of miso sesame coleslaw to extinguish the heat!

Red Curry with Chickpeas

1/2 onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
2-3 heaping tsp thai red curry paste (the more you use the spicier it will be!)
1 14oz. can coconut milk
1 cup water
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp rhizome (krachai) powder (If you can't find this, it's ok. But if you can, use it. It really lends an authentic flavor to kanom jean curry.)
1 zucchini, sliced into small pieces
1 14oz. can baby corn, drained
1 14oz. can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
3 TB mushroom soy sauce or 2 TB regular soy sauce

Saute onion and garlic in oil until soft. Add red curry paste and saute for few minutes. Add coconut milk and water and bring to a boil while stirring to dissolve currry paste. Add vegetables, chickpeas, sugar and rhizome powder. Lower heat to simmer for about 30 minutes. Season with soy sauce.

Psst...I edited the recipe to include rhizome powder which is one ingredient that I forgot about. I didn't put it in my curry at first but the next day, I heated up the leftovers and added the rhizome powder and it made it even more perfect!

7 comments:

Jen Treehugger said...

That looks so tasty! I'm having Curry tonight!
Hoooray!

Erina said...

Hi! I made a blog too. This recipie looks so good, I've never had Curry with noodles like this, but I am sure going to try some. All your food pics make me hungry.

Oraphan said...

Mmmmmm!!!!Your red curry looks really good. I just had kanom jean with curry last night too, but I put mushroom and tofu in mine. Miso sesame coleslaw sounds great. How did you make it? It sounds so yummy with kanom jean.=D

Oraphan said...

I also wanted to tell you that I love your new profile photo. Looks wonderful!!! =D

Mary said...

I love red curry, but I've never had it over noodles. It sounds amazing--I can't wait to try it!

Anonymous said...

Just FYI....I saw a PBS cooking show on Thai food and they said that red curries are made with shrimp paste. The red shells of the shrimp give it the red color (along with red chiles). As a fellow vegan, I thought you'd want to know. I have seen some recipes online for a vegan red curry, but haven't tried any. Watch out though cuz many of them add fish sauce!
Your picture looks very yummy!!!!

kmouse said...

Anon,
Thanks for the info. There are a few brands of red curry paste that do not include shrimp paste. The brand I use is called MAESRI. You should be able to find it at most asian groceries.