Hybrid Cha's Cooking Assignment: Thai Curry Parade!

At effin' long last!!! 

I got my hands on working on my dream project... to create curry paste from scratch! Kaeng khiao wan and Kaeng phet here I come!

You just do not know how much this means to me. A curry from scratch? a la Thai homecooking???

Alright, alright, let me share with you my two daughters -- Beef in Thai Red Curry and my Chicken in Thai Green Curry.

Beef Thai Red Curry
Ingredients
beef strips
coconut milk
fish sauce
sugar
spinach
eggplant
snow peas
basil (garnish)
lime (garnish)
for the curry component
red chilies (for this one I put six pieces of dried chilies soaked in water first)
lemon grass
shallot
garlic
ginger
tad bit of shrimp paste
tad bit of salt
soy sauce
fish sauce
cinnamon bark
cumin
coriander seeds
tad bit of EVOO (for frying the curry)
...and yikes I forgot to add tomatoes/tomato ketchup to the curry paste (recipe I used calls for at least a small part of it)

Chicken Thai Green Curry
Ingredients
chicken wings
coconut milk
evaporated milk
fish sauce
sugar
red bell pepper
baby corn
snake beans
lime (garnish)
for the curry component
green chili
lemon grass
shallot
garlic
ginger
tad bit of shrimp paste
tad bit of salt
fish sauce
cumin
coriander seeds
tad bit of EVOO (for frying the curry)

My verdict??? Goooooooooooooood! I will absolutely make one again in the coming days! 

I may not get the consistency I wanted (paste-y) as well as the vibrancy (color-wise) maybe because of several factors (like I added the beef and chicken stocks to the dish and I was not able to reduce it as much as I wanted it to since it's already past one pm) I could say that both were really yummy.

The beef curry was a blast, nothing's left of me to chum for merienda. The chook was quite plenty so there were several parts left (but still, knowing there was a beef dish, konti na lang din yung natira sa maraming chook wings). 

One more thing... WHERE IS THE CORIANDER?? I went to two supermarkets and one wet market but to my ultimate shock none of these places sell coriander (wansuy). My gulay! HELLO MARKET/GROCERY OPERATORS, IF YOU CAN PUT MALUNGGAY LEAVES OR ALUGBATI IN THE MARKET YOU SHOULD BE ABLE TO PRODUCE CORIANDER TOO.

Whew! What a semi rant here. 

If you would ask me which dish I love more it has to be... oooppppsss... I love them both. I thought the green curry was yummier but I love the beef red curry more. The fragrant dish with uber kaduper lambot na beef with lime juice, sweet, spicy, a bit salty... I was transported back to Thailand. 

One more thing...not for the faint of heart. My dishes are SPICEEEEEEEYYYY! It's like burning my throat, esophagus or whatever internal organ I could think of (and this "ad" is coming from a noted spicy food lover take note).