Thai –d work

I just had a look over all the posts I’ve done for this blog and to my amazement I haven’t given you one Thai recipe, now this is shocking as I love Thai and cook it every week and how selfish of me not to share. But I’ll be fucked if I’m going to bore your tits off with another Thai green curry with chicken blah blah blah…

So with your tits safe from coming off I shall continue but what’s a recipe from either G Mcfilthy mouth or myself without a preamble that has some very loose ties to the topic…

Thai food to me is exciting on so many levels, it makes the cook balance flavours (so important in cooking) it fills kitchens with aroma’s that enrich your soul then for the final act it takes your taste buds out into a dark alley and kick the piss out of them. Your palate is made up of several components and with most food you only tweak one or two of these, but with good Thai you can give most a little tickle.

I, like most other Australian chefs, was taught French cuisine at tafe and that was the base for all we cooked. And that’s fine but it really limits you to some very rounded flavours (in my opinion), so when I stumbled onto Thai cuisine it was a goddamn revelation. So many ingredients, so many different flavours and somehow all tied together and they work, is this some sort of Asian magic? The same sort that allows small men with penis’ look like pretty young girls…Magic!!

Lady boys aside, there is nothing more enjoyable then grabbing out the mortar and pestle and grinding away, making a paste and then cooking it for people you love, or people who pay you money for it… both are very enjoyable and on par for me!

The recipe I’m about to give you goes back 10 generations in my family back to the Viking days when my ancestors came across a small Thai village located strangely enough on the Orkney islands, and like any Viking marauders of the time they quickly and efficiently raped and pillaged all they could find, and amongst there treasure was this recipe and for generations they handed down, and it was only in this generation did we realize it was a recipe for a curry and not the instructions on how to make penguin repellant (although it does make a brilliant repellant)

I am in fact making this very curry/repellant tonight for my very good friends and fellow foodies G-Money and Carla Da Bruce as well as my beautiful girl friend who for anonymity I shall call Lauren Alley… they are coming over for my soon to be famous Pineapple Mussel Curry and spicy crumbed chicken wings (two separate dishes) and they have recently gained a new dish into there repertoire (a prawn and fennel salad of some sort) and are going to create it for me this evening.

Now I have no idea what you are up to tonight but I suggest you find some friends like mine and start having cook offs, get drunk tell silly stories and in general enjoy yourselves.

Because although food is the best shit ever, food without people to share it with is tits on a bull… feel the love people.

Pineapple curry paste

4 dried large red chillies, deseeded & chopped

1 stalk lemongrass, finely chopped

1 tablespoon galangal, peeled & sliced

4 red shallots, sliced

3 cloves garlic, chopped

1 teaspoon lime zest

1 teaspoon white peppercorns, ground

1 teaspoon shrimp paste

1 tablespoon dried shrimp

1 teaspoon salt

To make the paste you can blend all ingredients in a blender with a little water until smooth. Or grind in a mortar and pestle.

Pineapple curry of mussel’s method

250ml coconut cream

2 tablespoons curry paste

30ml fish sauce

1 tablespoon palm sugar

15ml thick tamarind water

500ml coconut milk

500g mussels, cleaned

½ pineapple, peeled & chopped

3-4 kaffir lime leaves, shredded

2 fresh large red chillies, cut in ½ & deseeded

In a medium pan bring the coconut cream to boil until it separates, then add paste and cook until fragrant.

Add fish sauce, palm sugar and tamarind water and continue to cook until sugar is dissolved.

Pour in the coconut milk and return to a simmer.

Add the pineapple, mussels and kaffir lime leaves and simmer for 5-7 minutes or until the mussels are open.

Check seasoning.

And then Pauly has forgotten to mention that you eat it in your face. But that’s what I’m here for. Nom, nom, nom. G