Thai Green Eggplant and Chicken Curry

Our trip to the Hong Kong Market yielded these beautiful Thai green eggplants that inspired me to make a very green dish using ingredients we picked up at the market. A little bigger than a golf ball, these eggplants pack a lot of flavor and texture and were a great substitute for our large purple variety.

One of the reasons we went to the market was to get more of the Thai Curry Paste that we love to cook with. Unlike Indian curry powder, aromatic Thai curry paste combines dry spices with "wet", or fresh, ingredients like chili peppers, fish sauce, shrimp paste, herbs, garlic, shallots and lemongrass. Mixed with a bit of coconut milk, it's an almost-instant sauce base, making it a fast, convenient way to cook up a really flavorful dish.

Curry paste is classified by color, ranging from deep red to yellow-orange to deep green, and often by the type of food with which it's traditionally used. The two most common are the green and red pastes. Red curry paste tends to be medium-hot, the most versatile, and used with chicken, duck, beef, pork, shrimp and fish, and noodle curries. Green curry paste, the hottest, is most commonly used in coconut sauces with beef, pork or chicken. Kerry is quite fond of the Maesri brand and it is pictured below with the ingredients of the dish. This is so simple and so good, you won't believe it! The hard part is driving to the West Bank for the ingredients, but it is well worth the trip. Be warned this is fairly spicy, but that's how we like it!


Ingredients

• 2.5-3 tablespoons green curry paste
• 1 tablespoon coconut oil
• 1 can coconut milk
• 1 lb. boneless chicken breast, sliced into thin pieces
  
• 8-10 kaffir lime leaves, shredded
• 1 sprig fresh Thai basil leaves
• 2 tablespoon fish sauce
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 8 ounces Thai eggplant (small round eggplants)
• 3 Thai or Serrano peppers, seeded and ribs removed, cut into thin long slice

Directions
* In a large saucepan over high heat, fry the curry paste in the coconut oil until fragrant, about 30 seconds.
* Reduce the heat to medium and add the coconut milk slowly, and continue to stir while cooking until a thin film of oil appears on the surface.
* Add the chicken and other ingredients except the eggplant. Bring to a boil and cook until the chicken begins to change color.
* Adjust the flavors to suit yourself. When it is at a boil again add the eggplant and continue to stir until the chicken is cooked through and eggplant are tender. They will turn a bit brownish from the heat, but that is normal.
* Serve with sticky rice or jasmine rice

Sauteed Bok Choy Salad

I never knew bok choy came in so many different shapes, sizes and colors until I started shopping at the Hong Kong Food Market on the West Bank. We picked up lots of green things on our last visit and made a delicious Thai Green Eggplant and Chicken Curry as well as this Sauteed Bok Choy Salad.

Ingredients

* 1 pound bok choy
* 1 tablespoon coconut oil
* 1 tablespoon sesame oil
* 1/4 cup water
* 1 teaspoon grated fresh ginger root
* 2 cloves garlic, minced
* 1 tablespoon fish sauce
* 1 tablespoon light soy sauce
* 1 tablespoon brown sugar
* 1/8 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes (optional)

Directions

1. Trim off the ends of the bok choy and chop, keeping the white parts separate from the green as they will need to cook longer. Rinse and spin or pat dry. Set aside.
2. In a medium sized bowl, stir together the water, ginger, garlic, fish sauce, soy sauce, brown sugar and red pepper flakes. Set this aside.
3. Heat the two oils in a large skillet or wok over medium-high heat. Add the bok choy stems first; stir fry for a few minutes or until the pieces start to turn a pale green. When stems are almost cooked, add the leaves; cook and stir until leaves are wilted, 1 to 2 minutes. Remove from the heat and transfer the bok choy to a serving dish. Pour the sauce into the skillet or wok, and set over medium-high heat. Cook, stirring constantly, until sauce has thickened slightly, about 3 minutes. Pour over the bok choy and toss lightly to coat.

A Visit to the Other Side of the World, the Hong Kong Food Market

I took some time off on Wednesday for Kerry and I to take a trip to the other side of the world, the West Bank, and pick up some supplies at the Hong Kong Food Market. If you’ve never been and you like to cook Asian food, or are just interested in the culture, it is definitely worth the trip. Because it’s not just a market, but basically an Asian themed strip mall with a restaurant, bookstore, tea shop, salon, and many other mainly Vietnamese owned businesses.

We both love Vietnamese food so came hungry knowing we could grab a little lunch at Pho Dahn 4, House of Noodle located right next to the market. While a bit utilitarian in atmosphere, the food is fresh, light with a very inexpensively priced noodle dish based menu. We split an order of their delicious spring rolls, fat with lots of crisp lettuce, noodles, pork and perfectly steamed shrimp followed by noodle soups served with the traditional side plate of fresh bean sprouts, lettuce, basil and jalapeno peppers. I got the Pho Ga, a simple chicken and rice noodle dish with onions and herbs in a light broth. A perfectly healthy start to our shopping excursion!

As you enter the market, there are aisles and aisles of dried and preserved goods, lots of sauces and flavorings, more types of dried seaweed than you can imagine exist, every flavor and brand of Ramen, an Asian cookware section, frozen goods, a bakery and more.Thai, Indian, Korean, Vietnamese, Chinese, and Japanese products await as we walk down each one just to be certain we don’t miss anything! The main reason we are there is for some of the Thai curry pastes we love so much, but we can’t help but check out the fresh fish, smoked meats and all of the other goodies lining the shelves.

The produce section is what I get most excited about, loaded with more types of bok choy than I knew existed, lots of exotic vegetables and fruits, herbs, and a section of locally grown items as well. The beautiful thai green eggplants, caught my eye and I knew I needed to design an dish around them, and I just had to have some of that delicious looking bok choy!

We left loaded with things we would never find at our local grocery stores and excited about cooking something different for dinner. Check out what we came up, Thai Green Eggplant and Chicken Curry and Sauteed Bok Choy Salad. And the next time you find yourself on the West Bank with a little spare time, be adventurous and take yourself to the Hong Kong Food Market. Hopefully you'll be as inspired as we were!

Hong Kong Food Market

925 Behrman Highway
Gretna, LA 70056-4569

(504) 394-7075