Spicy Thai Curry Beef

I made this recipe to challenge myself. I haven't had that much experience cooking Asian food, let alone Thai food specifically. I thought making a dish adapted from the Spicy Thai Curry Beef from Fine Cooking's One-Pot Meals would be a great place to start and introduce me to some new flavors or ingredients. I have eaten food similar in flavor at restaurants but I have never made anything like this at home.

I thought the recipe was delicious.

It starts with shallot and ginger, lots of ginger actually – a quarter cup. For a dish this size, it's the most I had ever used. I was worried that it might over-power the other ingredients and make it taste like eating a fancy bar of soap, but it didn't. It turned out to be the perfect amount and the right aromatic to go with the spicy red curry paste and unsweetened coconut milk that form the flavor base of the dish. I cooked the beef rare, because bloody is the way I like it, and the snap peas were the perfect vegetable compliment to round out the dish. I served it over rice. It was easy to make and loaded with flavor.

I can't wait to use these flavors in a creation of my own. I would like to try it with chicken or in a recipe that requires some braising, I think the spicy sauce would make a good base for a yummy stew. I might just make it again the way it is here though, it's good enough to make over and over!

Eat well, cook often ...

THE RECIPE

Adapted from:
Fine Cooking
One-Pot Meals
Winter 2013
Page 29
Serves 4; 25 minutes

Spicy Thai Curry Beef
Ingredients
1 Tbs vegetable oil
1 1/2 lb Sirloin tip
1/2 Shallot, thin sliced
1/4 C Fresh ginger, minced
2 tsp Red curry paste
1 13.5 oz can Unsweetened coconut milk
1/2 C Chicken broth
1 Tbs Fish sauce
1 1/2 C Frozen Sugar snap peas
2 C Cooked rice
Cilantro for garnish



How I made it
Heat oil in a large saute pan over medium-high heat. Season sirloin with salt and pepper to taste. Sear on each side for a minute or two to get a nice crust, remove to a plate. Add shallots and cook until soft, 2 to 3 minutes, add ginger cook another minute. Add chicken broth, scrap up any brown bits from the bottom of pan. Stir in curry paste until completely dissolved into liquid. Add coconut milk and fish sauce. Return beef to pan and simmer until cooked through, 10 minutes. Remove beef to cutting board. Stir peas into sauce, cover and remove from heat. Slice beef thin and on a bias, return to sauce.

Serve curry beef mixture over rice and garnish with cilantro.