Renegade Yogi

New York City Style Thai Curry — Delicious on the Cheap

The story behind the meal

I’ve been staying with my brother Mark in NYC. We wanted to make him a little something for dinner to say thanks, because that’s how we roll.

By the time we set out, the supermarket was closed. We’re not that familiar with how things work around here. 7pm didn’t seem that late for the City that Never Sleeps. But I guess grocers need to rest some time.

We did find a Chinese grocery across the street from the apartment that was still open. It’s called Shop Smart. There wasn’t much fresh food, but there was plenty of variety in the non-perishable category. We found mostly imported cans and dried foods. We discussed making lasagna, but that was dismissed because we didn’t know the baking dish situation in the apartment.

Then I saw the rack of cans from Asia and I spied Thai curry paste. Luckily, I used to be addicted to curry (of all varieties), so I had a lot of experience with the mouth-burning substance. We hunted around for the ingredients. And that’s how dinner was born.

The basics

The basis of Thai curry is really simple: paste + coconut milk + fish sauce + whatever vegetables, meat, or tofu you want. Boil it and it’s done. You can get fancier, but that’s your main formula.

The ingredients

This is what we wound up doing:

• 2 cans coconut milk
• 1 small can Thai curry paste (red)
• 1 bottle fish sauce
• 1 can bamboo shoots
• 1 can diced baby corn
• 1 can sliced carrots
• 1 pack frozen broccoli
• jasmine rice
• basil (dried or fresh)
• oil (peanut is what we used because it was in the apartment)
• one pack firm tofu (or whatever meat you want–pork, chicken, beef, fish)

The instructions

Start the rice according to the instructions in the package.

Oil a large pot, shake in a bunch of basil and a teaspoon of fish sauce. Slice up the tofu into bite-sized cubes and squeeze out some of the water. When it’s good and hot, brown the tofu on both sides. When it’s brown, remove the tofu from the pot and set aside.

Open all of the cans and packages. Pour a little juice from each vegetable can into the pot. Instant broth. In total, it should make about a cup. Discard the rest. Dump in the whole can of curry paste and mix it in well. You don’t want to surprise someone with lumps of tongue melting chili paste.

Pour in one can of coconut milk. I like to keep one for later because it adds a little variety to the dish. Stir it all together, then add all of the vegetables. Add fish sauce until the juice is salty enough. Bring to a boil and cover. Cook ten minutes.

After ten minutes, add the tofu and the other can of coconut milk. Stir and add more fish sauce to taste. Cook five more minutes. Remove from heat and let it stand five more minutes.

Serve over rice. It should be very soupy. Store the leftover curry in the fridge and microwave it when you’re hungry.

The wrap-up

This dish is great for NYC. It fits in your tiny NY kitchen. There’s no chopping. You just slice up the tofu in its package, and you can do that with a butter knife. There’s no leftover uncooked food to store until it goes bad. Seriously, when are you in your apartment anyway? And you only need a spoon and a bowl to eat it. It’s also way cheap. It cost less than $10 for maybe six hefty portions. There’s no fresh ingredients to find when all of the markets are closed. You just need to find a cheap Chinese grocery.

Plus it is terribly fun. I used to make Thai curry all the time in New Orleans. But it was never so cheap as I found here. I guess all of the Asian folks drive down the price of imports. So now, hear this New Yorkers: you can eat more cheaply in New York than you can in New Orleans. No more whining about how expensive the city is.