A White Boy's Thai Curry

Despite being a Caucasian, I find it quite easy to be influenced by a city where Asian and Latin American restaurants & culture are more prevalent than ever. San Jose, CA is home to thousands of immigrants from Mexico & Central America, Vietnam, India, and Thailand. So whether it's food trucks or sit-downs on the downtown strip, San Jose offers a plethora of foreign cuisine I aim to delve into at home.

Today, I present to you an easy way to cook a Thai-inspired curry using a fairly simple set of ingredients. Curries, from whatever country or region, are complex dishes with a variety of spices and vegetables, but I've found a way to simplify the cooking process and get a similar (and tasty) result.

Nick's "White Boy" Thai Curry (yields 1 dinner-sized portion for a hungry dude):

• 1/4 cup steamed Basmati rice
• 0.5 lb skinless chicken breast
• a handful of brussels sprouts (alternative veggies okay)
• 0.5 bell pepper, sliced
• 1/2 cup Thai curry sauce (yellow used in recipe)
• salt, pepper, and red pepper powder (other spices welcomed)

I've purchased all these ingredients at Trader Joe's, including the curry sauce, which tastes good and will save you plenty of time.

Overall preparation time will be approximately 45 minutes. You will need two burners, a skillet or saucepan, and a small pot for your rice. I've pre-boiled my rice, but you can simultaneously handle rice and curry.

• Fill up your steaming bowl and bring it to a boil. Put the rice in and boil for approximately 15 minutes. Then strain and let the rice dry.
• While your water is coming to a boil, heat your saucepan to a high simmer level and add the curry sauce & spices.
• Once your curry has warmed up, add the brussels sprouts. You can either pre-boil the brussels sprouts in advance or turn the heat up once they're in the curry sauce to expedite the process. Either way, you'll need them to cook the longest.
• After 15 minutes, add the chicken.
• Five minutes later, add the sliced bell pepper.
• Continue cooking on a simmer-to-low level so that you preserve some of the curry sauce. You'll want the bell peppers and brussels sprouts to be moist and tender.
• Mold your rice into a mound and pour your curry, sauce and all, over the rice.

Believe it or not, there's rice under all this!

While you're at it, consider serving your curry with a Singha Thai lager or with a floral or citric pale ale/IPA such as Anderson Valley's Hop Ottin' IPA or Firestone Walker's Pale 31.

More delicious recipes and colorful beer commentary to come!

You Stay Hoppy California,
Pink

Indeed it has been aeons since I last posted something on CaliBrew. Shame on me for letting down any audience I had left and for leaving my passion for craft beer laying in a vat full of trub!

A resurgence in my interest for beer has inspired me to get back to CaliBrew. As someone with a deep writing background, I see this as an opportunity to become more vocal in the social media sphere and to use my writing to express my ideas and opinions. And what better way to do this than sit down with a pint of...what did I try yesterday...Knee Deep Tanilla Porter...and bust out some good old fashioned prose!

That said, it's going to take more than just beer reviews and brewery trips to make this site work, which is why I'm also going to use CaliBrew as a means for expressing my love for food and for cooking. I'll do my best to relay this back to beer (for example, what beer would I enjoy my beer with?) and not make this a foodie-focused site only, but I believe that, since food and beer are integral in developing a culture, the ways in which we learn to appreciate them both are something I can articulate well. As a matter of fact, it's only fitting I link you to my Yelp page; I'm mostly reviewing eateries around the San Jose area, but I'm open to expanding to other venues should I travel and whatnot.

So cheers and bon appetit to all of you out there! I'll leave you with a little teaser for a pasta primavera recipe I put together. This recipe serves approximately three people: 

• 1/2 zucchini
• 1/2 squash
• 1.5 cups bowtie (farfalle) pasta
• a handful of cherry tomatoes
• 6-8 minced garlic / 1/2 tsp garlic powder
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1/2 tsp balsamic vinegar
• salt and pepper

Begin with boiling your pasta for approximately 8-10 minutes. The pasta should be a little firm so that it holds its shape while it chills. Saute the vegetables, garlic, and spices in 1 tbsp of olive oil.

Combine with the pasta in a mixing bowl and add 1 tbsp olive oil, the balsamic, additional spices, and 1 to 2 tsp grated parmesan. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours before serving. Serve with fresh basil leaves for presentation.