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