Opart Thai, Yellow Curry & Planning a Menu

Noah posted a picture on Facebook the other day of some yellow Thai curry I made.  Frankly it was delicious and quite a few people asked me for the recipe.  I decided to make again a few nights later with just a few tweaks and it was better, in fact it reminded me so much of the yellow curry we loved so much at Opart Thai in Chicago, that we had ourselves a little Opart night with our two favorite dishes, yellow curry and Tiger's Cry.

If you are ever in Chicago and want to make a trip up to Lincoln Square, get off the Brown Line at the Western stop and go almost directly beneath the stop and you'll find Opart Thai.  Go there, trust me, just do it.  We first went to Opart when we moved to Chicago, we found it on Yelp and decided to try it out.  It was a life changing decision.  We explored more tastes there than almost anywhere else and we are better for it.  So moving to the suburbs of Seattle has left us longing for the tastes of North Chicago, one of the most diverse zip codes in the nation.

Then, quite serendipitously, one of the women in my Moms & Kids group taught us how to make traditional Thai curry and explained the secret was the ingredients, not secret ingredients just correct ones and for those you need an actual international market.  So, I'm including pictures with these recipes so you have an idea what to look for and if you don't have an international market, Amazon.com does. Please forgive the poor quality iPhone photos, I was sans big camera at the moment.

Yellow Thai Curry -

• 2 cans coconut milk (I use one regular, one light)
• 1/2 yellow onion, chopped roughly
• 1 sweet potato or yam, peeled & chopped into bite sized pieces
• 1 red, orange or yellow bell pepper
• 2 Tbsp Yellow Curry Paste
• 3 Tbsp Fish Sauce
• 2 Tbsp sugar
• 2 chicken breasts, thinly sliced
• Lime (optional)

Start by sweating the onion in about 1 Tbsp of vegetable oil (I use canola because it has the least flavor).  When the onions become translucent add the coconut milk bring to a low boil.  While it is heating add curry paste, fish sauce and sugar.  Now, the paste is where the flavor and the heat come from, so if you want it hotter, add more but don't over do it or you'll find yourself sweating out your dinner.  The fish sauce is almost purely salt, so if you want more saltiness add it sparingly, but don't think it's going to add a fish-flavor or Omega-3s because it won't.

Here is an example of what you should be looking for, and my friend from Moms and Kids gave me a great piece of advice, if you are cooking Thai food, look for ingredients made in Thailand.  I know that sounds a little simplistic but since I don't speak or read Thai, it was totally helpful.  

The curry paste comes in a container that has a bag inside, it will last for a while in the freezer after you open it and doesn't really freeze solid so you can squeeze it out pretty easily.  But don't kid yourself on how much you'll need, this is a TON of curry paste, don't buy four or five jars of the same thing.  If you want one yellow, one green, a massamun, a panang and a red, that's fine, but this yellow curry paste will last us for quite some time.

As the mixture starts to boil, carefully add the sweet potatoes.  Don't add them too early because you don't want them to be mushy when you're ready to eat, a mistake I have made twice now, and if you're counting that is both times I've made this.  Also, now is a good time to make some Jasmine rice to go along with it.  I know, I know, brown rice is healthier but the Thai use Jasmine and frankly, it cooks faster and just plain tastes better.

Now slice up the bell peppers and set them aside, you'll put them in during the last three or four minutes so they stay crisp.

Now, slice up the chicken, I do this in this order so I only have to use one cutting board and it can all be safe, you're welcome, Mom.  I didn't take a picture of the chicken because I think showing people pictures of sliced chicken is equivalent to asking them not to like you anymore but I just thinly sliced two chicken breasts.  Think about how much hot chicken you want to actually fit in your mouth at one time and slice accordingly.  Now, add the chicken.  The chicken should be cooked through in about five minutes if the curry is boiling, if not it'll take a little longer.  When the chicken is no longer pink inside, add in the peppers.

Cook for a few minutes, just to soften the peppers a little, but again, not mushy.  And you're done!  Scoop some rice into a bowl, follow with the curry and using a microplane or grater, grate a little lime zest on top, maybe add some sliced green onion, sweet basil, kafir lime leaves or cilantro, whatever your fancy.

Now for the Tiger's Cry.  This was 100% our favorite appetizer.  In fact, more than once it was just a meal.  Our favorite quote was my cousin's husband, Chris, who after taking his first bite said, 

 "This is the meat I dream about"

All it is, is a good steak, seasoned well with salt and pepper and then charbroiled and rested to have a good crust and stay juicy.  The magic is the sauce, well friends, here it is... feel free to face-palm yourself when you see how easy it is

• 1/4 c Lime Juice
• 2 Tbsp. Fish Sauce
• 2 tsp sugar
• Green onion (however much you want floating around, I used half of one)

And you're done and it's amazing and you'll never regret it.

This blog post came about, not because I just wanted to share this with everyone, which I did, but because Noah and I have become menu planners and it's one of the best decisions we've made.

We sit down each week, plan our menu, go shopping with a budget in mind and eat really well.  It's cut down on going out and eating cheap junk. We even got a funky chalkboard for our fridge. We feel better, we spend more time together, it's awesome, we love it and I could go on longer but I think my friend Sarah does a better job of waxing poetic here. Plus you should check out her Etsy site here, she's awesome.

Grace and Peace and good curry

Ali