This is a curry that I made last night for dinner. Here's how I did it:
Coconut Milk
- Start off with 2, 14-oz cans of unsweetened coconut milk. DO NOT SHAKE THEM before opening!!!
- Open both cans and spoon out the thick cream from the top into a bowl. Save the thinner milk for later.
- I used about a pound of boneless country style ribs. Trim to remove some of the fat and cut into 2-inch piece
- Dry the pork using some paper towels. Season with salt and pepper and brown in batches. I used a cast iron dutch oven for this because I was going to braise the pork in the same pot.
- After the pork is browned, deglaze the pot with a cup of low-sodium chicken stock. Add one stick of cinnamon, one star anise, four cloves of garlic smashed, 2 inches of fresh ginger chopped into large bits, six ****** lime leaves and 2 stalks of lemongrass (leave out bottom 1 inch and use the next six inches).
- Add one medium onion cut into quarters.
- Add the thinner coconut milk that you saved from the first step. The meat should be fully submerged in the liquid. If it isn't, add more chicken stock.
- Bring to boil. Reduce to simmer. Cover and cook till tender - about an hour and a half.
- Peel four medium potatoes and cut into quarters. Add to the pork pot.
- Heat a wok or frying pan on medium-high. Add the thick coconut cream from step one.
- Cook the cream until the water evaporates and the oil separates out from the solids. Stir constantly so that the coconut cream does not burn.
- Add 2 tablespoons of Thai curry paste. I used red, but I expect that penang or massaman would work too. Continue to stir and cook until the curry paste is fragrant, has a deeper color and the oil separates out along the edges of the paste.
- Add one tablespoon of curry powder. I used Madras curry powder. I suspect that any other curry powder will work as well. Or use an additional tablespoon of curry paste if you want to avoid the curry powder.
- Add one teaspoon of palm or brown sugar, and two tablespoons of tomato sauce. Continue to stir and cook for another 2 to 3 minutes, making sure that nothing burns!
- Add one ladle full of the braising liquid from the pork pot. Mix and bring to boil. Continue to add the braising liquid using this method until the sauce attains the desired consistency. If you run out of braising liquid, use chicken stock or coconut milk.
- Taste and add salt and/or sugar if needed. Allow the sauce to simmer for 10 minutes.
- Add the braised pork and the cooked potatoes to the simmering curry sauce.
- Stir gently and cook for 10 minutes.
- Garnish as desired. I used chopped red Thai chilies, sliced green serrano chilies and finely cut ****** lime leaves.