A Reasonably Successful Attempt at Thai Curry

I was in such a good mood on Wednesday after selling my car 100% painlessly and finally purchasing the digital camera I've wanted to buy for two years, that I decided I was going to really cook that night. Last week I managed to get my family to go to Thai Ruby for my graduation dinner. I used to eat Thai food with friends in Virginia with some frequency, but haven't been to a Thai restaurant since and I missed it. With the taste of my entree still in my mouth and a recipe for Coconut Curry Chicken open in front of me, I wrote down the ingredients and I went all out. I grated my own ginger, bought fresh basil, cut up the chicken into bite sized pieces (this was a bit deal because I hate touching raw chicken and usually shell out for the pre-chopped stuff), and even seeded and chopped my own jalepeno peppers, which thing I have been afraid to do for years now because cookbooks always warn you not to touch the pepper, and especially not the seeds, and especially not your eyes until you have thoroughly washed your hands with soap and warm water. (K--- laughed at me when she walked in the door and saw me busily chopping away with plastic bags on my hands.) The only thing I didn't do was crush the garlic myself because I don't have a garlic press and I do have a jar of pre-crushed garlic (which, incidentally, I think is one of the greatest innovations of the modern culinary world).

The result was...all right. Actually, it was good but I was moderately disappointed. I blame most of the just-all-rightness on the frying pan, which refused to heat up at the edges and started smoking within thirty seconds of adding any ingredient, be it garlic or chicken or olive oil. I own a decent set of frying pans, but I packed them up and shipped them out a few weeks ago when the opportunity arose and if my roommates had any hidden kitchenware that they hadn't bothered to bring out because I had very nearly stocked the kitchen single-handedly, they haven't yet found time to drag them from storage.

Of course, I was also comparing my curry to the curry from Thai Ruby, and of course my curry isn't going to turn out the same. Especially on my first try. Especially with a very different recipe. I expected this. And the final result really wasn't that bad. In fact, my roommate T--- raved about it and took a second helping (K--- was either scared away by the jalapeno pepper or didn't believe me when I said she was welcomd to have some, or maybe just didn't want any). And I do think I would make the recipe again. It did taste like Thai food - I just expected it to be sweeter, to have more sauce, and not to have all those little brown flecks floating around in it (although you certainly couldn't taste that something had burned).

Still, the experiment renewed my enthusiasm for cooking. I have spent years developing my baking skills and perfecting my cookie recipe, but I have never really taken the time to become a good cook. The past couple years I had motivation from dinner groups and tried out new recipes almost every week, but I still have a long way to go. My soon-to-be-roommate out in Virginia is also working on improving her cooking skills, and this will either encourage me or discourage me from my own endeavor. We'll see - this endeavor might very well be shattered by the obligations of a first year doctoral student trying to maintain a personal and social life at the same time. Or it may prove to be another outlet for maintaining my sanity.