Thai beef green curry

I hope everyone enjoyed their Fourth of July with the sun, the BBQs and the spectacular firework show last night. As for me, not much excitement going on yesterday since I had to work. I really loathe it when the holiday falls right in the middle of the week like this.  Just too far from either weekends to do anything worth while .... well... beside working and got pay extra (that is the only motivating part..hehehe...).

Luckily work was slow enough for me to take off early and enjoyed the rest of the holiday with my loved ones. After dinner, we went to watch some firework at a baseball park near home and lit up some more firework once we got home afterward. The kids had fun and enjoyed the show, so that was all that matter to me.

Anyway, back to the food business, I came up with this dish a while back after first tasting a similar version of this curry dish while we were on a vacation in Hawaii. My husband really loved it, so I tried to remember the flavor and the taste for later duplication. It is quite simple to make and doesn't require a long time to prepare either. Basically, you can use whatever meats, seafoods even, and any vegetables that you have on hands to make this dish. My husband even came up with an idea of using this left-over curry to make fried rice the next day. And to tell you the truth, it was quite some yummy fried rice that he made with it. So anyone who love curry should give it a try!

Ingredients:

1. 1 lb of beef (I used skirt steak, but you can also use sirloin or other types of tender cut)

2. Mushroom (1 box)

3. 1 large eggplant

4. 4 tsp of ground lemongrass (available in the frozen section at any Asian supermarket)

5. 1/2 can of coconut milk (about 1 cup)

6. 4 cloves of garlic (minced)

7. 2 tsp of fish sauce, 1 tsp of mushroom seasoning, 3 tsp of sugar, 1/2 garlic powder, 1.5 tbsp of curry powder, 1 tbsp of green curry paste, black pepper

8. Chopped thai basil leaves, 3-4 kaffir lime leaves (roughly chopped)

Slice the beef into 2 inch long and 1/2 inch wide strips, and repeat the same process for the eggplant. 

Marinate the beef with 1 tsp of mushroom seasoning, 1 tsp fish sauce, garlic powder and black pepper. Set aside for 1 hour to let the seasonings mingle with the beef.

In a large wok, heat about 3 tsp of oil on medium-high heat. Add in minced garlic and lemongrass, stir until slightly brown and fragrant. Then add in the beef, stir for 2 minutes and add in eggplant and mushroom. 

Mix everything around for a couple more minutes and add in curry powder, green curry paste and the remaining seasoning ingredients. After another minute, add the coconut milk and let it cook for a few more minutes. Adjust the seasoning to taste, toss in the kaffir lime leaves and turn off the heat. Top it off with chopped basil leaves and serve hot with steamed jasmine rice.