![\"scallopcurry\"](\"http:\/\/www.withaglass.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/scallopcurry.jpg\")
Forget all you have ever heard about scallops having a fragile taste\u00a0or\u00a0being easily spoilt by strong and\u00a0hot\u00a0seasoning. This fiery dish, bursting with bold\u00a0flavours\u00a0– like every\u00a0Thai curry – proves exactly the opposite. After years of eating my beloved mollusc\u00a0prepared in various\u00a0ways, I can say without hesitation this is by far my favourite scallop dish.<\/p>\n
I have found this jewel of a recipe in David Thompson’s Thai Food<\/a>, a beautifully edited, high-quality\u00a0cookery book I have been reading and testing\u00a0for the last few months. Until now, I have only\u00a0posted Squid Salad<\/a> (a dream treat for squid lovers), but all the other dishes I tried proved also\u00a0fantastic\u00a0and highly superior to\u00a0what I have ever had in any Thai restaurant. These\u00a0results are\u00a0not accidental: they are obtained thanks to the use of genuine fresh ingredients and, in the case of curries, a homemade paste is the crucial reason of the stunning difference.\u00a0This scallop\u00a0curry is the perfect example of the\u00a0elegance and sophistication only a homemade paste can yield.<\/p>\n Even though David Thompson has completely changed my way to see the Thai cuisine\u00a0(for example I will never even consider using a commercial curry paste), I must confess\u00a0I do not follow all his\u00a0recommendations…\u00a0I do not prepare fresh coconut milk, as the author urges everyone to do, and I allow myself to reduce\u00a0significantly the fat content in coconut milk\/cream – based curries. Served\u00a0in my house as the main\u00a0course with rice and some vegetables, they\u00a0are much too rich and, anyway, it’s an old habit of mine to lighten dishes as long as they remain\u00a0delicious.\u00a0In\u00a0this recipe, I have also used\u00a0more scallops (and in general indicated this recipe, normally for four, as serving two, since I have it only with rice and vegetable\u00a0side dish, which is less than a typical Thai meal). Even though I’m a coriander fan, I\u00a0didn’t like it here; sliced makrut\u00a0lime leaves and chilli seemed a\u00a0sufficient\u00a0“fresh touch” at the end.\u00a0For the original recipe, check David Thompson’s wonderful book<\/a>.<\/p>\n TIPS:\u00a0Since every curry paste I prepared was\u00a0different from the previous one, every ingredient is of a high importance and cannot be skipped, so if you embark on a curry paste making adventure (though, since it takes me about 5 minutes in this particular case, I don’t know if “adventure” is the right word), make sure you have ALL\u00a0the required products. You will be thrilled to recognise\u00a0them, afterwards, one by one in the finished\u00a0dish and you will probably experiment later changing their amounts to suit your tastebuds.<\/p>\n I am able to buy all the fresh ingredients necessary for Thai pastes in Asian grocery shops and I know these are available in many European countries, so I hope you can get those in your city too. (Some can be sold frozen, for example makrut\u00a0lime leaves).<\/p>\n Curry paste can be prepared in a mortar (an optimal solution, apparently) or quicker and easier in a food processor (I use a small baby food mixer). The author recommends to add some water (not coconut milk; see below), which makes it easier to obtain a smoother paste.<\/p>\n This recipe\u00a0will yield\u00a0more paste than necessary; the remains can be stored in the fridge for several days and then used once more (I experiment with other ingredients). Do not add coconut milk to the paste before refrigerating because it will spoil quicker.<\/p>\n David Thompson is against it, but I find defrosted homemade paste actually very good (probably because I compare it to store-bought), though it’s best when freshly made.<\/p>\n I have realised\u00a0that – purists might\u00a0criticise me\u00a0here – certain Thai ingredients freeze quite well (though they lose some of their aroma, so I advise using a bit more of these; I usually use 50% more makrut\u00a0lime leaves for example).\u00a0I have been freezing makrut\u00a0lime leaves, grachai, galangal (this one loses quite a lot in the process, but is still acceptable), coriander roots\u00a0and\u00a0fresh pepper corns. I wouldn’t freeze Thai basil\u00a0or\u00a0coriander leaves. Frozen ingredients are obviously better than no ingredients at all and definitely better than dried ones (do not even try to dry makrut\u00a0lime leaves).<\/p>\n Preparation: about 40 minutes<\/em><\/p>\n Ingredients (serves two):<\/em><\/p>\n Curry paste:<\/em><\/p>\n 5-8 dried long hot\u00a0red chillies (deseeded, soaked until soft in warm water and drained)<\/em><\/p>\n a big pinch of salt<\/em><\/p>\n 5 thickish slices of galangal<\/em><\/p>\n 4 tablespoons chopped garlic<\/em><\/p>\n 3 tablespoons chopped lemongrass (remove the outer tough leaves, the upper 1\/3 of the stalk and also the lowest toughest small bit)<\/em><\/p>\n 3 tablespoons chopped red shallot<\/em><\/p>\n 1 tablespoon chopped coriander root<\/em><\/p>\n 10 white peppercorns<\/em><\/p>\n 1 heaped teaspoon roasted shrimp paste<\/em><\/p>\n 14-16 scallops (depending on the size and your appetite, of course)<\/em><\/p>\n 500 ml (about 2 cups) coconut cream (I have used only 250 ml coconut milk instead)<\/em><\/p>\n 1 tablespoon palm sugar<\/em><\/p>\n 2 tablespoons fish sauce<\/em><\/p>\n 250 ml stock (or coconut milk; I have used homemade chicken stock because I prefer a cleaner taste)<\/em><\/p>\n 4 makrut (also known as kafir)\u00a0lime leaves, thinly sliced (I always remove the central vein)<\/em><\/p>\n 1 tablespoon thick coconut cream<\/em><\/p>\n 1 fresh red chilli, sliced<\/em><\/p>\n (coriander leaves, torn; I don’t like their presence here, so I have skipped them the second time I prepared this curry)<\/em><\/p>\n Prepare the paste, grinding all the ingredients in a mortar or mixing in a food processor, adding some water in order to obtain a more or less smooth paste (see the tips above).<\/p>\n Heat the coconut cream (or milk, if you opt for a lighter version), add 3 tablespoons of the paste (mine were well heaped) and stir-fry for about 5 minutes.<\/p>\n Add the sugar, the fish sauce, the stock (or coconut milk) and let it simmer until it thickens.<\/p>\n Add the scallops and 2 sliced makrut\u00a0lime leaves.<\/p>\n Let the scallops simmer until they become opaque (if they are not completely covered in liquid, you might have to flip them once).<\/p>\n Taste the seasoning and adjust so that the flavours are at the same time salty, hot and fragrant thanks to the makrut\u00a0leaves.<\/p>\n Serve the individual portions or on a serving plate, sprinkle with the fresh chilli, the remaining sliced makrut\u00a0leaves and coriander, if using.<\/p>\n (Refrigerate the remaining paste for several days and use it with other ingredients.)<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Forget all you have ever heard about scallops having a fragile taste\u00a0or\u00a0being easily spoilt by strong and\u00a0hot\u00a0seasoning. This fiery dish, bursting with bold\u00a0flavours\u00a0– like every\u00a0Thai…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":16854,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[190,33,25],"tags":[212,12],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.withaglass.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16851"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.withaglass.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.withaglass.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.withaglass.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.withaglass.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=16851"}],"version-history":[{"count":25,"href":"https:\/\/www.withaglass.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16851\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19921,"href":"https:\/\/www.withaglass.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16851\/revisions\/19921"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.withaglass.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/16854"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.withaglass.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=16851"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.withaglass.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=16851"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.withaglass.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=16851"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}