Red Chicken Curry with Bamboo Shoots

Name: Red Chicken Curry with Bamboo Shoots
Yield: Serves Four to Six
Cuisine: Thailand
Ingredients: 2.5 ml/½ tsp shrimp paste; 5 ml/1 tsp salt; 30 ml/2 tbsp vegetable oil; 1 litre/1¾ pints/4 cups coconut milk; 450 g/1 lb skinless, boneless chicken breast portions, diced; 15 ml/1 tbsp granulated sugar; 1-2 drained canned bamboo shoots, total weight about 225g/8oz, rinsed and sliced; 30 ml/2 tbsp Thai fish sauce; salt and ground black pepper; chopped fresh red chillies and kaffir lime leaves, to garnish; 5 kaffir lime leaves, torn; 2.5 ml/½ tsp cumin seeds; 12-15 fresh red chillies, seeded and coarsely chopped; 5 ml/1 tsp coriander seeds; 2 garlic cloves, chopped; 4 shallots, thinly sliced; 2 lemon grass stalks, chopped; 15 ml/1 tbsp chopped fresh galangal; 4 fresh coriander (cilantro) roots; 3 kaffir lime leaves, chopped; good pinch ground cinnamon; 10 black peppercorns; 5 ml/1 tsp ground turmeric

Preparation info

Serves
Four to Six

Difficulty
Medium

Appears in

Thai Food and Cooking

By Judy Bastyra and Becky Johnson

Published 2011

About

Bamboo shoots have a lovely crunchy texture. It is quite acceptable to use canned ones, as fresh bamboo is not readily available in the West. Buy canned whole bamboo shoots, which are crisper and of better quality than sliced shoots.

Ingredients

1 litre/1¾ pints/4 cups coconut milk
450

Asia
Thailand
Main course
Gluten-free
South East Asia

Method

Make the curry paste. Dry-fry the coriander seeds and cumin seeds for 1–2 minutes, then put in a mortar or food processor with all the remaining ingredients except the oil. Pound or process to a paste.
Add the vegetable oil, a lit