Eat it at home!

By popular request (i.e. Aunt Sue), I am putting a recipe for one of my favorite Thai dishes. It is the soup from the cafe I mentioned like 2 posts ago.

It's called tom kha gai. The recipe I have in a cookbook actually is quite sparse, so I am supplementing it.
Ingredients:
2-inch piece ginger, peeled and thinly sliced
2 cups coconut milk
1 cup chicken stock
1 stick lemongrass (cut into 4 pieces)
4-6 fresh bay leaves
1/4 cup diced red onion
2-3 cups chopped mushrooms (I like the button mushrooms above, but feel free to experiment)
1-2 (or more) finely chopped red chillies
3 chicken breast fillets, cut into thin strips
1 teaspoon brown sugar
2 tablespoons fish sauce
cilantro for seasoning
1. Combine the ginger, coconut milk, chicken stock, lemongrass, and bay leaves into a medium pan. Bring to a slight boil and simmer, uncovered, for about 12 minutes. Don't forget to stir it.

2. Add the chicken, chopped chillies, mushrooms, and onion. Cook for about 8 minutes, until the chicken is done.

3. Add the fish sauce and brown sugar. Season with as much cilantro as you like. Mixed in works well, as well as sprinkled on each bowl.

Makes 4 small servings of soup. Eat with rice for a full meal. <3
I like to eat with with a heaping serving of plain steamed rice. Thai rice is woooonderful if you've never had it. I recommend going to an Asian grocery and getting a bag. It's easy to do in the microwave or stove top if you don't have a rice cooker. Keep in mind that it will triple in size. I made the mistake of making 2 cups of rice for our soup, which turned out to be able to feed a small army.

The next day, I tried my hand with curry. Curry paste is actually surprisingly easy to use, and with delicious results. This little number is a bit easier to make, takes less time and less brainpower.
Ingredients:
3 tablespoons curry paste in whichever flavor you like
4 chicken breasts cut into pieces
3 large potatoes
4-6 fresh bay leaves
2-4 (or more) fresh red chillies
fresh basil
1 tablespoon fish sauce
2-3 tablespoons vegetable oil

The key to using curry paste is to actually cook it before you mix it with other things. Simmer it for 3-5 minutes with some water, then add some vegetable oil until it has enough to it to put the chicken and potatoes in. At this point, put in everything else and let it simmer. It will probably take up to 25 minutes for the potatoes to cook all the way through.
Just like any good Asian food, serve with rice.