Grandma’s Red Curry

Staple banger

It requires little effort and a bit of a wait. If you substitute chicken, it also makes a bangin' vegan dish.

Ready In: 90 Minutes

Serves: 4 people

Ingredients

  • 2 cans of coconut milk

  • I tsp Thai curry paste

  • 1 chicken breast

  • 1 can bamboo shoots

  • Basil for topping

  • 1tsp fish sauce (or substitute with sea salt)

  • I tsp sugar

  • Veggies (your preference)

Preparation

  1. Cut chicken to the desired size

  2. Cut veggies to the desired size

Cook

  1. Bring 1 can of coconut milk and curry paste to a simmer.

  2. Cook chicken.

  3. Add bamboo shoots and veggies.

  4. Add meat and cook until done.

  5. Add the second can of coconut milk to the consistency preference.

  6. Add fish sauce.

  7. Add sugar.

  8. Add basil.

  9. Bring to a boil and shut off to cool and serve.

Tips

Serve over rice & contribute to an IRA when you’re young.

Thai Tacos & a Spicy Peanut Sauce.

It's a refreshing little side.

Thai tacos (as we call them) are a bit of a family treasure, and honestly, I’ve never made it as well as Grandma does, but it’s fucking phenomenal and deserves to be shared.

Going up in Thailand, my grandmother didn't have access to venison (or many undulates, really) like we do here in the States. When my parents would hunt a bear or deer, she would use the backstrap and other tender cuts as an added protein source, and that was my introduction to this dish. This recipe doesn’t include the meat because I think it’s beautiful as a vegetarian dish, but if you want to experiment or just like a little steak in your salad, I think a diced tri-tip should do just fine.

This dish was my introduction to enjoyably consuming spicy foods, and I remember forgoing anything green in this recipe and just eating handfuls of rice noodles with venison, all slathered in peanut sauce. My parents didn’t love my grubby mitts sifting through the fresh ingredients, but my grandma insisted that food was for your hands and that it was an inconvenience to add utensils to a dish like this.

This meal taught me to love food. I remember this dish came with a sense of occasion, like it was a friend you invite over when there’s something to celebrate. I make it when I’m smiling.

Ready In: 120 Minutes

Serves: 8 people

Ingredients

Peanut Sauce

  • 4 garlic cloves

  • 3 Thai chili peppers

  • 1 lime

  • 1.5 cups of peanuts

  • 3 tablespoons of crunchy peanut butter

Tacos

  • Green leaf lettuce

  • Thin rice noodles

  • Chives

  • Cucumber

  • Another lime

Preparation

Peanut Sauce

  1. ​​Smash peanuts, garlic cloves, and chili peppers in pestle & mortar

  2. Add lime juice to the mortar (to taste)

  3. Add 2 tbsp of crunchy peanut butter

  4. Mix and add the remaining PB, water, and lime juice to the desired consistency and taste.

Tacos

  1. Soak rice noodles for 30 minutes, then microwave noodles in water for 30 seconds, and let soak again for 30 minutes

    1. you can follow package directions, but this was my grandma’s little trick when she was in a hurry.

  2. Dice cucumber & chives

  3. Slice lime into wedges

Assembly

Make a lil’ taco using the green leaf as a shell and Thai Peanut sauce as a base layer (for adhesion), then get wild with it. Squirt lime to taste.

Tips

Add a splash of water to the peanut sauce before refrigerating. Keeps for a week.

Hot Philly Cheesesteaks

The New Staple.

I’ve been asking everyone to pick me up a hot Philly for 6 years, and I recently discovered just how easy it is to make one.

Ready In: 16 Minutes

Serves: 2 people

Ingredients

  • 8 slices roast beef deli slices

  • 2 forkfuls of Mama Lil’s peppers

  • 1 Tbs of butter

  • 2 sandwich slices of Cheddar cheese

  • 1/2 of a yellow onion

  • ¼ cup of warm water

  • 2 hoagies, halved

Preparation

  1. Heat a cast iron pan on medium

  2. Thinly slice half of your yellow onion. Shoot for 1/8th” or thinner

Cook

  1. Drop your butter underneath your onions on one half of the pan; scoop in the Mama Lil’s in the other half.

  2. They can touch but can't canoodle

  3. When your onions are golden, and your peppers are charred, evenly distribute them into your hoagies.

  4. Make two hoagie-shaped parallel piles of meat in your pan.

  5. Top the meat with the Cheddar.

  6. Pour in the water and cover the pan for about 30 seconds while the cheese turns into a gooey mess.

  7. Scoop into your sandwiches

  8. Grub

Tips

Your South Philly impression isn’t as good as you think.