Thai Curry Noodles with Shrimp

The world is flat, as Thomas Friedman regularly bloviates, and while I’m not going to ponder the larger implications of that on this blog (or anywhere else for that matter), I do believe that it means every home kitchen should be an international kitchen. Budding home cooks often start with “American” staples – spaghetti marinara, scrambled eggs, and so on – but more and more Americans are also beginning to cut their chef’s teeth on the basic dishes, or adaptations thereof, of other countries as well.

So, my thesis: Readers of this blog and everyone else out there who is interested in learning to feed themselves should have a basic Thai curry as part of their kitchen repertoire. These curries are supremely easy to make – the skill is as much in the shopping as it is in the cooking – and the basic elements of a curry are easily adapted to different ingredients and different preparations.

For this dish, I prepared a basic red curry with shrimp and vegetables, but instead of serving it over rice, I tossed in some noodles for the last 5 minutes of cooking. They soaked up the curry sauce, were delicious, and obviated the need to dirty another pot. Win, win, and win.

As I said above, the sort of Thai cooking I like to do is really all about shopping. Unless, of course, you’re crazy enough to try to make your own curry paste. To me, homemade curry paste sounds like a lot of work and a surefire way to get hot chilis in my eyes, but I’m lazier and clumsier than most. If you are up to the task, godspeed, and please blog about it for us.

Brian explores some of the key ingredients for Thai cooking in this excellent post, but the two that I try always to have on hand are coconut milk and curry paste. Coconut milk is easy to find in pretty much any grocery store in our new, flat world, partially because it’s used in lots of cuisines besides Thai.

Curry paste is a little trickier. I’m a devotee of the Maesri brand, which comes in small cans as well as larger cardboard tubs that make it easy to seal and reuse leftover paste:

There are a dozen varieties including red, panang, green, and massaman. I’d recommend starting with a flavor that you’ve had and liked in a Thai restaurant and then going from there. (In fact, the Thai food that I have made at home – when I am using fish sauce and kaffir lime as Brian instructs – is nearly indistinguishable from what I’ve had at most Thai restaurants in a really striking way, probably because they’re buying and using the exact same ingredients.)

So consider this the “Rave” portion of this post. Go out this afternoon, and buy curry paste and coconut milk for your cabinet. Then, the next time you’re uninspired for dinner, just follow the first few steps of the recipe below, toss in whatever meat/meat substitute and vegetables you like, and dig in. You won’t regret it.

Now the “Rant” portion: Many American supermarkets have not yet recognized the glorious treasure that is imported Thai curry paste. It’s definitely not uncommon to see Maesri in the “Asian” or “Ethnic” aisle (usually in the small cans rather than the tubs), but you can’t count on it. The most reliable place to find it is still at Asian markets, and you can also order it online.

This means that if you haven’t planned ahead and there’s not an Asian market nearby, you may be forced to settle, as I was last week, for this:

It’s American-made Thai Kitchen brand curry paste, and it’s fine, I suppose. It makes for a decent approximation of a Thai curry, but it’s definitely not the good stuff. On top of which, the level of heat produced by using the ratio recommended on the jar seems to be calibrated for infants. The technocrats at Thai Kitchen advised me to use 1-2 tablespoons of paste for the amount of coconut milk I was using; I used almost the entire jar.

Fortunately, although it’s best to add the curry paste at the beginning so that you can infuse its flavor into the hot oil, you can add more at any point during the cooking. Just taste and adjust as you go. So, Thai Kitchen is fine in a pinch, but the real stuff is worth the tiny bit of forethought/effort it requires.

Vegetarians: Once again, I’ve tagged a post with meat (shrimp, at least) as vegetarian. I just wanted to point out that this could easily be made with tofu or with just vegetables. So there.

If when you read this blog, you often say to yourself, “Gee, I should make that,” but then don’t make it, please let Thai curry be the dish you try. Whether it’s these noodles or a more traditional preparation with rice, I think you’ll love it. And after you’ve made it once, you’ll recognize just what a quick, easy, and reliable staple it is.

And if you disagree, please direct complaints to Thomas Friedman at friedman@nytimes.com.

Thai Curry Noodles with Shrimp

1. Heat 2-3 tablespoons of vegetable oil in a wok, large saucepan, or small soup pot. Add in one medium onion, chopped or sliced.
2. When onion begins to soften, add in about 2 tablespoons of curry paste, more if using Thai Kitchen or if you like things spicy. (For me, 2 tablespoons is on the low side, but remember that you can always add more later. Taking it out is more difficult. After you’ve made this once or twice, you’ll get good at just eyeballing the correct amount.)
3. Saute for 3 minutes, then add in one 14 oz. can of coconut milk and stir to combine.
4. This is where the noodle and rice paths diverge. If you’re making a curry to eat over rice, add in a second can of coconut milk and then other ingredients, staggered according to required cooking time (i.e. – potatoes go in before chicken). For more guidance, see the posts by Liz and Brian. For noodles, go to step 5.
5. Add in one quart vegetable stock, bring it almost to a boil, and then reduce heat to simmer. Add in any vegetables you like. I used broccoli and snow peas. If you’re using something like potatoes that takes longer to cook, add those first.
6. When vegetables begin to soften, add in meat or tofu. Cooking time will very depending on what you’re using and the heat. Just take out a larger piece and cut into it to check for doneness. If this scares you, just stick to tofu and vegetables, or use precooked shrimp.
7. Add the noodles X minutes before you expect the meat is done, where X is the number of minutes indicated on the noodle package. I used “Chinese Noodles,” which said they needed five minutes.
8. If all this talk of differing cooking times scares you, relax. Just keep simmering it all together until you’re confident that everything is done. The fact that you are cooking in broth and fatty coconut milk significantly mitigates the damage done by overcooking, and if the sauce starts to get too thick, just add some water.
9. Voila: