Green Beef Curry with Thai Aubergines (Eggplants)

As our last Southeast Asian meal before heading off to Colorado, I thought it would be a good idea to use up the remaining Thai ingredients - the Thai basil, Thai eggplants and kaffir lime leaves in particular.  The only recipe that I could find that used all of the ingredients, including the Thai eggplants, and didn't require yet another trip to the grocery store was this one.  So we made it.  I know it's a pretty lame reason for choosing a recipe, but sometimes I am lame.  I just can't help it.  And considering we will be leaving tomorrow for an entire week, I really didn't want to go out and buy more ingredients and more groceries.

I guess it is no surprise that this recipe was my least favorite of the six Vietnamese and Thai recipes that we have made over the course of the last week.  I thought that it was the least flavorful, which is kind of surprising considering the punch that our green curry paste packs.  I also thought that the beef got a little tough and didn't absorb much of the curry flavor.  Neither did the eggplant.  I wish that we had lightly salted the eggplant or something before tossing it into the curry.  If the eggplant had simmered in the curry for longer it would have absorbed more flavor.  And if we had used a different cut of beef it would probably have been more tender (and potentially also absorbed more flavor).  I thought that while the recipe was perfectly fine, it was no better than the curry you could find at any of a thousand Thai restaurants around the country.  We have certainly made better curries before and I hope that make even better curries in the future.  I just purchased Mangoes and Curry Leaves: Culinary Travels Through the Great Subcontinent and I think that it has some Sri Lankan and Indian curries for us to try.  Seeing as the cookbook is by the same authors as Hot, Sour, Salty, Sweet: A Culinary Journey Through Southeast Asia (a cookbook we love and have had some real success with), I have high hopes!  I also just bought Asian Dumplings: Mastering Gyoza, Spring Rolls, Samosas and More, so get ready for some more dumpling recipes after we return from Colorado! 

Recipe after the jump!

Green Beef Curry with Thai Aubergines

The Food and Cooking of Thailand

By Judy Bastyra and Becky Johnson

INGREDIENTS:

1 lb beef sirloin

1 tbsp vegetable oil

3 tbsp Thai green curry paste

2 1/2 cups coconut milk

4 kaffir lime leaves, torn

1-2 tbsp fish sauce

1 tsp palm sugar or light muscovado (brown) sugar

5 oz small Thai aubergines (eggplants), halved

a small handful of fresh Thai basil

2 fresh green chilis, shredded, to garnish

Trim off any excess fat from the beef.  Using a sharp knife, cut it into long thin strips.  This is easiest to do if it is well chilled.  Set aside.

Heat the oil in a large, heavy pan or wok.  Add the curry paste and cook for 1-2 minutes, until fragrant.  Stir in half of the coconut milk.  Cook, stirring frequently, for about 5-6 minutes, until an oily sheen appears on the surface of the liquid.  Add the beef to the pan with the kaffir lime leaves, fish sauce, sugar, and aubergine halves.  Cook for 2-3 minutes, then stir in remaining coconut milk.  

Bring back to a simmer and cook until the meat and aubergines are tender.  Stir in the Thai basil just before serving.  Garnish curry with shredded chilis and serve with white rice.