Chicken Yellow Curry

Author Notes

For the most part, my husband is responsible for bringing me out of my picky eating habits from back in the day. Over the past ten years (oh my goodness…ten years…) he has diligently fought with me over trying one bite of this and that. At first I found this so incredibly annoying but now I am thankful that he encouraged me to broaden my food horizons. Otherwise, I probably would not have gotten into cooking as much as I have and I would certainly not have this blog.

But I cannot talk about food exploration without mentioning my college career as a waitress for a thai restaurant in Richmond, Virginia called Elephant Thai. My friend Suzy worked there at the time and I mentioned I needed some extra money so that I could avoid eating from the Wendy’s value menu on a regular basis. She told me to stop by and fill out an application. So I did and just like that, boom, I was employed.

Now, before working at Elephant Thai, I had only tried chicken satay and a bite or two of my friend Lainy’s favorite dish, Pad See Ew. I knew practically nothing about Thai food; I did not even really know if I would like it. But in the following months turned to a couple of years, I was exposed to some of the best dishes I have ever had. At Elephant Thai we would have family style meals before and after every shift. This was oh so amazing for my food budget. The catch: accepting that I had to eat things like beef tongue or coming to terms with the fact that every dish was served “Thai Hot”. Also, my husband (boyfriend at the time) had to accept that I smelled like fish sauce more often than not.

Fast forward to now and my love for Thai cuisine, curried dishes, and heat has only grown. I have only tried to make Thai style dishes at home a few times and typically, for whatever reason, they turned out poorly. So, I decided to leave it to the professionals.

That is, until last night! Mercury may be in retrograde, but I FINALLY created a tasty curry. It is strange how sometimes I can plan a meal for days only to have the results turn out to be mediocre but this dish came together on a whim and my husband is saying it is the best thing I have ever made. I was inspired by a can of coconut milk that had been sitting in my pantry for weeks and the memory of a little boy at Elephant Thai who often came in with his father, asking for “chicken yellow curry, please”.

I must say, I’m a bit proud of this one. I combined what I learned from April Bloomfield’s Mind of Chef episode on curry with some basic ideas I picked up at Elephant Thai. —onetinyspark