Slow cooked Beef Panang curry a la Madam Mam's

This started out as an attempt to recreate Madam Mam's slow cooked beef panang. It is the best thing ever and I've always wanted to try to replicate it. This was a pretty good attempt and it was seriously delicious. We ate it with quinoa, but it will definitely be awesome with white rice too. I used beef chuck for this attempt, but I suspect brisket would actually be a better cut for it. The last three ingredients are added to taste. The basil, especially, develops over time, so it will get stronger in the left overs, keep that in mind when you are adding the leaves.
This dish was a complete experiment and I'm pretty sure it would actually be ok even with just throwing everything into the slow cooker together, but I tried to replicate the beginning of thai curries in pots and used the slow cooker for the long low heat step.

Ingredients

beef chuck, sliced into thick slices
Panang curry paste (from the store, Mae ploy brand) (~3 Tbsp)
two onions, finely chopped
can of coconut milk
brown sugar
thai basil, fresh
fish sauce/salt

Method

1) Heat about a tablespoon of oil and fry a couple of table spoons of the panang curry paste in the hot oil (I had about a kilo of beef) for about two minutes (The smell of the paste will change from raw and thats when it is ready)
2) Add half the can of coconut milk to the paste and cook for a few minutes
3) Add the chopped onions to the sauce for a few minutes
4) Add the sliced beef in and coat in the sauce and add to the slow cooker and cook on high for 6 hours
5) After 5 hours add the rest of the coconut milk, fish sauce/salt, brown sugar, lime juice and sliced basil leaves till it tastes right.
6) After a little more bubbling we ate it served over rice. It was delicious.

Salmon and Eggplant Curry

This Thai curry turned out good – the eggplant tasted amazing!
Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon canola oil
• 1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon Thai yellow curry paste, (see Shopping Tip) or 1 teaspoon curry powder, or to taste
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 medium eggplant, (about 1 pound), cut into 1/2-inch cubes
• 1 14-ounce can “lite” coconut milk
• 1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon fish sauce, (see Note)
• 1 tablespoon light brown sugar
• 1 pound skinned salmon fillet, preferably wild Pacific (see Note), cut into 1-inch pieces
• 2 cups sugar snap peas, trimmed
• 1/2 cup chopped fresh basil
• 3 tablespoons lime juice

Directions

1. Heat oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add curry paste (or powder) and garlic and cook, stirring, until fragrant, about 1 minute. Add eggplant and cook, stirring, until the eggplant is coated with the curry mixture, about 2 minutes.
2. Add coconut milk, fish sauce and brown sugar to the pan. Bring to a boil; stir in salmon and snow peas. Reduce heat to a simmer, cover and cook, stirring occasionally, until the salmon is cooked through and the peas are tender-crisp, about 5 minutes. Remove from the heat. Stir in basil and lime juice.

Tom Kha Pladuk

There are two staple soups in Thai cuisine: tom yam is a hot spicy clear soup with elements of sweet and sour flavors added. Tom kha is a milder soup with coconut milk and galangal (kha) dominating rather than the fiery prik (chili) of the tom yam. Because it is milder tom khas are often made with chicken or pork, but most common in Thailand are varieties using seafood (especially shrimp, squid, or fish such as red snapper or catfish) or vegetables (especially medleys of mushrooms, tom kha hed). The catfish can be "crisped" by quickly, and briefly, deep frying it in very hot oil, but this variation is based on simply poaching the fish in the soup.

In Thailand the fish is cleaned and then poached whole (with the head), then removed from the soup and cut into bite sized pieces which are returned to the soup for serving. The method here is a little simpler, in that it doesn't involve handling the hot fish.

Thais eat the galangal, which is cut into thin matchstick pieces. However it has been noticed that many Americans prefer to discard the galangal and so it may be wiser to leave the galangal in thin slices. Similarly the lemongrass is eaten, but you may prefer to cut it into 2" lengths, and crush them with a mallet. These may then be discarded by the diner.

Ingredients

• 1 catfish (about half a pound prepared weight)
• 2 cups fish stock
• 1 cup coconut milk
• 1 tablespoon galangal, julienned
• 1 tablespoon lemongrass, thinly sliced
• 1 tablespoon coriander/cilantro leaves
• 1 tablespoon Thai chile peppers, thinly sliced
• 4 tablespoons fish sauce
• 4 tablespoons lime juice

Method

Bring the stock to a simmer. Add the galangal, lemongrass, coriander, chilis, fish sauce and lime juice, and bring back to the simmer. Clean the fish and cut it into 1" steaks, then divide them, removing the bones. Add the fish to the soup, and the coconut milk and bring back to a very gentle simmer, and poach the fish for 3-4 minutes (until just cooked).