Thai Yellow Chicken Curry

Hi, I recently made a thai yellow chicken curry from scratch, without needing the paste, and is so simple, so thought others may be interested in it.

Yellow Curry Sauce Ingredients

2 red chilies (or substitute green), depending on desired spiciness, OR 1/2 to 1 tsp. cayenne pepper (I used the cayenne pepper, as don't have a high tolerance for spice, and felt would be easier to modify by using the pepper rather than fresh chillies)
2 shallots (or 1 small cooking onion)
1 thumb-size piece of ginger, sliced
3 large cloves garlic
1 tsp. ground coriander
1 tsp. ground cumin
1/4 tsp. fresh nutmeg (or substitute cinnamon)
3 Tbsp. fish sauce
1 tsp. dried turmeric OR 1 thumb-size piece fresh turmeric, thinly sliced
1 Tbsp. brown sugar
4 fresh or frozen kaffir lime leaves, snipped into small pieces with scissors (discard central stem)
1 can coconut milk
1 Tbsp. fresh lime juice (or juice from 1/2 lime)
1 Tbsp. ketchup OR 1 Tbsp. tomato paste + 1 tsp. sugar

Other ingredients

500g chicken chopped into pieces
1 stalk lemon grass (check preparation and cooking instructions before using*)
2 potatoes, chopped into wedges or small chunks
1 green and/or red bell pepper, de-seeded and sliced
1-2 additional kaffir lime leaves, left whole
Mushrooms
1/2 loose cup fresh coriander OR fresh basil to finish the dish

First, make the curry sauce by placing all sauce ingredients together in your food processor or blender. OR, you can also mince the ingredients by hand, or pound dry ingredients together with a pestle & mortar.

Then I cooked the chicken and all the other ingredients together, added the sauce, and served with basmati rice.

Most of the ingredients can be got at the Asian Market near the Georges Street Arcade, or the Oriental Emporium on Abbey Street (near Jervis) in Dublin.

* For the lemongrass, I chopped off the root, and then used the central part of the lemongrass (I ended up using 2 stalks instead of one), chopped it up, and then placed it into the food processor, and added to the chicken mix, before adding the sauce. The other method of using it cutting it up in segments of 2-3" and then to remove before serving. I prefer the blender method, as not only do you get the extra nutrients etc from the lemongrass, but also adds more taste IMHO.

Love and light,

Mystique