Coconut milk gives quick meals a rich savor

By Doug Brown
Washington Post

A colorful stir-fry gets jazzed up with a generous splash of coconut milk. It adds a creamy taste of the tropics to this dish of noodles and shrimp. Washington Post

In my family, we've found one glorious solution to the dinner conundrum: coconut milk. Keep a few cans of it in your cupboard. When it's 6 p.m. and you're spent and don't want to spend an hour in the kitchen, you can slap together a Thai-style meal in a pinch.

Coconut milk, available in most supermarkets and Asian markets, adds a gentle, creamy lusciousness (and yes, that means fat, although you can buy "lite" coconut milk) and a whisper of nutty flavor to a dish of noodles.

In Thai, coconut milk is ca-thi; it's made by blending water with fresh or dried coconut, then gently cooking the mixture and straining it. Terminology can get confusing here: coconut milk in cans naturally has a "cream" on top, made up of solids that float; unless the recipe specifically calls for coconut cream, use both the thin liquid and the creamy solids. The cream should not be confused with "cream of coconut," which is sweetened and meant for desserts. Frozen coconut milk is also available and some find its flavor more pure than that of the canned variety.

To turn coconut milk into a Thai dinner, all you'll need are things you should have on hand anyway: onions, garlic, soy sauce, and something substantive such as shrimp, chicken, steak or vegetables. Keep a jar of curry paste stocked; if you can't find paste, curry powder works as well.

When young children are involved, go easy with the curry, using a teaspoon or less. But for adults who revel in spicy heat a tablespoon isn't quite enough.

You can season the dish mildly, serve up the kids' portions, then add further curry for the grownups.

If you prefer, you can skip the noodles and serve the Thai-style sauce over an equivalent amount of steamed jasmine rice.

Weekday Thai-style Noodles

• 1 pound dried noodles of any kind
• 1 tablespoon oil
• 2 to 4 garlic cloves
• 1 tablespoon minced ginger
• 1 onion, thinly sliced
• 2 carrots, sliced into quarter-inch rounds
• 1 red bell pepper, diced
• 1 15-ounce can unsweetened coconut milk
• 1 teaspoon to 3 tablespoons red Thai curry paste, depending on your taste
• 2 tablespoons soy sauce
• 1 pound shrimp (or boneless chicken strips or beef strips, thinly sliced)
• Fresh basil (Thai or regular) or cilantro leaves

In a large pot, cook the noodles in boiling water until tender. Drain and rinse well in to stop cooking, then set aside.

Pour the oil into a wok or skillet and heat until it's almost smoking. Add the garlic and ginger and saute over medium-high heat for 30 seconds. Add the onion and heat until it is softened, about 2 minutes. Add the carrots and red pepper, and saute until softened, about 7 minutes. Add the coconut milk, curry paste and soy sauce and stir until the paste is well blended with the coconut milk. Add peeled and cleaned shrimp. Lower the heat and simmer for 3 to 4 minutes or until the shrimp are pink.

Ladle over piles of noodles and shower with torn basil or cilantro leaves.

Serves 4.

Per serving (with egg noodles, shrimp and 2 tablespoons of curry paste): 902 calories, 43 g protein, 101 gm carbohydrates, 37 g fat, 280 mg cholesterol, 26 g saturated fat, 1,061 mg sodium, 8 g dietary fiber.