sashinka | observation orientated, with a twist of lime | a blog

Let's face it, Thai Temple Curry is entirely a marketing construct: it's never been near a temple, there's not a recipe to be found all over the interwebnet, and, well, y'know.

Quoth the back of the tin (from The Really Interesting Food Company):
"David Scott, successful restauranteur, published food and travel writer, has journeyed exstensively to bring you these authentic and delicious vegetarian dishes.

A Soul satisfying Thai curry based on a monastery recipe. Chick peas and tomatoes, cooked in coconut milk, flavoured with spices, soy sauce, sweet basil and cane sugar."

First, let's deconstruct:

did he journey or travel?

there are no "authentic" vegetarian dishes. I suspect it's not an authentic Thai dish, or we'd have heard about it, and the marketing peeps had to make it an authentic something

why has Soul got a capital S?

And that's not a sentence, "a soul satisfying..."

the blurb says cane sugar, but it's not in the ingredients list, and it's labeled "no added sugar."

So we know this isn't an authentic Thai recipe, because we have google, and we just can't find any reference to it. It could be called something else, and just the "Temple" bit is marketing. What spices do they use: why won't they tell us.

I could go on. I won't.

Here's how I think you make it:
cook some Thai red curry paste with coconut milk. Maybe add some coriander? Empty in a tin of chopped tomoatoes. Add cubed potatoes (par boiled), cook for a while, add chick peas, and garden peas (even from the freezer, if you must), and some torn basil leaves. Use apple juice to thin the sauce slightly, add soy sauce. Theoretically, that should be it. Let me know.