Easy yes, just open the packet, but not authentic Thai taste. I am the Thai Food Editor on Bellaonline.com and often am asked to work with chef's on using Thai ingredients. I have been cooking Thai cuisine for over 20 years constantly learning more on each trip-just like the trip we just returned from a few days ago.

Press/media? Press releases do wonders for exposure-congratulations-I just object to this Simple Curry being called authentic Thai Curry. That would be like saying Indian curries with loads of sugar for the farenghi palate are authentic-sorry I love the traditional tastes and exciting flavours of India and Thailand sans many grams of sugar. They are my favourite cuisines!

I learned via numerous trips to Thailand and from award winning Thai Cook book author and teacher, Kasma Loha-unchit to cook "real Thai" food not Westernized and loaded with sugar. I am not talking "my taste" just Thai taste curry. I am passionate about flavours-balanced flavours.

Green Curry is the hottest of the Thai curries and wonderful with pork, seafood and veggies.

One can inexpensively prepare great real Thai curries using Mae Ploy or Mae Sri or Lobo brand curry pastes plus coconut milk (Chao Koh is a good brand) to serve 8 for less than $2 plus seafood, meat, veggies as you want. Tubs of these curry pastes are $1.50-$2.50 for pint and quart size. Pnnies for awesome flavour!

Or go for it and make your own fresh tasting curry pastes in mortor and pestle or even a food processor-very easy-garlic, chuiles, lemongrass, galangal, kapi (shrimp paste) and fish sauce. Some curries require a few more ingredients always fresh and so tasty, and even a small amount of date palm sugar if using lime juice to achieve balance in flavour. Yes making your own results in th best flavour, but sometimes quick is OK and that is where the canned Thai curry paste comes in to play. Complete curry meal veg or non-veg in 20 minutes-same length of time as it takes to steam the Jasmine Thai Hom Mali Rice (new crop jasmine).

Here on iFood.TV fiveadayz video making green curry paste

http://ifood.tv/recipe/thai_green_curry

Or from Kasma Loha-unchit-James Beard award winning author an easy green curry using canned curry paste: http://thaifoodandtravel.com/recipes/greencurp.html or make your own curry paste w/dumplings-yum - for this to die for recipe

http://thaifoodandtravel.com/recipes/greencur2.html

Or this is the recipe I often make:

Green Curry Paste (Phrik Kaeng Kiao Wan)

This is a paste for a green curry, and the 'wan' indicates that it should be a balance of slightly sweet as well as hot.

1 cup green birdseye chiles (phrik kee nu) 5 T lemon grass, finely sliced 10 T shallots chopped 10 T garlic, minced 5 T galangal (kha) grated 5 T coriander/cilantro root, chopped 2 T coriander seed 1 T cumin seed 1 T freshly ground black pepper 2 T shredded fresh Kaffir lime leaves (bai magroot) 4 T fermented shrimp paste (kapi) 1 -2 teaspoons palm sugar to balance * optional

If you don't have access to Bird Chiles (phrik ki nu) or Thai Dragon Chiles(Phrik chee fa), you can use 1/2 pound of habanero chiles, or 3/4 pound of serranos, or 1 pound of jalapeno chiles.

Note that if you use a substitute you will get a different volume of paste, and that you will need to use different amounts in subsequent recipes.

If you can't get galangal(kha) use ginger. If you can't get fresh Kaffir Lime leaves (bai makroot) use lime zest If you can't get coriander root, use coriander stems and leaves leaves.

Coarsely chop the chiles. Toast the dry seeds in a heavy iron skillet or wok, and grind them coarsely.

Place the kapi on a piece of double tin foil formed into a little dish. Place this into your toaster oven to develop the fragrance. Open window first as it gives off a very strong aroma. This mellows and develops the proper flavour.

Add all the ingredients to a food processor and process to a smooth paste or pound with mortar and pestle the traditional way.

Place in a glass jar with tight fitting lid and keep in the fridge for at least a week for the flavors to combine and develop before use. This chile paste will keep for several weeks when refrigerated.

Shanti/Mary-Anne

I have copied/pasted this comment to repspond to the same comment by the user above posts on all my videos...

"I am sorry to hear the sauce was too sweet for you. We have received overwhelmingly positive feedback thus far regarding our sauces taste and ease of preparation. This would probably explain why we are in the media monthly.

I hope you don't mind if I copy and paste this comment to respond to the continual post above that you have posted on our other videos. Thanks!"

FYI-Simple Curry packaged curries are EXTREMELY sweet loaded with white augar. Thai cooks balance hot-sweet-salty-sour by using a VERY small amount of date palm sugar if needed and NEVER dump copious amounts of white sugar in to any dish. When I calculated the amout of sugar in Simple Curry it sent me into sugar shock - like shivers. Yes I have tried it and it was tasted by two profesional chefs and our family - no one would eat it.

Shanti/Mary-Anne

sounds so good! thanks, 'm