Most cultures have a signature stew. I think of stew as a warm winter retreat, but even hot regions possess hot stews, leading me to ascribe equal cultural significance to stew as, say, bread or grain dishes. And since stews are liquid based, it stands to reason said liquid would be something indigenous. Hence the French – if only as an excuse to drink while cooking – use wine, and Thai/Vietnamese favor coconut milk. The latter is of interest to us today.
Not only is coconut milk rich, but the truly authentic curry recipes go a step further, calling for coconut cream. Cream or no cream, these curries never contain just “a touch of cream”, as waiters like to say. Rather, as with a true New England clam chowder, to eat these dishes is to consume spoonful upon spoonful of straight, simmered cream.
A good chef has a delicate relationship with his can of coconut milk: not too much, not too little. A poor chef looks at a can of coconut milk and sees an excuse not to cook and develop flavors but rather a shortcut in a can. And so you find the clumsy bowl of greasy white milk requiring some considerable fishing to locate a morsel of chicken or floret of broccoli.
The exception is coconut soup, a perfect representation of the phrase “it is what it is”. The soup is flavored simply with fish sauce and garnished with a healthy handful of veg (we used butternut squash), preferably something colorful enough to offset the white broth. Ironic that the perfect embrace of coconut milk exists in soup, rather than stew form, but cooking works in mysterious ways.
As a not inconsiderable aside, whatever you make with coconut milk needs a sharp condiment (unless it’s dessert) to fend off its richness. Here we made a simple chile sauce, but pickled cucumbers, herbs, and so on, would work well.
(NOTE: If you don’t live near a Thai grocery and thus can’t bike over for a few handfuls of tiny bird chilies, use whatever hot chile you can find.)
Coconut and Butternut Squash Soup
Serves 4 (with rice)
2 pound butternut squash diced (1/2 inch)
2 cups coconut milk
2 cups chicken broth
3 tablespoons fish sauce
Chile Sauce (below)
1. Combine squash, coconut milk and broth in a pot and simmer until the vegetable is tender. Season with fish sauce and serve with Chili sauce.
Chile Sauce
½ cup scuds (tiny Thai chilies) or a few Serrano chilies
1 cup fish sauce
1. In a food processor (a mini one works well here), pulse the scuds (seeds included) to a slightly chunky paste. Add to a bowl and pour over the fish sauce. Serve. Stays covered in fridge for quite a while, decreasing in heat over time.
