What can you do with $12? You can watch an early bird movie for $12. You can get a cheap man’s haircut for $12. You can get a meal at Denny’s for $12. Well, if you got a party of two, your options are even fewer. You can get two drinks and one small snacks at a boba place. You can get two cold stone ice creams. If you have a party of four, you can probably order things off the dollar menu at a fast food place. What if I tell you that for $12, you can feed a family of 4 with an awesome curry dinner?
This month, itsmydish.com proudly present a new battle between Mike and Jeff – price challenge! We challenge each other to bring our best curry dish for a party of 4, with a strict budget of $12 (rice not included). Let’s hear what each one of us have to say about this curry price challenge:
When you first know that it’s a price challenge on a curry dish, what is your opinion?
Mike: I fed a group of 10 guys back in college for $20 so I know how to compete in a price challenge. Curry can be really cheap with just sauce and rice or really high end with seafood and steak. When I was working in Japan, I’ve had a $30 curry that contained Japanese wagyu beef. I’ve also had $4 curry special from the local grocer that had just sauce and no meat nor vegetables.
Jeff: Curry is one of the first dishes I learned when I started cooking. I had a friend who loves curry so much that he asked me how cheap one bowl of curry rice can be. It turns out to be roughly $1. I have confidence to win this price challenge.
What is curry to you? What is your opinion on curry?
Mike: Curry is an excellent one dish meal that can satisfy any appetite. Similar to fried rice, it all depends on what you put in it. Many regions in the world eat curry. There is the Japanese style curry, Thai curry, Chinese curry, and Indian curry. So many possibilities.
Jeff: If I were to personify curry then curry is a person who loves to see other people stand out and shine. Except for a few kinds of curry dishes, which really are just curry and rice, most curry dishes are highlighting another kind of protein or vegetable. Picking the right partner for my curry dish is going to be a key.
What makes this curry different or unique?
Mike: For this competition, I chose Thai green curry because I love coconut milk and also since it’s milky green so you wouldn’t think it’s spicy but then after you take the first bite and swallow, that’s when you know why it’s called curry. Thai curry in general have a lot more vegetables in the curry dish and can take many mixed ingredients, depending on what is in season. Not only does it have the typical curry undertones, you can also taste the fresh herbs and vegetables in the Thai green curry.
Jeff: I choose Japanese curry. There are few known combinations that is so popular that you can find it in all Japanese food court. Tonkatsu curry is one famous Japanese curry dish. The true beauty behind it is that the cost is relatively cheap!
Now let’s bring on the challenge!
Ingredients:
Mike’s Thai Green Curry with Chicken ($11.95)
- 1 ½ lbs chicken breast (velveted)
- 14 oz coconut milk (1 can)
- 2 tbsp coconut oil
- 2 tbsp green curry paste
- 1 cup of chicken stock
- 4 oz bamboo shoot
- 1 cup onion, chunked
- 1 cup bell peppers, chunked
- 1 cup baby corn
- 1 cup white squash
- 2 tbsp brown sugar
- ¼ cup Thai basil leaves
- 1 tsp lime zest
Jeff’s Japanese Tonkatsu Curry ($11.93)
- 1.5 lb of pork chop
- 1 tsp of white pepper
- ½ tsp of salt
- half pack of curry brick (4.4 oz)
- 1 tbsp of sugar
- 3 cup of water
- 1 pack of panko (3.5 oz)
- ½ cup of flour
- 2 eggs
- 3 cups of oil
- 1 cup of broccoli
- 1 cup of diced carrot
Directions:
Jeff’s Japanese Tonkatsu Curry
First, tenderize the meat with some tough love! Hammer it! see how big the area compares to non hammered ones! Now season with salt and white pepper. Pro Tip: Since it’s going to be served with curry, it doesn’t have to be very salty or marinated for long time. Just sprinkle salt and white pepper and we can move on to the next step.
Some Chinese chefs jokingly call this “three stages”. It’s like playing a video games and you have to pass three stages to get to the boss. You have to bread all of them in this order: flour, egg mixture, and panko.
My outdoor frying station so the kitchen doesn’t smell – better find a corner that is not too windy.
First fry, at 300F for 1 min, set aside to cool
Second fry, at 350F for 2 min or until it’s thoroughly cooked
Next, boil the veggies.
Lastly, melt the curry brick in 3 cups of water, add 1 Tbsp of sugar for flavor.
Time to put them together!
Mike’s Thai Green Curry with Chicken
First, we velvet the chicken breasts and set aside. For details, check out the How to Velvet Chicken Pro Tip.
Next, add coconut oil to the pan and heat up until starting to smoke. Add in the curry paste and stir until paste is mixed well with the oil and the curry fragrance has been released. About 1 minute. Add in the coconut milk, chicken stock, sugar, and the lime zest. Stir until sugar has dissolved.
During this first process of cooking, we add in the ingredients that need to cook longer to soak up the curry flavor. I added in some carrots, onions, baby corn, and bamboo shoots. Cover and let it simmer for about 5 minutes. Next, add in the squash, peppers and chicken and stir for about 1 minute.
Turn off heat and mix in the Thai basil. Ready to serve!
What’s the biggest challenge when it comes to prices?
Mike: Thai curry is more ethnic so many of the ingredients cannot be easily obtained in an American supermarket. Fortunately for us Californians, more and more stores have an Asian section and you can easily find green curry paste and coconut milk, the two essential ingredients in green curry. If a particular ingredient is lacking, I can probably substitute with something similar instead of paying high prices for the actual item.
Jeff: The most expensive ingredient is the pork chop. The price can fluctuate from $5 per pound to $1.99 per pound. My strategy is going to different supermarket. There are few supermarkets in my neighborhood and sometimes the price can differ a lot! However, you need to take the mileage into consideration. If another supermarket is too far, it’s not going to worth a trip to save $3 or so.
Oil is another pricey item. Luckily, I did manage to control the cost within $12
What is the most difficult part of your recipe?
Mike: Chicken breast. The challenge is keeping the chicken breast tender and not dried out because green curry requires a little bit of cooking and simmering so tossing in the breast too early in the cooking process will dry up the meat but adding it too late will not allow it to absorb the curry sauce. I will employ a Chinese restaurant cooking technique called velveting to keep the chicken tender and moist through the cooking process.
Jeff: Frying Tonkatsu. Since frying is not furniture friendly. I have set up a temporary frying station outside. It has to be safe and easy to clean at the same time. It’s kinda funny that the most challenging part is not recipe related, but I believe the method I figured out is going to be helpful for those who don’t want their home to be messy after they fry stuff.
- 1.5 lb of pork chop
- 1 tsp of white pepper
- ½ tsp of salt
- half pack of curry brick (4.4 oz)
- 1 tbsp of sugar
- 3 cup of water
- 1 pack of panko (3.5 oz)
- ½ cup of flour
- 2 eggs
- 3 cups of oil
- 1 cup of broccoli
- 1 cup of diced carrot
- Hammer the pork chop with tenderizing mallet or the back of the knife evenly on both side
- Season with salt and white pepper
- Bread the pork chop in sequence: flour, egg mixture, and then panko, press with some force so panko will stick to pork chop
- Heat up the oil to 300F
- Fry the pork chop one by one to avoid losing heat, each for 1 min
- Set aside for cooling
- Heat the oil up to 350F
- Fry the pork chop one by one to avoid losing heat, each for 2 min
- Depends on the thickness of the pork chop, you might need to fry for 1 extra min
- Set aside to cool for 5 min, start making curry
- Take one sauce pan, add 3 cups of water, half pack of curry and 1 Tbsp of sugar, stir constantly and slowly bring to boil at medium heat
- Turn off heat when the curry is melted completely
- boil a pot of water, boil the brocolli and carrot in water for 3 min
- Ready to serve
- 1 ½ lbs chicken breast velveted
- 14 oz coconut milk (1 can)
- 2 tbsp coconut oil
- 2 tbsp green curry paste
- 1 cup of chicken stock
- 4 oz bamboo shoot
- 1 cup onion, chunked
- 1 cup bell peppers, chunked
- 1 cup baby corn
- 1 cup white squash
- 2 tbsp brown sugar
- ¼ cup Thai basil leaves
- 1 tsp lime zest
- Heat oil in pot over medium high heat
- Add in green curry paste and stir for about 2 minutes
- Add coconut milk, sugar, and chicken stock and heat until boil
- Add in bamboo, onions, baby corn and cook covered for about 5 min
- Turn heat to low
- Stir in chicken, squash, and bell peppers for 1 minute
- Turn off heat
- Add Thai basil and stir
- Ready to serve