Again with the sweet potatoes you say? Yes, I had a frackin’ ton. I also had opened a can of coconut milk to make some rice pudding, so I decided curry sounded good. Thai Fresh on West Mary street sells cans of very tasty curry. I had a can of red curry in the house and that sounded delightful with sweet potatoes. The problem was that I didn’t have much else and hadn’t gotten out of my pj’s yet (yes it was 4pm on a Sunday and I was recovering from sxsw) so I didn’t want to go to the store. Then I remembered those last 2 ribs in my freezer from The Neighborhood Table and decided that could be in there AND be used as my stock.

I made an oh-so spicy curry using a few good ingredients and very little prep time. As with many of these recipes, I used what I had in the house- if you have something different, have at it!

Spicy Sweet Potato and Beef Red Curry with vermicelli
2-3 large beef short-ribs
1 T vegetable or peanut oil
1 can red curry paste
1 can coconut milk
1 yellow onion, diced
2 green onions, diced (white and green parts separated)
2 sweet potatoes, diced
2 carrots, diced
1/2 bunch cilantro, chopped
1/4 cup sugar
2 T fish sauce
1 large tomato, diced
mushrooms if you’ve got them
juice of 2 limes
vermicelli

In a large, wide pot brown the shortribs on all sides. Set aside.

Turn heat to low, and add 1 T vegetable oil. Add yellow onion, white part of green onion, and carrots. Saute until onion is just barely translucent. Add the curry and 2 T of the coconut milk. Mix together over low-medium heat until curry is completely dissolved. Add the rest of the coconut milk, the shortribs, half of the sugar, and half of the fish sauce. Cover and cook over low heat for about 30 minutes or until sweet potatoes are just about tender. Add water if the liquid doesn’t cover at least 2/3 of the potatoes and beef.

Remove the ribs from the curry and with a sharp knife, slice the beef off the bone. Return both parts to the pot. Add green parts of onion, juice of 1 lime, and taste for more sugar and/or fish sauce. Add the tomato and mushrooms. Partially cover and cook over low heat for 3-5 minutes. In the meantime, boil vermicelli and drain.

Serve curry over vermicelli (or any rice noodle) and top with cilantro.

The Goods