be mine

We've FINALLY resurrected our long neglected supper club and are kicking off this month's Sunday Bites tonight with a curry theme. Oh how we've been looking forward to it too! Brad and I pretty much decided that we would be happy on a strict diet of only Indian food, or anything with curry. Brad made a delicious dish of stir fried veggies in coconut milk & curry paste, a few weeks back and has humored me more than once since then and made it multiple times at my request since it's pretty much my favorite dish (I will post that recipe soon!).

Our contribution to tonight's feast will be these delicious curried burgers that we've been looking for an excuse to make again, as well as the pictured Thai Curry Chocolate Truffles! I have posted the entire recipe which included making your own curry paste. Unfortunately we ran out of time and had to cheat and use our store bought paste, but I am looking forward to making our own curry paste in the future. Besides being a complete mess to form into truffles, these are relatively easy to make, just time intensive, but completely worth it! Delic! Now that I know how easy they are to make I'm looking forward to trying other kinds!

For ganache:

1 lb. of semi-sweet chocolate, chopped
1 tsp. Thai Curry Paste (see recipe below), or to taste
1 1/2 cups heavy cream
Cocoa powder for dusting (optional)

Place the chopped chocolate in a food processor and pulse until chocolate is pea size. Bring the heavy cream to boiling and mix in the curry paste. Stir in the chocolate until melted. Remove mixture from heat, cover and infuse for up to 3 hours. Strain through a fine sieve (I skipped this step since we used store bought curry paste and it was already smooth) and reheat to boiling.

Pour the chocolate mixture through the tube of a running food processor and process until mixture is smooth (once again, this step can be skipped if using store bought paste). Transfer into a clean bowl and let it set overnight, covered, in the refrigerator.

Pipe or spoon truffle shapes onto a parchment lined cookie sheet and freeze overnight. I found covering my hands in cocoa powder then rolling into balls worked best. If the ganache starts to get too melty, just place back in fridge for a few minutes until firm enough to mold. Dust truffles with cocoa powder.

Thai Curry Paste Recipe
Makes 1/2 cup

1 stalk lemongrass, finely sliced (use only the bottom 6” of the stalk)
1 tsp. lime zest
1 or 2 dried Thai bird chiles, seeds removed
1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
2 cardamom pods, husked
1 1/4 tsp. turmeric
1 tbsp. coriander seeds
1 1/2 tsp. cumin seeds
1 tbsp. ginger root, minced
1 tbsp. coconut milk (optional)

Toast cumin, coriander, cardamom and cinnamon in a skillet over medium heat for 3 to 4 minutes. Shake the pan often to prevent burning. Remove from heat and cool.

Use a blender or food processor to blend everything into a smooth paste. Transfer to a small container and keep refrigerated or frozen.

recipe courtesy of extremechocolate.com