Tag: dailyprompt-2005

Comfort Food

My absolute go-to food is one I seldom eat, but I will whip up a batch occasionally. It’s easy to make, and it absolutely soothes my nerves. It’s not for everyone, it’s a bit spicy, but it’s helped me through some rough times.

That food is namya. It’s Thai food, a light coconut curry sauce with fish to be served over rice noodles with cilantro. I think I’ve just lost some of my readers, what with cilantro and fish curry. But it’s flavorful and soothing, almost like chicken soup, but with a touch of spice.

As I said, it’s easy to make. take a can of coconut milk and pour it in a pan. Add a half-can of water. Put in a tablespoon of fish sauce, a tablespoon of red curry paste, some lime leaves, a chunk of dried galangal (if you have it), and sometimes I put in chopped cilantro stems. add leftover cooked fish or cooked ground turkey and simmer until hot and the flavors have melded a bit. Serve over rice noodles with cilantro.

You can use more curry paste if you want it richer, but that will also mean hotter (which is why you throw the other herbs in it instead). A trip to an Asian food store is a must before making this for the curry paste (although there is a brand of milder curry paste in US stores), lime leaves, and galangal.

This is my favorite comfort food. Often, however, I settle for something more mundane, like chicken soup.

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Go-to Comfort Food

Daily writing prompt
What’s your go-to comfort food?
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My go-to comfort food is somewhat unusual for a Midwestern US resident, I’ll admit. Typical comfort foods for my region of the US are things like chicken alfredo, cheeseburgers, and tomato soup with a grilled cheese.

My go-to comfort food is Thai namya, a light curried sauce over thin rice noodles with lots of cilantro. It’s spicy and mellow, warm and soothing, and easy to make, especially if one buys a premade curry paste.

I learned the recipe from my boss at the Thai/Italian cafeteria where I worked as an undergrad/grad student. I was the second cook, which was a rarity as I am very Caucasian. We would eat a family-style lunch most Friday afternoons that we prepared for ourselves. One of the dishes was namya, which we made with leftover flaked fish or ground turkey. This quickly became my favorite food, featuring both curry and comfort.

I had a lot of rough times back then, given that I had untreated bipolar disorder. I needed a lot of comfort. I lived a block from an Asian food store, so all I had to do is keep some sort of fish stocked and I could get the rest of the ingredients at a moment’s notice. I often used tuna, which was a little heavy for the recipe but was easy enough to stock. (An ideal fish would be a white fish like catfish.)

Even now, sometimes I have to have namya, especially on a cold day. I usually make it with ground turkey or catfish as I have been taught. Once I made it with a half-dozen bluegill I caught at the lake, and once (when I was feeling rich) crawfish tails. Just some coconut milk and water, green chili paste, fish sauce, and cilantro and that fish becomes my comfort food.