I was visiting some friends of mine in southern Alabama and they fed me the most excellent dish I have ever tasted. Now this is going to sound a little strange, but they said it was possum. They refuse to give me the recipe and I was wondering if you have ever heard of such a thing, and if so, if you know how to cook possum.
Basically, from what I could tell, this was some kind of Thai recipe...it tasted a little sweet like they used coconut milk, and probably green curry. It was served over rice with a lot of vegetables.
Now we have tons of possums where I live, and if I can make something that tasty out of them, I'll be killing the critters day and night. Any idea what this recipe might be, or if they were pulling my leg? How does one cook possum?
Thanks in advance for any help you could give me.
Sincerely,
Keven
Answer Keven:
Ah! Like so many things it is the preparation. I have no doubt that opossum would make good curry. Cleaning the critters is messy, they tend to be greasy, like racoons, and ground hogs. Now as far as the curry goes, whether the meat was still chunky or pulled (like stringy pot roast) depends on how closely they followed the recipe. A lot of thai, indonesian and indian curry recipes call for cooking the meat for a long time till it is literaly falling apart.
This is not necessary, but some pre cooking would be necessary for the opossum to reduce the amount of fat.
Debone it, or as in Jamaica where curried kid is the national dish, they just chop it up bone and all and add it to the curry pot. Or in your case debone it put it in a slow cooker, and let it go for a day, or less depending on how chewy you want it. Then drain off the fat. Or chunk it brown it then slow cook it to reduce the fat. You didn't describe the dish too closely so I am shooting in the dark here. I had to cook a racoon several times to get it to the fat level of pork.
Another thing, did it taste faintly like pina colada?
I find that some people when they see "coconut milk" in a recipe instinctively reach for "coco lopez" the magic ingredient in pina colada's sweetend coconut syrup. Coconut milk is what is extracted from crushed coconut meat by using hot water. It is not at all sweet, creamy yes. It can be found at you oriental or indian grocier. If the did use
coco lopez and you liked it then use it. Real curry ranges from hot to volcanic. I sweeten mine with a tad of white sugar it mitigates the heat and brings out flavor. It is up to you individual taste. Play with a curry sauce until you like it, it should be intense, cause adding the meat or veggies will tone it down. You can add chicken, beef, venison, rabbit, just about anything, including opossum. I tend to believe food historians. Strong flavorings that originated in the tropics were an attempt to make spoiled meat palatable. I think a strong curry would make just about any road kill tasty.
Keith
The curry recipe is as follows:
There are green, red and yellow curries. Preparation for all the curries are pretty much the same the ingredients differ slightly. Ingredients can be found at you local oriental grocier, they carry canned curry sauce and dried curry mixes, or the individual ingredients. You might even find powdered or prepared mixes at your regular grocery store in the imported section.
I would make the sauce first, adjust the taste to suit then add the meat and adjust again after it has cooked a while.
Ingredients *
1 tbsp vegetable oil
1 clove of garlic finely chopped
1 level tbsp red curry paste (either gang musman, panang or gang ped from Thai Taste - according to taste)
20 prawns or 2 diced chicken breasts
200ml (1/2 tin) of Thai Taste coconut milk regular or light
2 tbsp Thai Taste fish sauce
4 tbsp fresh limejuice
1 tbsp cane or palm sugar
Fresh coriander leaves
Method
1 Heat oil in a wok or sauce pan.
2 When the oil is very hot add the garlic and fry until it begins to turn brown.
3 Add the red curry paste and briskly stir for about 10 - 20 seconds ensuring the paste is cooked through but not burnt.
4 Add half the coconut milk stirring it in as you do so and then add the prawn or diced chicken.
5 Stir in the fish sauce, limejuice and sugar.
6 Once the prawns or chicken are cooked, add the remainder of the coconut milk.
7 Heat through then serve in an ovenproof dish
8 Garnish with fresh coriander
Another curry reipe for red or green
You can add other things (holy basil, fish sauce,
chopped hot Thai chiles, lemon grass, galanga, shrimp paste, etc.).
2 T red or green curry paste (use more for hotter curry; Mae Ploy brand
is excellent
3 T vegetable oil
3/4 lb boneless chicken meat, cut into 3/4-inch pieces
2 cans (unsweetened) coconut milk (approx. 3 c in all)
1 c water or chicken broth
1/2 c baby corns
1/2 c straw mushrooms (or substitute other mushroom of your choice)
1/2 c sliced bamboo shoots
5 kaffir lime leaves (dried are fine; these are available in packages
on the bottom -- usually dusty -- shelf of the Asian market; they
look like dried, curled-up leaves)
1/2 t salt (more or less to taste)
if green curry, 10 fresh basil leaves
if red curry, 1/2 red bell pepper, cut into matchstick-size strips
Fry curry paste in oil in saucepan until fragrant. Add chicken (if using) and saute for about 1 minute over medium high heat. Add remaining ingredients except basil leaves or red bell pepper. Bring just barely to a boil; reduce heat and simmer 20-30 minutes. Just before serving, stir in basil leaves or red bell pepper. Serve with
cooked Thai Jasmine rice.
