thai red curry
Curry is something that I never really got into until later in life. It always seemed so vague and broad of a topic. Regional curries, colors of curries, powdered curries, curry pastes … where do you even start? Aside from that, I hadn’t really eaten much curry. And yet, as I’d search recipes from some of my favorite recipe sources, they were cooking curries. This recipe is not a legitimate curry recipe – it relies on a store-bought paste. But it’s a good intro into curries if you need one.
After having made a few different Thai red curry recipes, I have made a significant variation. It’s probably one of personal preference. All the recipes have you prepare the dish in a similar fashion – essentially combine all the ingredients together in one pot (veggies, chicken, curry, and coconut milk) and let it stew until cooked through. It’s an ok approach, but I find that two things result. One, the curry sauce becomes very thin and diluted from the moisture in the vegetables and chicken. And two, the vegetables end up being steamed. Nothing wrong with steamed vegetables, but they lose some of their texture and flavor when steamed. If you can sauté each individually and get some browning, it results in more texture and more flavor. And if you can cook the sauce separately, you can manage the consistency and flavor. So that’s my variation – separate cooking. Give it a try, experiment on your own, and make it better!
thai red curry
Ingredients
Thai Red Curry
- 5-6 TBSP Thai Red Curry Paste (see note)
- 2 garlic cloves, minced
- 2 TSP ginger, minced
- 1 TBSP lemongrass paste, or lemongrass, finely chopped
- 2 TBSP olive oil
- 1 cup chicken broth
- 14 oz. can coconut milk
- 6 kaffir lime leaves (if you can get them)
- 1-2 TBSP sugar
- 2 TSP fish sauce
- 1-2 LBS chicken breasts, sliced 1/4" thick
- 1 onion, thickly sliced in wedges
- 1 cup butternut squash, cubed or 1 cup yam, cubed
- 4-6 oz. green beans, trimmed and cut in thirds
- 1 red bell pepper, sliced thin
- Any other vegies you'd like to add
Garnishes
- thai basil leaves
- cilantro
- lime wedges
- chopped cashews
- serve over jasmine rice
Instructions
First, you'll want to prep and cook all the vegetables individually and set aside. For cooking, you just want to cook them to the desired doneness and get some color on them.
Next, prepare all of your ingredients. This will help you pull the curry together efficiently. Once you start, it's hard to set it aside while you're looking for some of the items.
Start your rice in a rice cooker. Next, heat 2 TBSP olive oil over medium to medium high heat in a large sauce pan. Add red curry paste, garlic, and ginger and cook about 2 minutes until it dries out a bit. Next, add the chicken broth and stir to combine. Simmer until liquid reduces a bit. You can then add the raw chicken to this sauce to cook it. Once the chicken is cooked through, add coconut milk, lime leaves, sugar, and fish sauce. Stir to combine. This is optional, but you can add a 2:1 ratio corn starch slurry to tighten up the curry (2 parts corn starch to 1 part water).
Once the rice is done, you can plate the bowls with rice, veggies, chicken and curry. Top with garnishes of choice.
Notes
Inspired by: Recipe Tin Eats