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Thai Red Curry
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Thai Red Curry

Bold Thai flavors, stunningly fragrant, a creamy red curry coconut sauce infused with citrusy undertones and packed with fresh vegetables.
Prep Time10 minutes
Cook Time20 minutes
Total Time30 minutes
Course: Main Course
Cuisine: Thai
Keyword: chicken, coconut milk, curry, dinner, Thai, vegetables
Servings: 8
Author: Kim Melanson

Ingredients

Red Curry Sauce:

  • 1 can (4 ounces) Maesri brand red curry paste or less according to spiciness
  • 2 cans (15 ounces) coconut milk
  • 1 cup chicken broth
  • 2 garlic cloves minced
  • 4 teaspoon freshly grated ginger
  • 1 Tablespoon lemongrass stalk, minced, or lemongrass paste
  • 1 teaspoon ground turmeric
  • 1 Tablespoon coconut sugar (or granulated sugar) or more if too salty
  • 1 Tablespoon fish sauce plus more to add authenticity and a salty taste
  • 6-8 Kaffir lime leaves (from fresh produce section of an Asian market)—scrunch in fingers to release the essence
  • Grated zest and juice from 2 limes

Chicken and Vegetable Ingredients:

  • 1-2 pounds boneless skinless chicken breasts or thighs cut into ⅓” strips
  • 2 bell peppers (red, yellow or orange variety) chopped
  • 4-6 small red shallots or ½ red onion chopped
  • 3 small fresh tomatoes coarsely diced
  • ½-1 English cucumber quartered and ¼” sliced
  • 2 cups baby spinach coarsely chopped

Garnish:

  • 1-2 green onions sliced thin (white and green parts)
  • 1-2 sprigs Thai basil leaves chopped
  • ½ bunch cilantro chopped
  • Siracha Sauce to taste

Serve with:

  • Steamed Jasmine or Sushi Rice

Instructions

Curry Sauce:

  • In a large skillet, add red curry paste and coconut milk. Stir to combine.
  • Add the rest of the Red Curry Sauce ingredients and bring to a boil on medium-high heat. Simmer for 3 minutes.
  • Add chicken slices to sauce, spread evenly in skillet. Bring to simmer, then turn heat down to medium. Simmer for about 10 minutes or until chicken is cooked and sauce has reduced and thickened enough. The sauce needs to be thick enough to stick to the rice, but still feel saucy when you add the vegetables later.
  • Do a taste test at this point. Add more fish sauce for more saltiness or sugar to cut down on the saltiness.

Vegetables:

  • While sauce and chicken are simmering, prepare vegetables.
  • Remove Kaffir lime leaves as they remain crunchy (much like bay leaves). The flavor has already been infused into the sauce.
  • Add all vegetables to simmering sauce and chicken. Stir to distribute evenly. Simmer just until spinach begins to wilt, about 3-5 minutes. Remove from heat.
  • Serve with cooked rice.
  • Garnish as desired with green onions, Thai basil and cilantro.