Thai Coconut Red Curry

This Thai dish is one of the easier to make and doesn’t involve a lot of prep or cook time. Don’t let the red curry fool you, this is not a spicy dish. There are a few ways to make it, but I will show you how I make it and then talk about possible substitutions at the end. As you see in the next picture, I always like to have all my ingredients ready before cooking.

Ingredients:

1 boneless skinless chicken breast (between .50 - .67 lbs) , cut in small strips or cubes

1 can (14oz) of coconut milk

2 tbsp of red curry paste

1 tbsp (I use light) brown sugar

2/3 cup bell peppers (cubed)

1/2 cup sliced water chestnuts

1/2 cup sliced bamboo shoots

15 - 20 large mint leaves (cut leaves into 4 pieces or so)

2 tbsp soy sauce

2 tbsp cashews

1 tbsp sweet chili sauce

1 tbsp olive oil

1 cup (uncooked amount) jasmine rice

1/4 tsp cayenne (optional)

Directions: (serves 4)

Heat a large skillet on medium heat for the chicken. Add olive oil once the pan starts getting hot, about 1 minute before the chicken. Cook each side 3 minutes or until it turns light brown, then set aside. Don’t overcook the chicken as it will have time to simmer a bit more later. Next, take a large sauce pan and stir together well the coconut milk, red curry paste and brown sugar. Heat on med-high until it starts to boil, then reduce to med-low (so it simmers - no bubbles) for 5 minutes. Stir occassionally. Add bell peppers, chicken, bamboo shoots and water chestnuts and simmer for 5 more minutes. If adding cayenne add it here. Stir at least every minute. Now stir in soy sauce , cashews, mint leaves, sweet chili sauce and simmer for 2 more minutes. Remove from heat and serve over Jasmine rice.

Substitutions:

You can use shrimp as well if you prefer for this dish. Use abour 2/3 of a pound of raw (shell off and deveined) shrimp and just add at the same time in the recipe as the chicken, only no need to precook it. You can use fish sauce instead of soy. Also, some use basil leaves instead of mint, about 3-4 tablespoons. Cashews can be raw or roasted, salted or unsalted, or omitted altogether. If you don’t have sweet chili sauce just use a second tablespoon of brown sugar. You can use any rice, but as this is a Thai dish it would be wrong to suggest anything but Jasmine. Enjoy !