Authentic Thai Red Curry with Chicken
User Reviews
5.0
66 reviews
Excellent
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Servings
4
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Course
Main Course
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Cuisine
Thai
Authentic Thai Red Curry with Chicken
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This classic recipe is a great one to start with if you've never made a Thai curry before. Easy, but totally delicious and fail-proof. The creamy squash goes wonderfully with red curry, but feel free to change up the veggies!
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Ingredients
- 2 cups kabocha squash bite-sized pieces
- 1 ½ cup coconut milk
- 3½-5 tablespoon red curry paste store gouth, or recipe below (see note 1)
- 1 lb chicken thigh boneless, skinless, 1.5-inch cubes
- 1 cup chicken stock
- 2 tablespoon fish sauce
- 2-3 tablespoon palm sugar chopped
- 1 cup Thai basil
- ¼ red pepper julienned (optional for colour)
Red Curry Paste
- 0.4 oz mild (large) dried chilies see note 2
- 0.2 oz spicy (small) dried chilies see note 2
- 1 teaspoon coarse sea salt
- ¼ teaspoon white peppercorns
- ¼ cup chopped shallots
- 3 tablespoon chopped garlic
- 3 tablespoon chopped lemongrass
- 1 tablespoon chopped galangal
- 2 Cilantro roots or about 6 cilantro stems
- 1 teaspoon chopped kaffir lime zest see note 3
- 1 teaspoon shrimp paste
Instructions
- Wash the kabocha squash and slice off any part of the skin that has blemishes, otherwise the skin can be left on. Remove the seeds by scraping off with a spoon and cut into bite-sized cubes. If you have leftover squash, try using it in this stir-fry recipe!
- Bring ½ cup of coconut milk to a boil, add curry paste and stir to break up lumps. Continue cooking and reducing over medium high heat until it is very thick and the coconut oil starts separating from the curry paste (if the paste is very thick but no oil is separating, don't worry, just proceed with the recipe).
- Add the chicken and toss to mix with the paste. Add the remaining coconut milk and the chicken stock. Season with 1 tablespoon (15 ml) of the fish sauce and the palm sugar, then simmer for about 8 minutes.
- Add the kabocha squash and simmer for about 6-8 minutes, or until the squash is fully cooked and can easily be pierced through with a fork. Be careful not to overcook the squash or it’ll turn to mush.
- Remove from heat and adjust seasoning with the remaining fish sauce as needed; different brands of curry pastes have different amounts of salt, so it is important to taste and adjust. Stir in Thai basil and red pepper, if using. Serve immediately with jasmine rice.
Red Curry Paste
- Cut chilies into chunks, remove the seeds, then grind in a coffee grinder until fine.
- In a heavy-duty mortar and pestle, add lemongrass, galangal, cilantro roots, kaffir lime zest, white peppercorns and salt. Pound until fine.
- Add ground chilies and pound to mix.
- Add garlic and shallots, pound until fine.
- Add shrimp paste, pound to mix.
Notes
- You can use more or less curry paste depending on your spice tolerance. If using a new curry paste brand, start with 4 tablespoons, unless you like things very spicy then you can add more.
- Mild dried chilies are added for colour and flavour, while the spicy ones are added to customize the paste's spice level. Mild chilies tend to be large, and I use guajillo or puya peppers for this. Spicy chilies tend to be small, such as chile de arbol. If you can only find the small ones, make sure you remove all the seeds and white pith to remove some heat.
- If you don't have kaffir lime zest, you can add 2-3 kaffir lime leaves to the curry, torn into chunks, about 3 minutes before the curry is done. Or substitute regular lime zest int he curry paste.
Genuine Reviews
User Reviews
Overall Rating
5.0
66 reviews
Excellent
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