Thai Red Chicken Curry
Vibrant in both colour and flavour, this signature Thai red curry is packed full of sweet, salty and zingy flavours, all softened with the addition of creamy, cooling coconut milk. For truly traditional flavours, making the Thai paste is well worth the effort and provides great depth of flavour.
Ingredients
- 1 tbsp coconut oil
- 1 large red onion, sliced
- 800g skinless & boneless chicken thighs, diced
- 1 large red pepper, diced
- 1 can coconut milk
- 1 tbsp maple syrup
- 2 Kaffir lime leaves
- Pinch of sea salt
- 150g sugar snaps or mangetout
For the Thai Red paste
- 1 tbsp whole coriander seeds, toasted
- 1 tbsp whole cumin seeds, toasted
- 1 stick lemongrass, diced
- 150g tinned roasted red peppers, roughly chopped
- 3 tsp chilli paste
- 30g ginger, grated
- 3 garlic cloves, roughly chopped
- 2 tsp turmeric
- Pinch of sea salt
- 1 lime, zest & juice
- 2 spring onions, roughly chopped (incl. green ends)
- 2 tbsp coconut oil, melted
To serve
- Thumb sized piece of ginger
- 6 Thai basil leaves
- 1 spring onion
- 1 chilli
- Jasmine rice
Method
- First, toast the coriander and cumin seeds in a dry pan over a low to medium heat. Stir regularly to avoid the spices burning and remove from the heat after 2 - 3 minutes when you can start to smell the aromatics and they begin to pop.
- After the seeds are toasted, you can begin to make the paste. Place all ingredients in a food processor and blitz until smooth. Add a tablespoon or two of water if the paste needs loosening and set aside until required.
- Place the casserole over a medium heat and warm the coconut oil until melted and then add the onion and fry gently for 5 minutes until the onion starts to soften. Add the diced chicken and fry until all the meat has browned. Do this in batches if necessary.
- Add the diced pepper followed by the homemade curry paste. Allow to fry for 2-3 minutes, stirring regularly to ensure it does not stick and all the ingredients are coated. Pour in the coconut milk plus a can of water and stir all together.
- Add the maple syrup and lime leaves and bring up to a simmer. Allow to gently simmer and reduce for 20-30 minutes until the sauce is thick and the chicken is cooked through. In the last 5 minutes of cooking add the sugar snaps or mangetout.
- When ready to serve, thinly slice the thumb of ginger into matchsticks, roughly chop the basil leaves and thinly slice the spring onion and chilli. Sprinkle the toppings on top of the curry and serve alongside Jasmine rice.
Cook's notes
Pushed for time? Purchase a good quality red Thai paste and start from step 2 and dinner is ready in 20 minutes without any hassle.
For a vegetarian version, swap the chicken for cubed sweet potato or butternut squash. Add Asian greens along with the mangetout to supersize the dish.
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