A simple easy chicken red curry dish made in less time than it takes to get takeout.
If I had to pick one type of food to live off of for the rest of my life, it would be Thai.
I can’t pick a favorite food to save my life (seriously, how can people actually narrow it down to one thing and answer that question?!) but I can easily say with confidence that as a “cuisine”, Thai is the winner.
The funny thing about that assertion is that up until last week, I’d never actually cooked anything Thai at home.
Curry pastes, fish sauce, bamboo shoots…not things I ever have on hand and honestly, they scared the heck out of me. It all seems so foreign and overwhelming.
But last week I’d had enough.
The closest Thai place is 25 minutes away from us so takeout is pretty much impossible unless eating cold pad thai is your thing and the ghetto produce store I go to all the time has an entire 2 aisles dedicated to Asian ingredients.
So after staring at the shelves for at least 10 minutes trying to make sense of it all, I realized there are way more intimidating things in life than cooking Thai food, grabbed the red curry paste and fish sauce, threw it in the cart and walked away pretending like I knew what I was going to do with them.
Fake it till you make it.
And guess what? All of that intimidation…totally unwarranted.
Thai really couldn’t be easier.
Bamboo shoots are lovely, lemongrass is great, but you don’t need any of that stuff to get a delicious curry at home.
Curry paste, coconut milk, a ton of veggies and you’re all set.
Is it the most traditional recipe? Probably not, but it beats cold take out.
Give me a week and the fish sauce is next to be tackled.
MORE CURRY RECIPES TO TRY:
Chicken Saag Curry
Winter Vegetable Curry
Coconut Red Curry Shrimp
Coconut Red Curry Shrimp
Easy Chicken Red Curry
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons red curry paste
- 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
- 15 ounces canned coconut milk
- 1 pound chicken breasts, cut into chunks
- 1 tablespoon curry powder
- salt & pepper
- 4 bell peppers of different color, chopped
- 1 leek, chopped
- 1/2 cup grape tomatoes
- 1/4 cup cilantro, chopped plus more for garnish
- juice of 1 lime, divided
Instructions
- In a large skillet over medium high heat, saute olive oil and curry paste, pressing the paste into the oil for 1 minute.
- While that sautes, combine chicken, curry powder, salt & pepper in a small bowl and toss to coat. Set aside.
- Add half the coconut milk into the pan and whisk together until it’s incorporated with the curry paste. Then add remaining coconut milk and simmer for 3 minutes.
- Add seasoned chicken and cook for about 5 minutes.
- Add vegetables, cilantro and half of the lime juice to the pan, stir, cover and cook for about 5-7 more minutes until chicken is fully cooked.
- Remove lid, squeeze remaining lime juice on top just before serving.
- Serve over brown rice and garnish with additional cilantro.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Gina Matsoukas is an AP syndicated writer. She is the founder, photographer and recipe developer of Running to the Kitchen — a food website focused on providing healthy, wholesome recipes using fresh and seasonal ingredients. Her work has been featured in numerous media outlets both digital and print, including MSN, Huffington post, Buzzfeed, Women’s Health and Food Network.
I absolutely loooove thai food as well! Unfortunately generally you do need to seek out the various ingredients – fish sauce, lemongrass, galangal, kaffir lime leaves so it can be discouraging but as you said you can always just use the red curry paste and coconut milk! If you have a Whole Foods by you they usually carry a lot of different Thai flavors/spices/ingredients. This September my boyfriend and I are starting a 2 year backpacking trip through Europe and Asia (which we’ll blog about on https://acoupletravelers.com) and I am SO excited for Thailand and the fact that I’ll be able to eat Thai food 24/7!
Vicky- first of all, I’m totally jealous of your trip! That is pretty much my dream that will never happen with a husband who claims to like to travel but really doesn’t! Unfortunately, the closest whole foods is about 70 miles away from me. I’m sure I can find some good spices and stuff locally and I probably will seek them out now that I’ve at least attempted Thai once and am more comfortable with it :) Can’t wait to read about your travels!
That’s too bad your husband doesn’t like to travel! Maybe he’ll eventually come around? I work in the center of DC so there is a Whole Foods half a mile from my work so I’ll pop in there every now and then on my lunch break to buy a couple of things – though I usually go overboard and end up with a whole basket of random food : /
Thai cuisine is one of my favorites too…I love lemon grass and chicken wrapped in some kind of leaves. Tastes really great. But just the same, the Thai place is a little out of the way, so I rarely visit. This is a nice dish to cure my Thai cravings. Looks perfect, Gina!
This is really something delicious and comforting which can be cooked in a hurry. I just saw this picture on Foodgawker and couldn’t stop appreciating the clicks!! The recipe sounds delish!!!
I used to be intimidated by Thai cooking too, but once I realized that Thai curry pastes were readily available and really good, it became so easy. Thai is definitely one of my favorite cuisines and I love making it at home now.
I’ve cooked Thai food but I’ve never made anything with curry paste. Why haven’t I ever made anything with curry paste?!
I love thai food but cant eat at a thai restaurant because there are cashews and my daughter has an allergy. I really need to start making it at home. Guess I need to buy some red curry paste!
my husband and i loooove thai food too. i learned how to make it about a year ago, and ever since we’ve had it about once a week for dinner. you’re right, it really is so easy!
I’ve just started experimenting with Thai and other pan-Asian foods, and, lo and behold, it’s actually pretty darn easy! And you just can’t beat the complex flavors of Asian food. I love being able to whip up a take out quality meal in under 30 minutes. This looks fantastic and I can’t wait to add it to my menu!
I only recently started enjoying curry. I’ve been really into some Indian curries, but your recipe looks awesome! Thanks!
MMMM I love curry!