Thai Red Curry

I love, love, love Thai Red Curry and after much research and trial and error have discovered how to make it at home! We think this is super tasty and very close to what we get in Thai restaurants, so similar in fact, that we never go out for Thai any more. Here's the recipe in case you want to try it for yourself! 

A few notes:

1. Sorry for the poor pics; I'm not a professional. 
2. You may need to make a trip to your local Asian market to get the good stuff. I haven't had good luck with the Asian brands in my regular grocery store. 
3. If you change the brand of curry paste and/or coconut milk you will get a different flavor. The brands I have listed have gotten us closest to a restaurant taste so substitute at your own risk. 
4. Everything else is super flexible so feel free to mix up your meats and veggies!

Thai Red Coconut Curry

First, you need to prep. Chop the palm sugar into small pieces. 

Cut your veggies. We use onions, bell peppers, carrots, bamboo shoots, and pineapple. You can use whatever you like. 

Cut your chicken. I like to cut it into thin strips.

 Here is what we use for the curry paste and coconut milk. Also pictured is a bottle of fish sauce in case you have never used it. Any brand of that will work. 

 Now, we cook! Heat a small amount (1-2 tsp) of vegetable oil in a large skillet/pot over medium high heat. 

 Add your curry paste.

 Saute, stirring frequently, until fragrant (1-2 minutes). 

 Pour in the coconut milk and stir until curry paste is completely mixed in. Add the palm sugar and fish sauce. Let the sauce simmer for a minute or two to let the flavors combine and then taste. This is where you can adjust your flavors. Too spicy? Add more milk. Not spicy enough? Cook up a bit more curry paste in a separate pan, and add it in. Want it sweeter? Add more sugar. 

 Add your meat and let it boil until just done (for chicken, 5-7 minutes, or until you can't see any pink)

 Here is the cooked chicken. 

 Next, add your veggies and let cook to desired tenderness. At this point I like to add the juice from the can of pineapple as well, but that's optional. You might be wondering why it looks so yellow. That's just my bad pictures. It is much more orange in color. Not as red as restaurant curry, but definitely not this yellow. 

 Ta da! Thai Red Curry! Serve with jasmine rice or a nice crusty bread. 

Here is the recipe. Enjoy!

Thai Red Coconut Curry (serves 2-3)

2 tbsp red curry paste (Mae Ploy)

1 - 2 cans coconut milk (Aroy-D)

1 tbsp fish sauce

3/4 - 1 palm sugar disk

2 chicken breasts, thinly sliced

½ green pepper

sliced carrots

½ onion

½ can bamboo shoots

1 can pineapple (reserve some juice)

Saute curry paste in small amount of vegetable oil until fragrant. Add coconut milk (start with 1 can), sugar, and fish sauce. 

Taste sauce and adjust as necessary by adding more milk, sugar and/or curry paste.

Add chicken and boil until no pink shows.

Add vegetables, pineapple, and some pineapple juice. Boil until vegetables have softened slightly.

Serve with jasmine rice or crusty bread.