Coconut Chicken Thai Red Curry. No, really, we're not just a food blog!

 As promised in our IG post yesterday, we are blogging about the wonderful Thai Coconut Chicken we prepared last night using the Thai Red Curry spice blend from the Spice & Tea Exchange in St. Augustine. Yes, Spice & Tea Exchange is a franchise but we love visiting both the uptown and downtown locations when we are there. As the name implies, they have a ton of spices and teas! If you're foodies like us, its very easy to spend a bunch of money pretty quickly in there!

We have to thank www.averiecooks.com for the recipe on which we based our creation. You should check her out, she is our kitchen's new spirit animal!

 

Her recipe is below, we'll talk about a few changes we had to make out of necessity but we are very, very pleased with the result!

Thai Chicken Coconut Curry

YIELD: SERVES 6

 

TOTAL TIME: ABOUT 20 TO 25 MINUTES

 

PREP TIME: 5 MINUTES

 

COOK TIME: ABOUT 15 TO 20 MINUTES

INGREDIENTS:

• 2 to 3 tablespoons coconut oil (olive oil may be substituted)
• 1 medium/large sweet Vidalia or yellow onion, diced small
• 1 pound boneless skinless chicken breast, diced into bite-sized pieces
• 3 cloves garlic, finely minced or pressed
• 2 to 3 teaspoons ground ginger or 1 tablespoon fresh ginger, finely chopped
• 2 teaspoons ground coriander
• one 13-ounce can coconut milk (I used lite; full-fat will deliver a richer/thicker result)
• 1 to 1 1/2 cups shredded carrots
• 1 to 3 tablespoons Thai red curry paste, or to taste (curry powder may be substituted, to taste)
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt, or to taste
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, or to taste
• about 3 cups fresh spinach leaves
• 1 tablespoon lime juice
• 1 to 2 tablespoons brown sugar, optional and to taste
• 1/4 cup fresh cilantro, finely chopped for garnishing (basil may be substituted)
• rice, quinoa, or naan, optional for serving

DIRECTIONS:

1. To a large skillet, add the oil, onion, and sauté over medium-high heat until the onion begins to soften about 5 minutes; stir intermittently.
2. Add the chicken and cook for about 5 minutes, or until chicken is done; flip and stir often to ensure even cooking.
3. Add the garlic, ginger, coriander, and cook for about 1 minute, or until fragrant; stir frequently.
4. Add the coconut milk, carrots, Thai curry paste, salt, pepper, and stir to combine. Reduce the heat to medium, and allow mixture to gently boil for about 5 minutes, or until liquid volume has reduced as much as desired and thickens slightly.
5. Add the spinach, lime juice, and stir to combine. Cook until spinach has wilted and is tender, about 1 to 2 minutes. Taste and optionally add brown sugar, additional curry paste, salt, pepper, etc. to taste.
6. Evenly sprinkle with the cilantro and serve immediately. Curry is best warm and fresh but will keep airtight in the fridge for up to 1 week.

Adapted from Sweet Potato Chickpea Coconut Curry

Recipe from Averie Cooks. All images and content are copyright protected. Please do not use my images without prior permission. If you want to republish this recipe, please re-write the recipe in your own words, or simply link back to this post for the recipe. Thank you.

Recipe Permalink: https://www.averiecooks.com/thai-chicken-coconut-curry/

 

So we loved, loved, loved this dish! After seeing Averie's photos and reading her description we just HAD to try it! Taking an inventory of our pantry we realized we did not have enough carrots nor did we have any limes or spinach! No worries, we took her advice and improvised with what we had available. In addition to the 1/2 cup or so of carrots we had a couple of plum tomatoes, a medium sized green bell pepper and about a cup of mixed broccoli and cauliflower florets. The lack of limes was a little more problematic but we had some pure lime oil extract and a couple of drops of it worked out perfectly! Besides these few changes and using the red curry spice blend rather than red curry paste we followed Averie's recipe more or less to a T although I had a slight mishap when adding the coconut milk so there was probably (definitely) more in the pan than the recipe calls for! 

We skipped the garnish and the starch to serve over and ate it more like a stew with a dollop of our new favorite hot sauce, Dirty Bird Swett Sauce- GHOST. A moderately high heat and intense garlic flavor make it a winner in our book! We sampled it at Hot Stuff gourmet grocery on Treasury Street in St. Augustine. For some reason it was hard to find but worth the effort. The guys working the store are knowledgeable and obviously passionate about their sauces!. Did I mention it was fantastic? Check them out at www.hotstuffhotsauce.com.

 We also have to acknowledge Samunprai Thai restaurant in Fort Pierce, Florida for the perfect introduction to the wonders of red curry! Their Kang Panang is outrageous and inspired us to expand our cooking horizons to include curry based dishes! If you are in the area, they are most definitely worth stopping for. We didn't indulge but we have been told by several folks that their sushi is quite outstanding as well! Have a look at www.samunpraithai.com.

So there you have it! We hope you give it a try and if you love it, give Averie a shout out on social media because we could not have brought this to you without her!

 #spiceandteaexchange #samunpraithai #averiecooks #homecooking #spicyfood #foodie #goodliferamblings