Thai Chicken Curry?

 

Mom, what are we having for dinner? That's a question I ask just about everyday when I'm home from school. I would say 85% of the time I get "chicken" as an answer. This usually means grilled chicken breasts or chicken fajitas, but not today! I have been wanting to make thai food ever since the only thai restaurant in my town closed a couple weeks ago. I've also been eyeing all the fresh basil I've got growing. So, tonight was the night for thai.

I had originally wanted to make a thai green curry. Take a look at the picture above and you can probably figure that didn't work out (it isn't green!). Needless to say, I ran into a few roadblocks. I went to the store to grab a couple things I didn't have on hand. Green curry paste, all sold out... Well this wasn't that big of a deal, they had two rows of red curry paste right next to it. People in this town should diversify a little. So, thai red curry it was going to be. I just needed fish sauce. All sold out. Well here I panicked a little. Fish sauce isn't so easy to replace, nothing else tastes like fermented fish juices. First, my mind jumped to anchovies. I struck that out of my mind pretty quick because if I told anyone in my family there were anchovies in something they would declare it inedible before even trying it. I was to far into this to change the menu though, so I started scanning the condiments. Soy sauce, no, hoisin, no, oyster sauce, well... They don't taste at all alike but they both come from the ocean, so what the hell.

So what we have here is something kinda like a thai red chicken curry. Luckily, it was really good! My sister even said, "it's okay." That's onpar with a michelin star in my book, she is the pickiest eater ever and usually refuses to try anything new. She did tell me, "don't start making it everyday." Don't worry, I won't.

Thai Red Chicken Curry
adapted from bon appetit magazine
takes about 25-30 minutes

1 tablespoon vegetable oil (don't use olive oil)
3/4 cup thinly sliced shallots
2 teaspoons red curry paste
1 14-ounce can unsweetened coconut milk
2-3 teaspoons oyster sauce (adjust to taste)
1 1/2 pounds chicken breasts, sliced into thin strips
1 large red bell pepper, cut into thin strips
1 sliced hot chili
1/4 cup fresh basil and a little extra for garnish, chiffonaded
2 tablespoons fresh lime juice, plus wedges for garnish

Heat oil in large wok or saucepan over medium-high heat. Add shallots, bell pepper, most of the hot chili and curry paste; stir until softened, about 3 minutes. Add coconut milk and oyster sauce, bring to a boil. Add chicken and stir until just cooked through. Stir in basil and lime juice. Salt and pepper to taste.

Serve curry in bowls garnished with some more basil, hot chili slices and a wedge of lime for squeezing. I served this with white rice on the side for sopping up the broth.

Notes

1. I used a long hot chili for this, it was red and was about as spicy as a jalapeno. The curry paste itself is not really spicy. Peppers and chilis are spicy because they contain a compound known as capsaicin, which basically binds to pain receptors. Capsaicin is not water soluble, which is why water doesn't really help when your mouth is burning, they are fat soluble. Thai coconut-based curries are generally the the milder form of thai curry because the fat in the coconut milk binds to, and removes, the capsaicin in chilis.

2. I would not use olive oil in this dish, it has a low smoke point and may get a burnt taste at the high heat.

3. Much of this recipe is season to taste. I ended up adding a little more basil and lime juice. I also like my food spicy so I added a lot of chili. You can adjust all these things to your own taste. Also, coconut milk is pretty bland. I tasted this before adding the basil, lime, salt and pepper and it was incredibly bland. As soon as the salt was added it enhanced all the other flavors. So don't panic before everything is in the pot.

4. Chiffonade is when you layer a few leaves ontop of each other, roll them into a tight cigar shape, and slice across thinly. It produces long, thin strips. I did it this way so the green basil would be in strips like the bell pepper and scallions.