Coconut Chicken Curry
This week, I’m teaching you how to make one of my favorite weeknight meals – my Coconut Chicken Curry. This recipe came out of boredom with my usual rotation of 1 meat, 2 veggies, white wine butter sauce. I wanted to try something new and punch it up a bit, so I scoured Pinterest for ideas and decided I wanted to try curry.
Growing up in the South, there wasn’t a lot of variety in my diet because everyone was afraid of spice. No jalapenos. No curry. No chili oil! So naturally, when it came to curries the answer around me was a resounding HELL NO. Here’s the great thing about this recipe, though – you can make it as spicy or as mild as you want. I’m going to recommend an amount of curry paste that won’t blow you away, based on my experience. I always recommend starting with a little and adding more. As my Mema always said – you can always add some more, but you can never take it back.
This recipe is great for when you need to clear the veggies out of the fridge, too. Half a bell pepper? Throw that baby in. A quarter of a bag of spinach? Greens look great in the coconut sauce. Mushrooms that are on their last leg? Well – you get the idea. This one is fully customizable and that is why I love it so much!
Okay, I’m sure you’re tired of hearing me blather on. Here’s the recipe, and below it I’ll go over any steps or info that you need to know:
Coconut Chicken Curry
Equipment
- Cutting board
- Good, sharp knife
- Measuring spoons
- Non-stick skillet
- Heat safe bowl
Ingredients
- 2 Tbsp Ghee or butter
- 1 lb Boneless, skinless chicken thighs cut into strips, or diced into 1" cubes
- 3 Tbsp Trinity Mix (onion, celery, bell pepper)
- 1 Tbsp Fresh garlic cloves leave these whole
- 3 whole Carrots peeled and sliced in 1/4" pieces
- 1 small Zucchini diced
- 1/2 medium Red Bell Pepper stem, seeds, and pith removed, then cut into strips or diced into 1/2" pieces
- 1 Tbsp Himalayan pink salt
- 1 Tbsp Ground black pepper
- 1 Tbsp Garlic Powder
- ½ tsp Ground Nutmeg
- 2 Tbsp Red curry paste Thai Kitchen makes a great one that you can find in most stores
- 1 can Coconut milk Again -Thai Kitchen has a great one. Just make sure you shake it well before you open it.
Instructions
- Wash your chicken. Pat dry and either slice into inch wide strips, or dice into 1" cubes. Season on both sides with about 1/4 Tbsp each of the salt, pepper, and garlic powder.
- Wash, dry, and chop all of your vegetables.
- Add 1 Tbsp of ghee or butter to the skillet and heat over medium high heat.
- When the oil is heated to where it looks like it's shimmering, add the chicken in an even layer. This will get a little pop-y, so be careful not to toss the chicken into the pan. Cook until golden brown, then flip to brown the other side.
- Remove the chicken from the oil when it's done cooking and set aside in a bowl or on a plate. Don't use a paper towel! You want to keep the juices from the chicken to add back to the pan later
- Turn the heat down to Medium and let the pan cool for a couple of minutes. Don't dunk it in water. It still needs to be hot.
- Add the remaining ghee or butter to the pan and let it come up to temp for about a minute.
- Add in your trinity mix and whole garlic cloves. Cook for about two minutes by themselves, until the onion starts to become translucent.
- Add in the carrots and cook for 5 minutes, stirring frequently enough that they don't stick to the bottom.
- Add in the diced zucchini and cook for about three minutes, stirring frequently.
- Add the red bell pepper and continue to stir and cook until all of the vegetables are tender enough to pierce with a fork. Don't overcook them – you don't want vegetable mush.
- Season vegetables with the remaining salt, pepper, and garlic powder.
- Add the ground nutmeg and stir well.
- Add the chicken back to the skillet.
- Add the 2 Tbsp of curry paste and mix well. You want to make sure all the vegetables and chicken are coated.
- Turn the heat off, but leave the skillet on the burner.
- Shake the can of coconut milk thoroughly before opening. The cream and the liquid separate as it sits on the shelf. This is completely normal! You just have to shake it for about 15 – 30 seconds to reincorporate.
- Pour the coconut milk into the pan, and mix well with the vegetables and chicken. What you should get is a golden sauce. Stir gently until the coconut milk warms up. You don't want it to boil, but you don't want it to be lukewarm either. The residual heat from the pan and the burner will be enough.
- Time to plate! Serve over jasmine rice, cauliflower rice, or it a bowl by itself.
It looks like a lot of steps – I know. Most of them are just adding vegetables and stirring. The hard work is dicing the chicken and vegetables. As always, make sure your knife is sharp before you begin working.
It’s going to be tempting to wait to dice all of the veggies until this chicken is cooking. I can tell you from experience: Don’t do that. This is a recipe that you will want your mise en place in place. The cook process actually moves fairly quickly once you get going. So quickly that I will even wait to pour a glass of wine until I’m done cooking so my Pinot Grigio doesn’t warm up and become Pinot Grossio.
If you’re not familiar with the International Foods Aisle of your local grocer, that is where you’ll find the red curry paste and canned coconut milk. My favorite brand is Thai Kitchen (not sponsored, but man I wish!). They have organic coconut milk, conventional coconut milk, and lite coconut milk. I recommend using a full fat version to get the right consistency.
A quick note on the nutmeg. You’ll notice that I add a scant amount. That is because nutmeg can very quickly become overpowering and go from a secret ingredient that adds complexity to the dish to the unintentional star of the show. That is never a good time.
Finally, a tip on serving. This dish is going to have the consistency of a stew. That makes it amazing on its own, or served rice. To keep it low carb, I serve it in a pasta bowl over about a cup of cauliflower rice. It adds more vegetables and fiber and soaks up some of the coconut milk. Start cooking your rice or cauliflower rice when you add the trinity mix and garlic, and it should be done when you’re ready to plate.
Let me know in the comments below if you made this dish and what you did to make it your own!
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