Not all comfort food is soothing ... some is hot hot hot!

This is another one of my favorite recipes.  This dish is delicious and somewhat rich but not to heavy.  It is flavorful and packs some heat with a little sweetness and creaminess from the coconut milk and a hint of sour from the limes with wonderful herbal punches from the fresh basil and cilantro.  If you do not like cilantro just use basil alone.  (Amazingly some people do not like cilantro.  I'm not lying.)  Anyway the dish will lose nothing at all.  Nada. Different times I use just one or the other and sometimes I use both depending on my inclination at that moment.  

If you have a home made red curry paste that you like then you use it.  There are many thai curry pastes on the market and I just kept on going and going and going until I found one I love.  For my tastes Mai Jin Red Thai Curry Paste is the one.  I also like Mae Ploy though it is hotter.  All the Thai curry pastes are hot but some are hotter than others - I mean hotter than hell itself I hear for any of you who have been there and would like to know just how hot.  (If you have been to hell and back please leave a comment sharing your experience with others.)  Anyway, I am meandering a tad ... so - I urge you to try many different curry pastes until you find your true love.

Most red curry chicken recipes include those lovely little round Asian eggplants but frankly I am just fine with my Italian zucchini cut in a large dice.  (Okay - the truth is the tiny Asian eggplants cost an arm and a leg, neither of which I feel I can spare right now.  They cost about $4.00 for about 1 - 1 1/4 cups! Even in the Asian grocery stores!)  So, if you are not cheap go get em tiger, and if you are a bit of a tightwad then just buy some lovely firm zucchini.  Also, I frequently do not wish to make extra pots of food - instead I want my meals to be 'all in one'.  Therefore I have also added red pepper.  It gives me my beloved vegetables and healthy eating all in one dish as well as being aesthetically pleasing. Yeah. Pleasing to look at.  But you can still eat it after you've looked at it for a bit.  Use whatever rice you like.  Traditionally one serves this with a white long grain rice.  I do too but I like to use Basmatti rice - it is so light in texture and I like that with this dish.

Thai Red Curry Chicken

4 Tbsp Mai Jin Red Thai Curry paste (use 2 Tbsp to start if using other brand curry paste)
3/4 c. water
2 Tbsp fish sauce
1 Tbsp brown sugar
1 pound skinless chicken breasts (about 3 med), sliced in strips ¼”w x 1 ½ “long
1 - 14 oz can coconut milk
½ c. packed fr. Thai basil leaves
½ c. loosely packed fr. cilantro leaves
2 Tbsp juice from lime
1 ¼” c. zucchini, sliced thick then quartered
1 ½ c. chopped red pepper (large dice)

Cook curry paste for 2 mins. Add water, fish sauce & sugar. Stir. Add chicken, peppers & zucchini. Simmer 10 mins. Shake the can of coconut oil 10 seconds in case the contents have separated then add it to the pot. Simmer 5-10 mins. Take off heat and stir in lime juice. Stir then add cilantro & basil.  Ladle over white rice and sprinkle with fresh cilantro and Thai basil.
Note: If you want more meat and no vegetables increase the chicken to 1 ½ pounds and eliminate the peppers and zucchini.
And remember .... ไม่กินเท้าไก่เพราะจะทำให้คุณเสียลายมือ
(Don't eat chicken feet because it will give you bad handwriting.)
Furthermore .... ปลาตัวเดียวเน่าเหม็นหมดทั้งข้อง
(One rotten fish makes the whole catch stink.)