Sometimes you've had a long day at work, have gotten home late, are totally exhausted, and have no energy to cook. You could go to Chipotle on your way home, or order Chinese takeout, but that's just going to make you feel worse. You need a home cooked meal that takes virtually no effort and no time, but is still flavorful and delicious.
That's when it's time for Semi-Homemade with Bryan and YiRan (like the show on Food Network with a similar title, but with less annoying hosts! And a cat!). With just a few ingredients, and very little time and effort on your behalf, you can have a delicious Thai Red Curry in the comfort of your own home.
Making the Dish
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| Our protein for this dish is chicken, chopped into cubes. |
On your way home, head to the supermarket and pick up these things: 1) A jar of Thai Kitchen Red Curry Paste, 2) A can of coconut milk, 3) some sort of protein (chicken, shrimp, tofu, etc), 4) package of frozen pease, 5) basil, 6) rice.
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| Basil, cut into thin strips. |
That's it. Its Bryan & YiRan's 6 ingredient fix (OK, promise that was the last Food Network pun of the post).
Once you get home with your ingredients, you are just moments away from having yourself a nice tasty easy meal.
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| Herbie & the rice cooker. |
Start cooking the rice to the package directions. If you have a rice cooker, just do it in there. If you had a rice cooker but your boyfriend broke the lid and made it unusable, you can cook it in a saucepan, but be sure to keep your eye on it.
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| Cooking our basil and chicken together in the hot wok. |
If you bought a protein you need to cut up, cut it into nice manageable cubes. Additionally, chop up your basil into nice thin strips. Then, throw the meat and basil into a big hot wok with smoking oil.
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| Whisking the coconut milk into a nice, even consistency. |
While those cook away (and be careful, as it will only take a few minutes!) pour your coconut milk into a bowl and whisk it all around. The milk will have separated in the can, so whisking it gets everything to the right consistency.
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| Pouring the coconut milk into the basil and chicken. |
After a few minutes of cooking the protein and the basil, add in a cup of the coconut milk and stir everything all together. Let it cook for a few minutes and start to thicken.
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| Adding the red curry paste. |
Then you can add in the curry paste. We used about a tablespoon, but it's really up to you how much of that curry flavor and spice you want in. Mix it all together so it's nicely combined.
Finally, add in the frozen peas, about a quarter cup or so, and let cook for a minute more so everything is warmed through.
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| All of the curry ingredients, cooking together. |
You can serve this all over a pile of rice, and enjoy!
The Result
Not a bad version of Thai red curry for a 15 minute effort. It doesn't have the gourmet flavoring that you'd normally get from recipes on this blog, but it's also a much more healthy and satisfying experience than gorging on take out. Additionally, adding the basil and peas really help to bring up the flavor and texture, and make it a more holistic, home cooked experience.
We actually like Thai food quite a bit, so hopefully some of our readers can point us in the direction of some really good Thai recipes we can do the next time we're in the mood! If you know of any, or have any suggestions, leave them in the comments below!
Check out the ingredient list after the jump!
Thai Red Curry
Written by: Herbie Likes Spaghetti
A quick and easy curry for when you've had a long day
Prep time:
Cook time:
Total time:
(Serves: 2)
1 lb chicken
1/4 cup basil
1 cup coconut milk
1/4 cup frozen peas
1 cup rice
1 tablespoon red curry paste
That looks really yummy, thanks for sharing:)
ReplyDeleteI actually have a good Thai recipe - and it's just as easy as yours, I dare say.
ReplyDeletehttp://maarns.blogspot.com/2011/02/bummer.html
I write in Norwegian, but I think the pictures speak for themselves in turn of showing direcions. If not, just text me and I will translate for you :)
Thanks all! And maarn, thanks for the recipe, it looks great! No worries on the translation, the pictures do speak for themselves (plus Google translate helps :) )
ReplyDeleteI'm always on the hunt for 15 min. meals, and this one is similar to one that my husband and I make. The only differences are that we add some diced onion, red or green pepper and bamboo shoots to our protein, and we saute all of that with the curry paste and a little fish oil and palm sugar before adding the coconut milk. The fish oil (a staple at our house) seems to add an extra flavor layer. I always notice when it's not in there.
ReplyDeleteI make a very similar meal with Green Thai Curry paste. I actually make my own curry paste and keep it in a jar in the fridge - it keeps for months (I tend not to do noodley things in the British winter - no idea why, I just don't, so the last batch has lasted me for at least 6 months and is going strong.) That way, I've got it whenever I want to do a curry (or anything else for that matter - cheese and green curry paste toasties work well, as does grilling fish with it.)
ReplyDeleteI do tend to fry curry pastes for about 30 seconds though, after softening any onion, and before throwing in the protein. I think it releases the flavours better, although, especially with Green, I'll often not have put enough in and throw in another spoonful at the end as well.
I made this today for my boyfriend and I! Instead of chicken I used turkey and a entire small jar of red thai paste. It was a dinner time win. Thank you! :)
ReplyDeleteThanks guys! ELN, I'm glad you were able to use this!
ReplyDelete