Red Thai Chicken Curry

It was during my early days of experimenting with Thai curries that my oops moments were most frequent. Brian likely shudders at the sound of my oops'es, which serve as short notice warnings of the choking aroma of spices that billow out from the kitchen soon after. When the spice clouds have dissipated, and I serve a curry along with a nervous "good luck!", I've been told how this can sound more like a threat than the genuine well-wishing I'd intended. Oops. One of Brian's more tragic dinner experiences, which is coincidentally one of my fondest memories, began with my heavy spicing hand (part oops, part intentional) and ended in a lot of red-faced sweating, water chugging, ice cube sucking, and nose blowing. All in all, some quality dinner entertainment for me... but unfortunately, not much dinner eaten for 

B. He called it quits after a few bites and accused me of attempted murder. From there was born our new rating system, much like the Scoville scale for chili peppers, but instead of numerical heat units, we have charges ranging from assault with a deadly weapon to first degree. For my birthday that year, Brian designed an apron bearing my hockey team's logos, along with a special chef skull and crossbones as my personal spice insignia. Since then, I think I've worked my Thai curry spicing down to an edible level, but if you have a weak tongue... good luck!

For a meatless version of this recipe, simply omit the chicken - I always include a lot of vegetables so it will still be quite filling. The vegetables listed below are my usual selections, but Thai curries are so versatile, most combinations of vegetables will work! 

Serves 4

• 1 boneless, skinless chicken breast 
• Chicken marinade: 
• 1/4 tsp ground pepper
• 1 1/2 tsp coriander powder
• 1/4 tsp red chili powder
• 1 tsp apple cider vinegar
• 1 tbsp light soy sauce






• 2 squirts sriracha
• 1 1/2 cups jasmine or long-grain white rice (3 cups water)
• 1 carrot
• 1 parsnip
• 1 turnip
• 1 medium (or 2 small) yams
• 1 small eggplant
• 1 medium zucchini
• 1 large (or 2 small) broccoli crowns 
• 8 cloves garlic
• 1 1/2 inch section fresh ginger root
• 1 red jalapeno (or 1-2 red Thai chilies, as pictured on blog background)
• 3 dried red chili peppers (I use Tien Tsin Chinese chilies) 
• 1 small onion
• 1/2 cup fresh chopped cilantro
• 8 basil leaves
• 1 can (400ml) coconut milk, light or low-fat if available
• 2/3 cup skim milk
• 1/4 cup red curry paste (I like Aroy-D or Mae Ploy brands, but Thai Kitchen works too)
• 2 tbsp light soy sauce
• 4 squirts sriracha
• 1/2 tsp red chili powder
• 1/4 tsp ground pepper
• Garnish: sesame seeds or fresh chopped cilantro 

Trim any fat off chicken breast and cut into small strips. Add marinade ingredients to chicken, mix, and set aside. 

Cook rice per instructions on package. 

Wash vegetables. Peel the carrot, parsnip, turnip and yams. Cut all vegetables up roughly into 1-inch bite sized pieces. 

Mince garlic, ginger, jalapeno and dried chili peppers (seeds included for extra heat). Thinly slice the onion. Heat a small amount of olive oil to a frying pan over med-high. Add garlic, ginger and chilis. Cook for a few minutes, stirring, til fragrant and the edges of the garlic turn golden brown. Add sliced onion and continue stirring for a few minutes. Remove pan from heat and set aside. 

Pour coconut and skim milk into large pot over med-low heat. Add red curry paste, smushing to blend with coconut milk. Add the garlic, ginger, peppers and onion to the pot and cover with lid. 

Add small amount of olive oil to same frying pan used for the garlic mix, and cook chicken over high. Option for extra heat: add small amount of red curry paste and fry along with chicken. Once chicken is cooked, remove pan from heat. 

Add sliced carrots, parsnip, turnip, yams, eggplant, cooked chicken, chopped cilantro, basil leaves, soy sauce, sriracha, red chili powder and ground pepper to the pot (leaving greens til later so they don't overcook/wilt). Stir to mix, increase to medium heat, cover and let simmer for 10 min. Stir as needed. Reduce to low and let simmer for another 5 min.

When veggies are cooked (test when yams are soft), add sliced zucchini and broccoli florets to pot. Stir, cover and let simmer for 10 min til greens are cooked. 

Serve over rice. Garnish with fresh chopped cilantro or a sprinkling of sesame seeds.