Thai red curry with chicken
Red curry with coconut milk and chicken thigh. Brown the mushrooms separately and leave a little bite in the vegetables. Lime and basil go in at the very end.
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Thai red curry with chicken
4 people · About 55–65 minutes
Equipment: Roomy casserole suited to the chosen quantity, and a frying pan
Quantities follow your selection; time and temperature do not scale automatically.
Ingredients
Chicken and sauce
- 800 g chicken thigh fillets, skinless and boneless
- 53 g Aroy-D red curry paste, or less for a milder curry
- 533 ml full-fat coconut milk
- approx. 1.3 dl concentrated chicken stock, preferably unsalted and homemade
- 2 tbsp neutral oil, divided between mushrooms and casserole
- 1–1⅓ tbsp fish sauce to start; more to taste
- 1⅓ tsp palm sugar or brown sugar, adjust to taste
- ⅔ lime, juice added to taste
Vegetables and aromatics
- 200 g chestnut mushrooms, sliced or quartered
- ⅔ large yellow onion, thinly wedged
- approx. 1½ red peppers, cut into strips
- 133 g drained bamboo shoots
- 133 g green beans, trimmed and cut
- approx. 3½ garlic cloves, finely chopped
- 17 g fresh ginger, finely grated
- approx. 1½ lemongrass stalks, lightly bruised and cut into large pieces
- approx. 2½–4 makrut lime leaves, lightly torn
- ⅔ small handful Thai basil
- approx. 1½–2 red chillies, optional according to desired heat
To serve
- 280 g dry jasmine rice
- Lime wedges and optional extra Thai basil
Allergens: Fish from fish sauce. Curry paste may contain crustaceans, and stock may contain celery. Always check the ingredient lists of your products.
Method
Prepare everything
Cut chicken into even pieces about 3 cm across. Cut vegetables and measure sauce ingredients. Wipe mushrooms clean and remove dry stalk ends; the rest of the stalk can be used. Keep raw chicken and its utensils separate from the vegetables.
Brown mushrooms separately
Heat the frying pan well. Use about one third of the oil and fry mushrooms in two batches until coloured and most liquid has evaporated. Set aside. Too many mushrooms in the pan at once produce more boiling than browning.
Sweat the onion
Heat the remaining oil in the casserole over medium heat. Soften onion until translucent for 5–7 minutes without heavy browning. Add garlic and ginger for the last minute. Add curry paste and optional chilli and cook, stirring, for 2–3 minutes. Reduce the heat if it starts sticking.
Build the sauce
Add about one quarter of the coconut milk, preferably its thickest part. Simmer for a few minutes until clearly fragrant and perhaps a little fat shows on the surface. Coconut milk containing stabilisers may not split – do not boil it dry to force this. Stir in the remaining coconut milk, stock, fish sauce, sugar, lemongrass and lime leaves. Simmer for 5 minutes.
Poach the chicken in the sauce
Add chicken to the hot sauce and return to a gentle simmer. Cook gently for about 10–12 minutes. Avoid rapid boiling. Start the rice so it finishes at roughly the same time as the curry.
Add vegetables in stages
Add peppers and bamboo shoots and simmer for about 4 minutes. Add beans and browned mushrooms and continue for 3–4 minutes. Beans should be hot throughout and as tender as you prefer. Check the thickest chicken piece with a thermometer: at least 75 °C. Timings are approximate; piece size and heat determine cooking.
Adjust the flavour
Remove lemongrass and whole lime leaves. Take off the heat and add lime gradually. Taste and add more fish sauce if needed, and a little sugar if necessary. Fold in Thai basil. Let the curry settle for 5–10 minutes and serve with hot jasmine rice.
https://sapidus.no/en/oppskrifter/thai-red-curry
About portions and timing
Cuisine: Thai-inspired
Estimated timing: about 20 min preparation · about 35 min cooking · about 5 min resting. These times are estimates for the basic method and have not been measured in the kitchen. Follow the method and any time ranges above.
Tick ingredients as you prepare them and steps as you finish them.
0 items checkedMethod
Cut chicken into even pieces about 3 cm across. Cut vegetables and measure sauce ingredients. Wipe mushrooms clean and remove dry stalk ends; the rest of the stalk can be used. Keep raw chicken and its utensils separate from the vegetables.
Heat the frying pan well. Use about one third of the oil and fry mushrooms in two batches until coloured and most liquid has evaporated. Set aside. Too many mushrooms in the pan at once produce more boiling than browning.
Heat the remaining oil in the casserole over medium heat. Soften onion until translucent for 5–7 minutes without heavy browning. Add garlic and ginger for the last minute. Add curry paste and optional chilli and cook, stirring, for 2–3 minutes. Reduce the heat if it starts sticking.
Add about one quarter of the coconut milk, preferably its thickest part. Simmer for a few minutes until clearly fragrant and perhaps a little fat shows on the surface. Coconut milk containing stabilisers may not split – do not boil it dry to force this. Stir in the remaining coconut milk, stock, fish sauce, sugar, lemongrass and lime leaves. Simmer for 5 minutes.
Add chicken to the hot sauce and return to a gentle simmer. Cook gently for about 10–12 minutes. Avoid rapid boiling. Start the rice so it finishes at roughly the same time as the curry.
Add peppers and bamboo shoots and simmer for about 4 minutes. Add beans and browned mushrooms and continue for 3–4 minutes. Beans should be hot throughout and as tender as you prefer. Check the thickest chicken piece with a thermometer: at least 75 °C. Timings are approximate; piece size and heat determine cooking.
Remove lemongrass and whole lime leaves. Take off the heat and add lime gradually. Taste and add more fish sauce if needed, and a little sugar if necessary. Fold in Thai basil. Let the curry settle for 5–10 minutes and serve with hot jasmine rice.
Get to know the spices in this dish
Good to know before you cook
Curry paste – use the scales
Tablespoons of firm curry paste vary considerably. Weigh the listed quantity. Aroy-D can be hot; use only two thirds to three quarters of the stated amount and omit extra chilli for a milder curry. Different brands may have entirely different strengths.
Use concentrated stock
The amount in the recipe is for concentrated stock. If you have ordinary stock, use the same amount and taste as you season. Doubling the liquid to get more stock flavour will thin the sauce. Salted stock usually means you need less fish sauce.
If the sauce is too thin
Reduce the sauce uncovered before adding chicken. If the dish is already cooked, lift out chicken and vegetables before reducing. This prevents overcooking. Return them and heat through.
Our curry with mushrooms and vegetables
This is a hearty curry with mushrooms and several vegetables. Ginger tastes different from galangal. You can use ordinary basil instead of Thai basil, but that changes the flavour too.
What happens in the food?
Sources and further reading
We use AI to help with source research. The practical suggestions and flavour assessments are our own interpretations of those sources.