Making curry dishes can be a little intimidating.
Luckily, this recipe is easy peasy. You can adjust the spice and saltiness to your taste, and at the end of it all, you’ll have a ridiculously delicious dish that’s packed with flavour.
It’s also packed with turmeric, which not only lends its bright colour to the sauce, but also an array of beneficial antiseptic, antibacterial, and anti-inflammatory properties, making for a meal that’s both easy on the taste buds and your body.
Thai Coconut Chicken
INGREDIENTS:
8 boneless, skinless chicken thighs
1 tablespoon coconut oil
½ small yellow or white onion
1 red bell pepper
1 chili pepper (Thai, serrano, whatever floats your boat. Also, if you’re feelin’ like some serious spice, add however many chili peppers you want! We’re not going to tell you how to live your life!)
A handful of cilantro
2 green onions
1 teaspoon fresh ginger
1 large clove garlic
2 limes
1 tablespoon red curry paste
1-2 tablespoons fish sauce (more if you like salty flavour, less if salt’s not your jam)
1 generous teaspoon turmeric
1 can coconut milk (light or regular)
1 cup jasmine rice, uncooked
INSTRUCTIONS:
Place a cast-iron pan (we really like this paella pan. No, we’re not making paella, but this coconut chicken is just as beautiful, so why not cook it in a pan deserving of such beauty?) on a cold grill and then preheat it to medium.
Reduce the heat to low-medium, add the coconut oil and the chicken, and let the chicken cook, undisturbed, for 5 minutes.
Don’t you dare disturb the chicken. If you must, place a “Do Not Disturb” sign on the cover of the grill.
While the chicken is cooking (sans disturbance), slice up your onion, bell pepper, and chili pepper(s).
Remove that from your cutting board, and then chop up the cilantro and green onions. You’re not using them until later on, but since you’re cutting things, you may as well get ‘er done.
Cut one of the limes into four wedges. Also, now would be a good time to start cooking your rice (according to package instructions).
Now you may disturb the chicken. Okay, less “disturb,” and more “flip.” Flip the chicken.
Grate your garlic and ginger. Be careful: if you also grate your fingers, it will hurt. Not only from the grating of body parts, but from the astringent qualities of the garlic and ginger.
Not that we’ve done that before. Err… definitely not.
Place the grated garlic, ginger, and human skin in a small bowl.
Squeeze in the juice of one lime. If you did grate your hand, this step with be exceedingly painful.
Now, whisk in the curry paste, fish sauce, turmeric, and coconut milk. OMG look how good it looks.
Hey, everybody! Come see how good it looks!
Now that the chicken has been cooking for another few minutes, it should be all golden and gorgeous.
It might not be cooked through, but that’s okay. We’re not eating it quite yet.
Transfer the potentially cooked chicken to a dish and set aside.
Now, put the sliced peppers, onion, and hot peppers in the pan with all of the chicken juice and remaining coconut oil.
Cook it, stirring often, for about 5 minutes, until the veggies have softened up a bit.
Add the possibly-cooked chicken to the veg mixture, and let it settle for a few minutes. There might be a purpose to this step. There might not. You decide.
Pour in the coconut milk mixture and give it a stir. Close the grill lid and continue to cook for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Remove the pan from the grill. Make sure you put it on something heat-proof because that baby is HOT.
Divide the cooked rice among four plates and top with the coconut chicken.
Sprinkle some of the chopped onions and cilantro over top, and garnish with a lime wedge for some extra colour and a bit of zing.
Yes, ZING. Enjoy, friends.