Thai food recipes: Red curry with chicken (gaeng phet gai)

A delicious Thai red curry will tantalise the taste buds and provide a feast for the eyes. This tasty Thai dish packs in lots of subtle flavours and textures ranging from rich and creamy, to savoury and fragrant. If you travel around Thailand you may notice that chefs from different regions of the country have their own take on how to cook a Thai red curry and what to include in it. Some cooks will use chicken as the main ingredient while others may prefer duck, beef or seafood. We’ve asked chef and Thai food expert, Gary Butler aka The Roaming Cook, to share his red curry with chicken recipe. Over to you, Gary.

A good Thai red curry is spicy, creamy, not too sweet and has probably my favourite Thai herb in it, which is Thai basil. In my recipe I use Thai aubergines, but you can use baby aubergines if you can’t find the Thai ones. Striped aubergines are readily available in the UK now, and they look great, so if you can find them, they’re definitely worth a go.

There’s no real set rule to the veg to use in a red curry so don’t be afraid to experiment and use whatever vegetables work for you. Just make sure something in the dish is red! I’m using cherry tomatoes for their sweetness and topping the finished curry with some sliced red chilli. You can use red pepper if you prefer.

Thai red curry with chicken recipe

Servings: 2-4 people
Preparation time: 10 minutes (if the paste is already made)
Cooking time: 20 minutes

Ingredients

• 400 grams of skinless, boneless chicken thighs. Preferably free range or organic and sliced.
• 100 grams of cherry tomatoes halved.
• 150 grams of long beans or green beans cut into chunks.
• 200 grams of Thai or baby aubergines halved or quartered depending on size.
• 2 tbsp of red curry paste.
• 150 mls of coconut cream or 2 tbsp coconut or vegetable oil.
• 400 mls of can of coconut milk (buy one with no additives).
• 1-2 tsp of sugar or to taste.
• 1 small bunch of Thai basil leaves picked.
• Fish sauce to taste.

Method

• Heat the coconut cream over medium/high heat in a non-stick wok and add the curry paste. Keep stirring until the cream has reduced and the paste has dried up a bit. If using the oil, heat over medium and add the paste. Heat until the paste has dried up and oil is separating.

• Add the chicken to the pan and fry for a few minutes.

• Add the coconut milk and bring to the boil and reduce the heat to medium. Add the sugar but save a little bit to adjust the seasoning before serving. You can add some water if you like your curry more on the soupy side. Add a few drops of fish sauce.

• Cook for 5 minutes then add the aubergine and cook for an additional 3 minutes.

• Add in the tomatoes and beans and cook for another 3 minutes. Turn off the heat and stir in the Thai basil. Adjust the seasoning with sugar and fish sauce.

• Serve in bowls next to steamed Jasmine rice.

This Thai red curry recipe and photos are from The Roaming Cook website and used here with the kind permission of Gary Butler.

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