Spicy green curry with creamy coconut milk and a pop of fresh Thai basil
Let’s “THAI” one one, shall we? I am obsessed with the flavors of Thai cuisine because it usually combines my favorite elements– spicy, sweet, savory, creamy and fresh. In this dish, all 4 elements are represented…Spicy: Green Curry Paste. Sweet: A bit of brown sugar. Savory: Shiitake Mushrooms. Creamy: Full fat, unsweetened coconut milk. Fresh: Thai Basil from my garden. This is easy to make and you can find all of the ingredients at your local grocery store in the International or Asian section.
Make sure when you buy the coconut milk, you don’t get the kind that’s sold in the dairy aisle– like Silk Coconut that you would put on your cereal. The consistency is too thin. You need to get the can of coconut milk– and make sure it’s the full fat, unsweetened version. And don’t freak out when you look at the fat content. Coconuts provide fat that is mostly in the form of medium chain saturated fatty acids (MCFA’s) that serves as an antiviral and antibacterial in the body. MCFA’s are also used up more quickly by the body and less likely to be stored as fat. Translation– you can still fit into your skinny jeans with regular coconut milk consumption. Just don’t throw back the Pina Coladas and think you’re on a diet— those cocktails are loaded with sugar!
You can serve this dish over rice or rice noodles, or even thin out the coconut milk with a bit of chicken stock and turn it into a spicy soup. Whatever your pleasure, lovelies! To save time, I picked up a rotisserie chicken and chopped it up instead of cooking chicken myself. If you can’t find Thai basil, regular basil works fine, or cilantro— or even a combination of the two.
Enjoy!
- 2 cloves garlic chopped
- 1 Tb canola oil
- 1 Tb butter
- 1 cup shiitake mushrooms, stems removed and sliced
- 1 jalapeno chopped (seeds removed) *You can omit if you don't like it hot
- 1/2 red bell pepper
- 1 Tb Thai Green Curry paste (add more for super spicy!)
- 1 can full fat coconut milk
- 1 Tb fresh ginger
- 1 Tb soy sauce or Tamari
- 1 Tb brown sugar (you could use honey or agave as well)
- 1 cup chopped, cooked chicken
- palmful of fresh Thai (or regular basil) chopped
- In a large saucepan, saute garlic in butter and oil on medium heat until it's fragrant, about 30 seconds. Add shiitakes and stir until water from the mushrooms is released, about 5 minutes. Add chopped jalapeno and red pepper and saute for another 3 minutes.
- Add Green Curry paste and continue to stir until combined, about another minute. Then add the coconut milk, ginger, soy sauce and brown sugar. Let simmer on low to thicken.
- Fold chicken into the sauce right before serving.
- Serve over jasmine rice or rice noodles. Top with fresh basil
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