Thai Red Curry Chicken with Basil

This Thai Red Curry Chicken with Basil is delicious and happens to be one of the simplest Thai dishes to prepare. The fact that it is easy to prepare makes me happy, and the wonderful flavor makes everyone happy!

I love Thai Red Curry Chicken with Basil so much that I could eat it almost every day. If you have tried any of my recipes by now you know that I love strong flavors. This Thai Red Curry Chicken certainly meets that criteria with its perfect balance of spicy and sweet. If you are familiar with traditional Thai curries you will appreciate the authentic ingredients in this dish. If you are just a beginner, you will be starting off on the right foot and will impress your friends and family with the final result. This Thai Red Curry Chicken with Basil is a great dish to serve when entertaining. You can prepare the dish a day in advance or before your guests arrive and rewarm just before serving. If you do prepare the dish in advance I would recommend though that you wait to add the red chilies, the kaffir lime leaves and the sweet basil at just prior to serving to keep the flavor and colors vibrant.

Here is a photo showing some of the key ingredients. If you don’t live nearby a Thai or Asian grocery store, you could order them from Amazon.com. You can have kafir lime leaves and even Thai chilies shipped right to your home. Both can be stored in ziplock freezer bags and kept frozen. This will preserve both their color and aroma for a long time. For the chilies you’ll want to cut their steams off and put them into a small freezer-safe storage bag, remove as much air as possible from the bag, and seal it.

I recommend you invest in a good wok. It’s an essential tool for Thai and Asian food cooking. I use mine all the time.

The dish is typically served with Jasmine rice, but you can use your favorite rice if you don’t have any on hand. In my house, and in many Asian homes, a rice cooker is used to prepare the rice. Using a rice cooker allows me to prepare the rice hours in advance and have it warm and moist when I’m ready to serve.

I hope you will enjoy making this wonderful dish as much as do. Happy New Year!

Print Recipe

Thai Red Curry Chicken with Basil

Prep Time20 minutes mins

Cook Time10 minutes mins

Total Time30 minutes mins

Course: Main Course

Cuisine: Thai

Servings: 4 servings

Author: My Global Cuisine

Ingredients

• 2 Ibs chicken breasts sliced into chunks or into bite sizes
• 1 13 1/2 ounces can of coconut milk shaken
• 1 TBSP of red curry paste
• 2 TSP of tamarind paste
• 1 TBSP of palm sugar
• 2 TBSP of low sodium chicken broth or water
• 1 1/2 TBSP of Thai fish sauce
• 1 to 2 red chillies thinly sliced
• 5 kaffir lime leaves julienned
• 1 handful of Thai sweet basil

Instructions

• - Bring the coconut milk to boil in a large wok or in a heavy large skillet over medium-high heat.
• - Add the curry paste and stir to blend. Add the tamarind paste and stir to blend. Add the palm sugar, the chicken broth and the fish sauce and stir for about 1 minute.
• - Add the chicken and cook until chicken is cooked through and changes color, stirring often, for about 5 minutes. Do not overcook the chicken, otherwise it will get tough.
• - Add the the red chillies with the seeds, the kaffir lime leaves and the basil and cook for about 1 minute. Taste sauce and adjust flavors. For more heat, add more of the sliced chillies. For more salt, add more fish sauce. Serve with steamed Thai jasmine rice.