Thai red chicken curry with butternut squash is a classic and a great favourite of mine. The colouring effect of the squash results in a curry that is orange rather than red; however it is still very definitely a Thai red curry. And if that sounds confusing, what you have to know is that in Thai when we refer to a red or green curry we are talking about the colour of the chilies we use to make the curry paste, not the colour of the finished curry. You can chop and change the ratio of chicken to squash in the recipe as you wish, or even omit the chicken altogether if you prefer. The kaffir lime leaves are optional and if you scroll to the bottom you will see where to buy them and how to prepare them.
Ingredients
One packet of red curry paste
300 g of butternut squash
1 can of coconut milk
500 g of chicken thighs sliced.
Peppers.
Cut the butternut squash into chunks and place in a saucepan with just enough water to cover the squash. Bring to a boil and simmer until just tender when pierced with a fork. This will normally be around 10 minutes. Drain the butternut squash and set aside.
In a separate pan heat the red curry paste until it starts to bubble.
Add half the can of coconut milk and heat again until it bubbles.
Add the sliced chicken thighs and stir through.
Cover and simmer gently for around 8 minutes.
Add the remainder of the coconut milk and stir.
Add the butternut squash and some of the chopped peppers, reserving some to garnish the dish, and cook for around another 8 minutes, check that the squash is tender.
Serve with the reserved peppers. (Optional) I’m also using some finely cut kaffir lime leaves, if you want to do likewise then check out this page on where to buy them, Kaffir Lime Leaves. Prepare the kaffir lime leaves by rolling several of them together and then chopping them finely into strips with a sharp knife as in the picture below.
I also like to serve this dish with a basic Thai “prik nam pla”. This consists of equal amounts of Thai fish sauce and fresh lime juice into which a couple of chilies are chopped. This is optional depending on how spicy you like your food!
Enjoy!
Enjoy!
If you like this recipe please click the star rating or add a comment below! Kop Khun Kha, Nitsa.x
This is such an easy curry to make, and you can also chop and change ingredients as you wish but the combination of butternut squash and chicken in a luscious Thai red curry sauce is good enough to make me not want to change it too much!
Cut the butternut squash into chunks and place in a saucepan
with just enough water to cover the squash. Bring to a boil and simmer until
just tender when pierced with a fork. This will be about 10 minutes. Drain and
set aside.
Heat the red curry paste in the pan until it bubbles.
Add half the can of coconut milk, preferably the thicker part
from the top of the can and heat again until it bubbles.
Add the sliced chicken and stir through the sauce.
Cover and simmer gently for around 8 minutes. You can add a
little water if needed.
Add the remainder of the coconut milk and stir.
Add the butternut squash and most of the chopped pepper,
reserving some for garnish, and cook for around another 8 minutes.
Check that the squash is tender and serve with the reserved
peppers.
Recipe Note
I also like to serve this dish with a basic Thai “prik nam
pla”. This consists of equal amounts of Thai fish sauce and fresh lime juice
into which a couple of chilies are chopped. This is optional depending on how
spicy you like your food!
As always using
the “right” type of coconut milk is a game-changer. See here.
I firmly believe that Khao Soi should be ranked as one of the world's great dishes. You can call it a curry or you can call it a noodle soup and it is both of those with more on top, literally on top! A broth of aromatic curry paste and orange-tinged coconut milk with tender chicken falling apart for you, boiled noodles lurking underneath and becoming coated with fragrant oil as they break the surface. Crispy noodles on top you can manipulate and dunk into the sauce,
This is a totally delicious way to serve roast chicken as well as being very simple to prepare. Cooking a whole chicken this way is practised in various forms throughout Asia, sometimes pot roasted, sometimes over hot coals and with many different curry pastes. Often cooked in the home, rather than restaurants, which is probably the reason why many Westerners are not familiar with the dish. Well, now is the time to change that and I promise you that you won't regret it!
This is a dish that is incredibly easy and quick to prepare. If you have a bag of frozen seafood in the freezer and the whole dish can come together in the time it takes to cook the rice. Talking of rice, I find myself increasingly turning to black rice
I purchased the massaman curry sauce and cooked it with beef shin, using a good quality coconut milk. It was delicious! Quite an unusual sauce with flavours that I have never eaten before and also slightly sweet which I very much enjoyed especially with the slight kick of heat at the end. I will definitely be trying some more flavours. Thank you.
