Thai-style Chicken with Coconut Milk Sauce – Iron Chef-Style!
July 1, 2011 § 3 Comments
Have you ever opened up the pantry and refrigerator, simply at a loss of what to make or eat? And then, reach into that very-same pantry, and pull out a package of ramyun and resign yourself to an extremely satisfying but unhealthy supper?
I grabbed that package of ramyun, and I heat the water for it. I was actually really looking forward to savoring those delicious, al dente noodles while reading THE HUNGER GAMES (freaking…AMAZING!!!) and having a relaxing night in. But then, I thought, “Stephanie, let’s have a challenge. Let’s try to make something interesting using the ingredients you have on hand.” I shut off the heat for my boiling water and looked inside my pantry and refrigerator again.
I found: a can of coconut milk, some chicken bouillon, S&B Curry, chicken breasts, garlic, green onion, an onion, leftover napa cabbage-hearts, ginger, sriracha, and peanut butter. I started to think, what could I possibly make using these, and the answer was pretty obvious – a Thai-inspired coconut chicken curry!
Then I got really excited. Challenges are good.
I was a little disappointed that I didn’t have any Thai red-curry or green-curry paste on hand (come on, doesn’t EVERYONE have this in their pantry? ;)) so I was a little wary of using my go to curry-rice S&B cubes. I decided I would save those for the very last, and only put them in if everything else turned out horribly. But this was my only “set-back”.
And after a mixture of this, and a little bit of that, I ended up with a chicken coconut “curry” (no “curry” went into the final dish, but it just sounds better) that was really delicious. I WILL TOTALLY MAKE THIS AGAIN! And perhaps I’ll even pick up some red or green curry paste next time, but I’m happy knowing that I don’t need them to make this taste phenonemal.
Thai Chicken Coconut Curry-less Curry
From my very own mind
Approximate cooking time: 30 minutes
Ingredients
- 1.5-2 lbs chicken breast, sliced into 1-inch pieces
- 1 TB mirin (rice wine)
- 1/2 TB grated ginger
- 1/2 TB coarse sea salt
- 1/2 tsp ground black pepper
- 2 TB Golden Mountain sauce
- 1 TB soy sauce
- 4 TB minced garlic
- 2 TB vegetable oil
- 1 TB sesame oil
- 1 onion, thinly sliced
- Any vegetables you want, thinly sliced (*recommended: bell pepper, bok choy, mushrooms, broccoli, napa cabbage, etc)
- 2 TB Sriracha sauce
- 1 13.5 ounce-can coconut milk
- 1/2 tsp freshly ground pepper
- 1 cup chicken broth/stock
- 1/2 TB grated ginger
- 3 green onion stalks, thinly sliced
- Curry paste or 1/4 S&B curry cube * COMPLETELY OPTIONAL, in fact, only put it in if you don’t like how everything above tastes at the end
- Juice of 1 lemon * Also optional, cuts through the richness of the sauce a little
Directions
- Marinate chicken in rice wine, salt, pepper, ginger, Golden Mountain sauce, soy sauce for 15 minutes.
- Heat large pan with vegetable and sesame oil on high heat, add 2 TB of garlic and saute until fragrant (5-10 seconds). Add chicken and cook until golden brown.
- Remove chicken from the pan, and set aside in a bowl. Add more oil if necessary, turn the heat to medium, and add the onions and other vegetables. Cook until tender, and then add the chicken back into the pan. Stir to mix all the ingredients together, and add the sriracha. Turn off the heat.
- In a bowl, mix together the coconut milk, chicken broth, ginger, 2 TB garlic, and pepper. Whisk together.
- Turn the heat back on to medium, and carefully add the coconut-milk mixture. Mix together, and then taste. Add salt if necessary. If you’d like, you can add about 1/4 of one of the cubes of curry, but again, completely optional.
- Add green onion to the sauce, and turn off the heat. Serve with rice. Garnish with a wedge of lemon or lime.
- ENJOY!
my golden hour 
Amazing once again!
Can I make a suggestion. Could you put total cooking time somewhere? That way if I decide to try out a recipe I can do it based on how long it would take me to make it.
Keep up the good work.
thanks for the encouragement, H! Lately, I’ve been thinking “no one reads this!” so I’ve just been doing it for me, so I’m so glad to hear that at least one person is reading! 🙂 I updated the post for you, thanks for the suggestion.
Awesome looking recipe! Trying it this afternoon, since I too love to raid the pantry and fridge in search of the next creative meal.