If you have kids, do they like curry? Mine don’t. It’s” too spicy,” or it” tastes weird,” and I’m always kicking myself for dialing down the spice factor for their sake when they aren’t going to eat it anyway. When will I learn?
This Crock Pot Red Thai Chicken Curry is one of those dishes. My husband loves, loves, loves curry, and slow cooked curry dishes always turn out well. I love that the basic formula is the same: coconut milk, curry paste, various spices, and meat or vegetables; and that often I can adapt a recipe to whatever I have on hand.
You should feel free to modify this one to suit your tastes and use up those few random veggies you have in the fridge. I think this one would be great with some carrots or potatoes thrown in.
Speaking of suiting tastes, I have a sad story for you. When I was in the hospital after my daughter was born, my husband brought me some pad thai from one of my beloved food trucks near his work, which also happened to be on the same block as the hospital. Apparently, creating life for the second time messed with my taste buds, and all I could taste in those noodles was the fish sauce, which was disgusting to me. I haven’t been able to stomach fish sauce since. It’s one of the saddest truths of my life, and I would trade my kid in a second for my love of fish sauce-flavored dishes again. (JUST KIDDING. Or am I?)
Usually I just omit fish sauce when it’s called for in recipes, but this time I substituted Worcestershire sauce. It contains anchovies, so I thought it might work. It did!
The spice level as written should accommodate the milder palates in your home, and if you are feeding varying degrees of spice lovers, you may want to add a bit of curry paste to those daredevils’ bowls.
It’s hard to make everyone happy, isn’t it? Sometimes making everyone happy means making tasty curry for the grown ups while the kids eat the rice with soy sauce.
Crock Pot Thursday: Red Thai Chicken Curry
Ingredients
- 2 14 oz. cans of full fat coconut milk
- 2 Tbsp fish sauce
- 2 Tbsp Thai red curry paste (add more if you like it hot)
- 2 Tbsp honey
- 1 tsp salt
- 3 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 Tbsp fresh ginger, minced
- 1 lb boneless, skinless chicken breasts or thighs, cut into one inch pieces
- 1 large red bell pepper, sliced
- 1 medium onion, sliced
- 1 18 oz. can bamboo shoots
- fresh basil leaves
Instructions
- Add coconut milk, fish sauce, curry paste, honey, salt, garlic, and ginger to slow cooker. Mix well.
- Put chicken, bell pepper, onion, and bamboo shoots into the curry mixture, and stir to coat.
- Cover and cook on low for 4-6 hours.
- Add basil at the end of cook time, and serve over rice.
Notes
Linda
I really enjoyed this very easy red curry chicken. I used 3 tablespoons of the red curry paste, and added some salt and garlic. It was easy to fine tune for any palate. I would make this again any time!
Sarah
Once again I am amazed by the versatility the crock offers! This was great! The layers of flavor and ease of this crock make it a winner! I started with one heaping tablespoon to keep it kid friendly and then added a few more teaspoons to my bowl to kick up the heat!
Me
We thought this needed more spice, so my husband and I each about a teaspoon of curry paste to our individual servings. I also substituted Worchestershire sauce for the fish sauce. Other vegetables would be good in this recipe, too. Next time I'll toss in a cubed potato.
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