Thai Coconut Chicken Curry

The amount of flavor in this dish is unreal...

For this dish, let me start by saying that I took another similar recipe and twisted it so many times to my own liking that I'm calling it my own recipe... Ok???

And I know it looks like a lot of ingredients, but these are all incredibly easy to find at the grocery store, and most of the work for this dish is simply putting stuff in a food processor and pressing a button. So super easy.

Disclaimer: You will need a food processor for this one

Serves 4

Ingredients

• 6-8 Boneless, skinless chicken thighs

• 2-3 Large sweet potatoes

• 2-3 Large bell peppers

• 4-5 Roma tomatoes

• 2 Bay Leaves

• 2 tsp of whole cumin seed

• 1 bushel of fresh cilantro

• 1/2 bag of unsweetened coconut flakes

• 1 can of unsweetened coconut milk

• 2 tbsp of olive oil

• 1/2 cup of chicken stock

For the curry paste

• 1 thumb sized piece of fresh ginger

• 1/2 of 1 large white onion

• 2 jalapeños (serrano or chile peppers) deseeded or not depending on personal spicy preference

• 5 cloves of fresh garlic

• 3 tbsp of fish sauce

• 2 tbsp of lime juice

• 2 tbsp of brown sugar

• 1 tbsp of ketchup (no sugar added is best)

• 1 tsp of turmeric

• 1 tsp of ground cumin

• 1 tsp of coriander

• 1/2 tsp of cayenne

• Salt and pepper to taste

Directions

1. Starting with the curry paste, cube onion and peppers to fit nicely in food processor, add peeled garlic and ginger, and blend until smooth.

2. Add liquid ingredients; ketchup, fish sauce, lime juice. Then add spices and sugar. Blend all ingredients until completely smooth.

3. Take 1 tbsp of the canned coconut milk and add to curry paste, reserve remaining coconut milk for later.

4. Heat olive oil in a large skillet.

5. Peel and cube sweet potatoes. Dice tomatoes, and remove seeds and cube bell peppers. Finely chop cilantro. Set all aside for now.

6. Once olive oil is hot, add curry paste to the hot pan and stir around. Add chicken to pan after about one minute.

7. Add remaining coconut milk and chicken broth to pan, and flip chicken as a way to mix curry paste with milk and broth. Then add sweet potatoes, bay leaves, and cumin seed and cook on med-high for 15 minutes.

8. After 15 minutes, add bell peppers and tomatoes, flip chicken and stir curry, then cook for another 15 mins.

9. While curry cooks last 15 mins, toast your coconut flakes in a dry pan until golden brown.

10. Once coconut flakes are toasted, remove from pan as they will continue to toast and potentially burn. Add flakes and chopped cilantro to cooked curry and serve with choice of rice! (I used jasmine rice, as seen below)

This dish is literally like a flavor bomb went off in your mouth

Tips and Tricks

Sugar:

Through so much trial and error here, I can confidently say, please please please do not get the sweetened coconut flakes for this dish. Curry is supposed to be a balance between savory and sweet, and using the unsweetened coconut flakes is so much better. When you use sweetened flakes, the sugars melt from toasting and create a sort of syrup that is just too competitive with the spices in this dish. You get plenty of balancing sugars from the coconut milk (even though it is unsweetened as well) and from the brown sugar in the curry paste. Not to mention the sweet potatoes as well. Just stick with the recipe here when it comes to added sugars. Not to mention its better for you...

Cilantro:

Here's the deal. You can use cilantro for this dish and it is absolutely f#*ing delicious, or you can use basil, and that is absolutely f#*ing delicious too. I used cilantro this time because, #1 my dad requested it specifically and this is his favorite dish, and #2 unless you're growing a giant basil garden in your backyard or porch (which coincidentally I am) basil can be pretty damn expensive for a small amount whereas you can get an entire bushel of cilantro for like 99 cents. Plus it usually comes in a single-use plastic container and that shit ain't cool y'all #savetheearth ... But really, when it comes down to it, both are incredibly tasty and you should try it both ways if you can, but do what feels right.

Seriously, yum.

* This dish can be Keto/ Low-Carb Friendly, half portion of coconut flakes, use no sugar added ketchup, eliminate brown sugar and sweet potatoes. Double up on bell peppers instead of sweet potatoes.

**Also, for vegan and vegetarian friends- You can substitute chicken for tofu and chicken broth for vegetable broth!