Chicken Curry is a classic Asian dish; each part of Asia does it differently yet it all tastes just so good!
Chicken Curry is a favourite of mine, as you will see when you scroll through the poultry recipes in this blog. Funny story, growing up I only ever ate one version of chicken curry which killed it for me. I had stayed away from it for the longest time before I made this again with coconut milk.
Over the years, I learnt to fall in love with chicken curry again and ventured into trying various versions of this curry. For example, there are a number of version within Thailand itself. Chiang Mai has a more earthy version of this curry, while central Thailand does it more in Tom Yum soup than in curry. If they did do a curry with chicken, it’s usually Massaman, or in this case, yellow curry.
Protein
My protein of choice here is chicken breast. I am a huge fan of this cut of meat and use it liberally in many of my chicken recipes. Here, you can substitute chicken breasts with thighs, or even use pork chunks instead of chicken. The yellow curry spices are perfect for most white/pink meats. I have not tried this dish with red meat, but do go ahead if you have that at home.
Curry Paste
I have used a Thai Yellow Curry Paste here, from Dancing Chef. Dancing Chef curry pastes are available in NTUC, Finest outlets and Sheng Siong. Compared to the many widely available curry pastes, I find dancing chef to be quite close to the actual; I’ve even made Thai Prawn Red Curry with their red curry paste.
If you’re into making the curry paste from scratch, be my guest! I have made a number of curry pastes before, though I do not always subscribe to this activity. It can be time-consuming and definitely not a weekday thing to do. Here’s a simple recipe for Thai Yellow Curry Paste from Thai Cookbook.
Almost like Rendang
Rendang is a popular Malaysian dry curry, made with a similar array of spices, coconut and meat. It’s usually a beef dish and cooked till extremely tender and dry. The concept behind this dish is similar, in that it’ll have to be cooked thoroughly until the dish starts drying up with the coconut milk exuding its oils into the meat.
Thai Yellow Chicken Curry, dry
Course: MainCuisine: ThaiDifficulty: Easy4
servings15
minutes30
minutesChicken Curry is a classic Asian dish; each part of Asia does it differently yet it all tastes just so good!
You’ll need;
2 Tbsp Oil
1 Large Onion, peeled and thinly sliced or chopped
30g Shredded coconut
100g Yellow Curry Paste
100ml Coconut Milk (not cream)
500g Chicken, cut into cubes
You’ll need to;
- In a large skillet over medium heat, pour the oil, followed by the onions. Saute the onions till well cooked and tender, about 5 mins. Then, add the shredded coconut and fry for a further 5 mins.
- To this, add the yellow curry paste and coconut milk. It’ll become a thick paste. Cook the curry paste over the heat for about 5 mins, then add the chicken pieces. Stir in the meat with the coconut curry, cover and let cook for 10 mins after reducing the heat to low.
- Then, store everything together and scrap out any burnt bits at the base of the pan. Cover and cook again for a further 5 mins. You’ll want all the water in this to completely evaporate, and the meat to become tender and soft.
- After 20 mins, most of the liquid should have dried up. Remove from the heat and serve warm.
Notes
- If using coconut cream in place of milk, dilute 50ml coconut cream with 50ml water.
- If you’d like this spicy, then I suggest adding chilli padi with the onions.
- If you’re a fan of chicken thigh, use that! You can also substitute the chicken with pork.
- Vegan option: Feel free to use tofu or a combination of tofu and tempeh.