This time we’ll take a short break from Indian cooking and visit some other Asian cuisines – the Thai cuisine. One of the best things in Thai cuisine are the hot and fragrant curry paste with which you can super quickly make a hearty and satisfying meal. It’s possible and actually pretty easy to make those pastes at home but the store bought ones are really great so no need to make the effort. Today you can easily find in the “Asian” section of any market store the yellow, green and red curry pastes.

But wait a minute.. isn’t curry an Indian thing?! Apparently no, there is an Indian curry and Thai curry on those or two completely different things. The Thai curry is a paste based on fresh chili, lemon grass, ginger (or galnagal), garlic, shallots and sometimes also shrimp paste. To all of this goodness you add some cumin seeds, coriander and turmeric. The traditional preparation is done in a mortar and pestle. The Indian curry is the name of a mix of dry spices which are roasted in a pan and grounded to a dry powder. There are infinite versions for Indian curry mixtures while most of them are based on some ratio of cumin seeds, coriander seeds, turmeric, fenugreek seeds and dried red chili.

Each Thai curry has its own character – the red one goes really well with meats, the green with fish and the yellow with chicken or tofu. The cooking method for all of them is pretty similar, you fry some onion and vegetables, add the curry paste, add coconut milk or cream and the desired protein (chicken/meat/fish/tofu), cook and season with fish sauce, cilantro leaves and or basil leaves. That’s about it. Super easy and ultra yummy 🙂

The recipe here is for minced meat which is cooked with vegetables in a red curry and coconut cream sauce. It’s real name should probably be some version of “Pad Ka Pao” but in my house it’s called “Red Curry Bolognese”. The end result is a spicy and delicious dish which is perfect for a quick lunch or dinner.

Prep and cook time: 30 minutes

Ingredients (4-5 servings)

• 1 onion
• 2 red capsicum
• 1 carrot
• 2 tbs red curry paste
• 500 gr minced chicken or meat (not a lot of fat)
• 1 can coconut milk
• 1 tbs fish sauce
• bunch of cilantro leaves
• basil leaves out of 5 stems (optional)
• 2 kaffir lime leaves (optional, fresh or dry)

What to do?

Chop the onion. Heat some oil in a pan and fry the onion for 1-2 minutes. Chop the capsicums and carrot and add to the onion. Fry for few more minutes until the vegetables start to soften.

Set the vegetables aside in the pan, add some oil and fry 2 heaped table spoons of red curry paste for half a minute. Mix well with all the vegetables and fry for 2-3 minutes.

Add 1/2 of the coconut milk can and mix well. Add the minced meat or chicken while mixing until the meat changes color. Add the other half of the coconut milk can, chopped cilantro leaves, chopped basil leaves and the fish sauce. Mix well and cook for 10-15 minutes.

Serve with white rice and garnish with cilantro leaves.

Comments and suggestions

Variations. Broccoli goes really well here and you can definitely add it together with the carrot and capsicums. All other colors of capsicums will work here (green, yellow etc.). It is also recommended to add any type of basil leaves you have. If you don’t like cilantro leaves you can skip it and put a bit more basil leaves instead.

Is fish sauce really necessary? Yep, I know fish sauce is an acquired taste. However all the funkiness of the Thai cuisine rest upon this smelly sauce, so I really suggest to try and add it to your Thai curries. If you insist you can replace it here with 1.5 tbs soy sauce.

In short

Chop and fry 1 onion. Chop and add 2 red capsicums and 1 carrot. Fry for few more minutes until soft. Set the veggies aside in the pan, add oil and fry 2 heaped tbs of read curry paste for half a minute. Mix, add half of a 1 can coconut milk. Add 500 gr minced meat or chicken and fry while mixing until the meat changes color. Add the second half of the coconut milk can, 1 tbs fish sauce, 1 bunch of cilantro leaves (chopped), leaves from 5 basil stems (chopped) and 2 kaffir lime leaves. Mix well and cook for 10-15 minutes. Serve with white rice and garnish with cilantro leaves.