Thai-Inspired Turkey (or Chicken) Curry

Curries made with coconut milk and spicy Asian curry pastes are one of my favorite quick, real foods. Sometimes they are made with only some onion and lots of meat, but I always try to add as many vegetables as I can.

Served over rice or rice noodles, they are a great one-dish dinner that is light-years away from hamburger helper-type skillet meals.

I always start with coconut milk and turkey (or chicken), onion, and garlic and then add the curry paste. In the past I’ve used red and green, and this time I’m using yellow.

The vegetables I’m using today are carrots, chopped parsnips, and some frozen green beans from last year’s garden. But since there are so many vegetables that are good in this like broccoli, cauliflower, peppers, and zucchini, it is a super flexible recipe to use whatever you’ve got on hand.

Oh, I forgot to put this in the ingredients picture, but I always add a splash of fish sauce, too. Some people just can’t get past the smell, but I think it adds that Thai flavor I’m looking for.

Heat some olive oil or coconut oil in a large skillet, and add the onion, carrot, garlic, and any other fresh vegetable that would need sauteing – in this case, parsnips – and cook for about 4-5 minutes over medium heat.

Then add any remaining vegetables ( like the frozen beans I’m using) and the chopped, cooked meat. Oh, man, shrimp is really good, too.

Have you gotten the idea yet that it’s easy to customize this to your taste and to what’s in your pantry? Broccoli, zucchini, and peppers would be added here, if I were using them. The point is to have the vegetables remain crisp and not over-cook them.

Then pour in the coconut milk and a splash of fish sauce. For the amount of meat and vegetables I’m using, I added two cans of coconut milk.

Now comes the tricky part. Most of the flavor (and heat) of this dish comes from the curry paste. There are recipes on the web that have you make your own curry paste, but then it’s not nearly so quick and easy, is it? And they are cheap at the Asian food store and last for months, so this is one convenience I’ll keep, I think.

Anyway, the tricky part is getting the right amount of the spicy curry paste – enough to be flavorful, but not so much that it causes your mouth to burn, your eyes to water, and your forehead to sweat.

Don’t ask me how I know this.

Here’s what I’ve found out through trial and error: yellow curry paste is the mildest (and tastes more Indian than the other two), red is more spicy and green will blow your head off.

Gee, do you think I had a little issue with the green curry?

One of my sisters lived in Thailand for a few years and she found that they like to laugh at Americans lack of ability to eat spicy food. I think she worked up to more spicy things, but she said their idea of “mild” is our equivalent of smoke coming out of our ears.

So, in my world, I use a teaspoon of green curry paste to two cans of coconut milk, 1-2 teaspoons of red curry paste, and a little less than a tablespoon of yellow. But my main point here is to go slow, and taste after you’ve added a small amount. You can always put more in, but you can’t take it out.

Again, please don’t ask.

OK, there was a recipe here somewhere, wasn’t there? Oh yeah, after adding the curry paste let everything cook together for about 5- 10 minutes to meld the flavors and cook the vegetables to crisp-tender.

Ladle over rice or rice noodles and enjoy, ’cause no one’s gonna laugh at you here…

Thai-Inspired Turkey (or Chicken, or Shrimp) Curry

2 cans coconut milk
1-2 Tb. olive oil or coconut oil
4 cups chopped, cooked turkey or chicken (or shelled shrimp)
1 onion, chopped
3-4 cloves garlic, minced
1 Tb. fish sauce
yellow, red, or green spicy curry paste (1 tsp. to 1 Tb. according to taste)
about 6 c. mixed vegetables of choice: sliced carrots, parsnips, or zucchini, chopped broccoli, cauliflower or sweet peppers, cut green beans, peas.
rice or rice noodles for serving

Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the onion, garlic, and any hard vegetable that needs sauteing (carrots, parsnips, cauliflower). Saute for about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Add the cooked meat (or cook the shrimp with the vegetables until done), and any other vegetables along with the coconut milk and fish sauce.
Add the curry paste to taste, being careful to monitor the spiciness. Start with only 1 tsp. of green, 1-1/2 tsp. of red or just less than a Tb. of yellow.
Cook for another 5 to 10 minutes to let the flavors meld and cook the vegetables to crisp-tender.
Serve over rice or rice noodles.

Makes 6 servings

-Jami