thai red curry (kinda)

melissa's wholly unauthentic version of the dish she eats the most of 'round these here parts:

i have limited prep space in my kitchen - well, i did, until i got a moveable kitchen island - but i still seem to do all my food prep on the single 2 linear feet of built-in counterspace that i do have, despite the fact that the dish rack, coffee maker, coffee grinder, coffee, and my cellphone charger are all crammed into the same area. this may also be why i typically call across the street and just get this dish as take-out, but i finally decided to give it a whirl at home - mostly because the blog needed updating, but in part because it seemed like it'd be pretty cheap, yeah?

thai red curry chicken

1-2 tbsp vegetable or peanut oil
1 stalk lemongrass, julienned, or something, however you like it; i picked it out before eating
2 tsp thai red curry paste
1/2 medium-sized onion, diced
1/2 cup peanuts
1/2 red bell pepper, sliced
2-3 cloves garlic, diced
1tbsp fresh basil leaves, chopped or whole
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup coconut milk
1 tbsp brown sugar
1 boneless, skinless chicken breast, cut into chunks
table salt
rice of whatever type you like! and enough of it to feed everyone!
(note: the above quantities probably go over about 1 cup of rice)

to be honest, i ate this without rice this go around, but i'm adding a note here for next time: start the rice.

heat oil in a skillet over medium high heat. add the onions and peanuts; saute until the onions are translucent, about 5min, stirring regularly so as not to burn the peanuts. stir the curry paste and garlic, heating until aromatic, about 1min. add the coconut milk, brown sugar, and red pepper, and bring to a simmer. let simmer for 2-3 min, then add the chicken chunks and lemongrass and bring back to a simmer. let simmer while you clean up (well, at least in my kitchen) or until the chicken is done, whichever comes first (probably about 10m). salt to taste, turn off heat - the rice IS done by this point, right? - toss in the basil leaves, and serve over rice.



serves: me, with some leftovers, so probably 2, maybe 3. who knows! i'm eating alone tonight!