If you know me and have been following me along, you know Thailand holds a very special place in my heart. Tyler and I went for a week 2 years back and completely fell in love. The people are as nice and helpful as they come, the water is crystal clear blue, and the food … INCREDIBLE!
Aside from jumping through fire at Full Moon, swimming naked in the clear water of Kho Pi Pi, and strolling through the jungle streets on our scooters, one of my favorite moments was when just Ty and I took our scooter and ventured to explore around the island of Koh Samui (my favorite). We were starving and pulled over to ask some locals where we could find food. Speaking little English they invited us in and cooked us a homemade Thai meal!! Can you get any more of an authentic Thai food experience than that?!
So here I am, sharing one of my favorite staple Thai meals with you. It is very easy, surprisingly healthy (aside from the rice but whatever) and absolutely delicious- it gets all of your taste buds!!
The recipe is Coconut Curry Chicken, Coconut Rice & pickled Cucumber Mango salad (my personal favorite). You can use any meat you want for the Thai Basil Chicken (I’ve also made this with lean turkey for meal prep). And honestly you can just make an entire Cucumber Mango Salad for yourself. It is SO healthy and so refreshing. It makes for a nice light touch for this pretty heavy meal.
Here we go, a little piece of my heart made with love for you to bring to your home!
Coconut Curry Chicken:
Ingredients:
- 2 lbs chicken breasts, boneless, skinless, cut into 1/2-inch chunks
- Salt and pepper
- 1 1/2 tablespoons vegetable oil
- 2 tablespoons curry powder
- 1/2 onion, thinly sliced
- 2 cloves garlic, crushed
- 1 can (14 ounce) coconut milk
- 1 can (14.5 ounce) diced tomato, drained
- 1 can (8 ounce) tomato sauce
- 3 tablespoons sugar
Instructions:
- Dice chicken into 1 inch cubes.
- Season the chicken chunks with salt and pepper.
- Mix curry powder and oil. Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat and add the curry oil mixture. Heat curry oil for 1 minute.
- Add garlic and onions and cook for 1 minute.
- Add chicken chunks and toss lightly to coat with the curry oil mixture.
- Reduce heat to medium, and cook for 7 to 10 minutes, or until chicken is no longer pink in center and juices run clear.
- Pour coconut milk, diced tomatoes, tomato sauce, and sugar into the pan, and stir to combine. I also added some Orange Curry Sauce I got from Trader Joes for extra rich flavor. Add some cayenne pepper or red flakes for some spice (optional). Cover and simmer, stirring occasionally, approximately 30 to 40 minutes.
Coconut Rice
Ingredients:
- 1 can coconut milk
- 1/2 tsp. salt
- 2 packets 90 second microwave ready Jasmine Rice
- 2 scallions chopped (optional)
Instructions:
- Prepare 2 packets of microwave ready jasmine rice.
- Put both packets of rice in the large saucepan.
- Add 1 can coconut milk (this is cooking Thai coconut milk, NOT regular coconut milk you find in the milk section).
- Stir and blend together. Simmer until rice has soaked up all of the coconut milk about 10-15 minutes. It will be rich and creamy but not watery.
- Serve with scallions.
Pickled Mango Cucumber Salad
Ingredients:
- 1 large cucumber
- 1/2 red onion
- 1 mango
- 1 tbsp. rice vinegar
- 1 tbsp. lime
- 3/4 cup chopped cilantro
Instructions:
- Thinly slice the produce. I slice the cucumber, cube the mango and dice the onions (honestly I always buy pre-diced onions because I cry from dicing onions!)
- Combine all ingredients into a bowl and mix together.
- How easy is that?!?!! Thank me later!
The Brunching Mama 