Coconut Basil Curry Chicken

I have always wanted to dabble more in Thai cooking but was always scared cause so many of the recipes have strange ingredients that either 1) I can’t find in any store or 2) won’t use ever again.  I once again was perusing The Food Charlatan and thought this one for Basil Chicken in Coconut Curry Sauce, originally from Mel’s Kitchen, looked and sounded amazing, especially since it didn’t require any crazy weird spices.  And if you aren’t following Karen yet, you should, she has badass recipes and gorgeous pics of each one, go check her out, I’ve gotten a ton of recipes there.

I’m not a huge fan of handling raw meat, especially chicken, so I usually use kitchen shears to dice or cut it so I don’t have to touch it too much, plus it cuts so easily with them.  Any excuse to use my Wusthof, one of the best things we registered for by far!

The chicken pieces gets mixed with the spices and left to sit in the fridge while you prep everything else.

The jalapenos, garlic, onions, and basil get sauteed together.  It looked like a ton of jalapenos to me and I was a little worried it’d be really hot but when they get sauteed they lose most of their heat and it came out perfect.  So don’t be scared :)

In comes the seasoned chicken bits.

Once the chicken is cooked you make the coconut saucy part.  The coconut milk is whisked with the cornstarch and poured in, after which it thickens and makes the most amazing-smelling aroma.  Spicy and sweet, my fave.

I didn’t need to add any more cornstarch but if it doesn’t thicken as much as you’d like, I’m sure you could.  I served ours over white rice but you could put this over anything or even by itself.

I was blown away by how much this tasted like a restaurant curry dish when it was so simple to do at home.  Gives me hope in being able to cook Thai well someday, baby steps, baby steps.  I can do a mean sticky sweet rice ;)