Thai Red Curry Chicken with Winter Squash Recipe

If you like Thai food, you’ll love this Thai Red Curry Chicken with Winter Squash. It’s homemade “takeout” at its best.

Although I love food from all different Asian cuisines, Thai food has always intrigued me, particularly all the different curry pastes. If you ever visit an Asian supermarket, you’ll find all different Thai curry pastes – green curry, red curry, yellow curry, masaman curry, and panang curry to name the most common.

Growing up, the only curry I knew of was madras Indian curry powder. I never realized that there were so many different curries – Vietnamese curry, Jamaican curry, and Thai curry. In fact, I used to think there was just one curry recipe. Little did I know that curry was a combination of various spices that could be completely different depending on the country or origin or even the household making the curry.

My fascination with Thai curry started a number of years ago when I tasted my first red curry dish at a Thai restaurant. I expected an Indian curry flavor and was puzzled when the curry dish arrived on our table – the flavor was totally unexpected – fiery in spice and color, mellowed by coconut milk. I fell in love with this style of curry and wanted to learn how to make it at home for my family. As it turns out, making Thai curry at home is really very easy if you use the ready-made Thai curry pastes that are readily available at Asian markets and also in supermarkets these days.

I made this Thai Red Curry with Chicken and Winter Squash using butternut squash. Acorn squash, kabocha squash or pumpkin would work well too. The butternut squash almost melted away in this curry dish.

Thai curry pastes contain lots of aromatics – chilies, lemongrass, galangal, and kaffir lime leaves. There’s a lot of punch in even a small spoonful of Thai curry. A little goes a long way, so if you’re new to Thai red curry, start off slow and add more if you like it spicy.

Today, I’m participating in Food Network’s Fall Fest where Winter Squash is being featured. Please be sure to hop over to my fellow foodie friends’ posts to see what they made this week:
Feed Me Phoebe: Baked Acorn Squash with Maple-Siracha Glaze
The Lemon Bowl: Stovetop Mac and Cheese with Winter Squash
Big Girls, Small Kitchen: Provencal Chicken Stew with Butternut Squash & Chickpeas
Weelicious: Cinnamon Roast Butternut Squash
Elephants and the Coconut Trees: Creamy Squash Rigatoni
Blue Apron Blog: Acorn Squash Tempura Tacos
Taste With The Eyes: A Hearty Tomato Soup with Sausage and Spaghetti Squash
Devour: Winter Squash Macaroni and Cheese
Dishin & Dishes: Roasted Acorn Squash Crescents with Sage Pecan Pesto
Napa Farmhouse 1885: Roasted Pumpkin & Apple Slices with Maple Syrup
Red or Green: Butternut Squash Salad with Kale, Cranberries and Cayenne
Virtually Homemade: Spaghetti Squash Lasagna with Basil Walnut Pesto
Domesticate Me: Chipotle Pork Tenderloin and Butternut Squash Tacos
Daily*Dishin: Kahlua Baked Acorn Squash
FN Dish: Comforting Winter Squash Sides

Ingredients

• 1 can coconut milk, divided
• 2 1/2 tablespoons red curry paste
• 2 tablespoons fish sauce
• 1 cup low-sodium chicken broth
• 1 teaspoon coconut palm sugar or brown sugar
• 1 stalk lemongrass, bottom third trimmed and smashed
• 6 kaffir lime leaves
• 1 1/2 pound skinless, boneless chicken thighs
• 1 small winter squash, cut into 1" chunks

Directions

1. Heat 1/2 cup coconut milk in a small saucepan over medium heat. Cook until it bubbles and thickens; add red curry paste and cook for another minute or two, mixing it in well with the coconut milk. Add rest of coconut milk, fish sauce, chicken broth, sugar, lemongrass, lime leaves, chicken and squash. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to low and cook until chicken is cooked through and squash is tender, about 25 minutes.

Notes

Adapted from Thai Cooking Made Easy.

Author:Jeanette Chen