It has been a minute since I had time to post a new recipe…. We had one kid going back to college, another starting college and my daughter is starting high school. And we got a cat! I cooked a bunch of my kids favorite foods before they left and I am feeling like we definitely need some healthy meals for a while to offset that. This Basil Coconut Curry Chicken is healthy, but SO flavorful and we all really enjoyed it.
This sauce is super flavorful with tons of spices and lots of Thai basil (or you can use regular basil). I used light coconut milk to lower the fat and really couldn’t tell the difference. You could serve this over white rice, brown rice, or quinoa like I did. We loved how the quinoa absorbed the delicious sauce.
I used Thai basil from my garden here… the flavor is a bit different than regular basil you find in the grocery store, but that works too if that is what you can get. I served raw cucumber and peppers marinated in a little salt and rice vinegar with this, but you could add the peppers to the curry too.
Basil Coconut Curry Chicken
Ingredients
- 1/2 tsp cloves
- 1/2 tsp cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp cardamom
- 1/2 tsp coriander
- 1/2 tsp curry powder
- 1/2 tsp chili powder
- 1/4 tsp tumeric
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- 1 tsp onion powder
- 1.5 lbs boneless, skinless chicken breast cut into 1/2 inch chunks
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 1 onion chopped
- 5 garlic cloves minced
- 2 inch piece fresh ginger peeled and minced
- 2 jalapenos diced
- 1 14oz can coconut milk or light
- 1-2 tsp fish sauce to taste (see my favorite items page)
- juice from 2 limes
- 2 tsp sugar
- salt and pepper to taste
- 1/3 cup fresh Thai or regular basil chopped but leave a few larger leaves for garnish
Instructions
- Heat the oil in a deep skillet over medium high. Combine all the spices with chicken along with 1 tsp of kosher salt and mix well. Add chicken to the skillet and cook until browned on one side. Stir and cook until browned on all sides.
- Add the onion, garlic, ginger and jalapeno and cook, stirring often, until they are tender. Add the coconut milk, lime juice, fish sauce, sugar as well as the minced basil. Reduce heat to low and simmer until the sauce is thickened and flavorful. Adjust the seasoning using salt, pepper, fish sauce, lime and sugar. You can add a little water if the pan gets too dry.
- Serve over rice or quinoa with fresh basil to garnish.