A creamy, warming Thai curry spooned over a bowl of fluffy white rice is exactly what I want for dinner on chilly midwinter nights. When the craving hits, here in NYC it’s easy enough to punch in the order on my phone and wait half an hour for the doorbell to ring. But if I'm in the mood to cook, in about as much time, I can make a simplified version myself. The trick? I always keep a can of coconut milk and a jar of curry paste in my pantry. Do the same and you'll also be able to make spiced, creamy curry on a whim, with whatever vegetables and protein you have on hand—and without a recipe.
This one's made with yellow curry paste, onions, potatoes, and thinly sliced boneless skinless chicken thighs. I serve it over rice with cilantro, lime, peanuts, and sliced chiles for extra heat.
A note: My no-recipe-required technique definitely isn't the way to make an authentic Thai curry. Instead, it’s a pantry-friendly, easily adaptable version you can turn to when you need to put together a delicious, comforting meal. Here’s how to do it:
1. Start with some alliums
Thinly slice some alliums: red onions, white onions, shallots, garlic, or a mix of a few. I like to keep them in slices rather than diced or chopped so the onion remains a more noticeable part of the curry. Throw a little coconut oil or a neutral vegetable oil (like canola or grapeseed) in a pot and heat it up with your alliums. Once they start to sizzle, you're ready to start building your curry—you don't need to give the alliums long here, just heat them up a bit and coat them in oil.
You want to cook the curry paste with the onions until it darkens in color slightly and smells nice and fragrant.
2. Caramelize some curry paste
The real secret to richly flavored curry is in the curry paste. You could make your own—fresh curry paste is delicious, and if you make it on the weekend you can keep it in the fridge for quick weeknight curries. But if you don't have your own and you want to get a curry on the table as fast as possible, store-bought Thai curry paste is the way to go.
The flavor differences between different curry paste colors and brands can be huge, so taste the paste before you start cooking with it to know what you're working with. For a fresher, more herbaceous (and usually less spicy) curry, choose a Thai green curry paste. For a warmer, turmeric-centric curry, choose a Thai yellow curry paste. For a bolder, spicier flavor, choose a Thai red curry paste. And if you can, buy a Thai curry paste that's actually from Thailand—it'll be a lot stronger in flavor. Mekhala won our taste test for the best store-bought green curry paste; it's fresh tasting, complex, and packs some real heat.
The amount of curry paste you use for one batch of curry depends on the strength of your paste and your personal spice tolerance, so taste the paste before you start! If it's really strong, start with about 2 tablespoons of paste for a batch of curry for four. If it's really mild (which I find most standard grocery store brands to be), you'll want to use closer to 1/4 cup. Add the paste to your onions in the pot and stir and cook until it darkens slightly in color and is noticeably more fragrant, about 3 minutes or so.
3. Add coconut milk
For a curry for four, one (13.5 ounce) can of coconut milk is the perfect amount. Pour it over your curry pasted alliums, then fill the can halfway with water, swirl that water around to get all the remaining milk in the can, and pour it into the pot as well. Stir it up and let it come to a gentle simmer over medium heat, then give your coconut curry broth a taste. If at this point you think it's not strong enough, you can add more curry paste, or maybe it just needs a little more salt. If you want to give it a bit of umami funk, add a splash of fish sauce. For a bit of sweetness to balance it out, add a pinch of sugar.
4. Add some veggies
Once your broth is hot and tastes exactly how you want it to, you can start adding your veg. You want to add about 2 cups of chopped vegetables for a curry for four.
