The easiest Thai curry

I posted this photo on IG the other day and got SO MANY requests for the recipe. You guys, it is BARELY a recipe. Like everything I make, it’s highly adaptable, so I’ll share the basics and you can either fill in the rest on your own or follow what I did exactly. Either way, it’ll end up delish, I’m sure!

This is the main ingredient that you need.

I try to have frozen shrimp and/or this seafood blend in the freezer for dinner emergencies like this because I know I can whip something with it no matter what else I have in the fridge or pantry.

I’ve drilled in my green + grain + protein formula ad nauseam at this point, but there’s something to be said for knowing the way to dinner success when your brain is running out of gas. Might as well program it in now.

In this case, the protein is the seafood. I used this whole bag and half a bag of TJs frozen shrimp. I prefer TJs frozen shrimp because it is already cooked and has the tail off. Do you know how hard it is to find cooked and tail off shrimp? Hard. Trader Joe’s is the only place I’ve found and it’s definitely the most economical place to buy seafood as well. If you only have uncooked shrimp that’s no problem though. It will obviously cook through when you’re making this. And if you have to take the tails off yourself…well…sorry about that. It’s not super fun, but there are worse kitchen tasks. Like grating cheese. I hate grating cheese.

All that said, the grain + green + protein formula is actually kinda wonky here. Which just goes to show you how loose of a formula it is. To start, I used frozen peas as a “green” because we had had bok choy, cabbage, and three different kinds of kale all within the past two days. Diversity!! The kids love peas so we always have them in the freezer. I bet you do too, yes?

The “grain” in this dish is actually spaghetti squash noodles. This makes it a low carb meal, but if that’s not your jam then real noodles (rice, udon, ramen, whatever) would be just as good. Quinoa or rice would be a good GF option if you don’t want to do noodles.

To make the spaghetti squash, I hacked it open, scooped out the seeds, put them open side down on a greased baking sheet and roasted them for 45 minutes at 350 degrees F. This was an especially large squash, so it needed a bit longer. Test your squash at the 40 minute mark to see how it’s doing. If a fork pierces the skin easily it is done.

I waited until dinner time to scoop out the noodles.

While the squash was in the oven, I made the main part of the dish.

Add some olive oil (or coconut oil or ghee) to a large saute pan and then add a small jar (4 oz) of red curry paste. I love the Thai Kitchen brand and you can find it everywhere. The jar has 8 tbsp total and you can use all 8 servings for this dish if you want. It’s not spicy. But if you want to go slow and start with 6 tbsp that is good too.

Let it heat up in the oil, stirring it along the bottom of the pan to let the spices blossom.

Then add the frozen seafood (I used 1 1/2 lbs) and put the lid on. As the seafood melts, the water released will mix with the paste and make a nice curry slurry (he he, the kids would like that rhyme). Next add and entire (13. 5 oz) can of full fat coconut milk and stir. Scrape any bits off the bottom of the pan. I also grated in a knob of ginger, but this is entirely optional. Trying to make things easy on you. It’s not make or break. Finally add in the frozen peas. No peas? No prob! Add fresh spinach. Or kale. Or green beans. Anything green. 😛

Let it simmer as long as you can before serving…the longer it goes, the more steam will come off and it will cook down, concentrating the flavors. Not that it needs it. It’s flavor PACKED. But you can never OD on flavor! Also give it a generous pinch of salt here. A full teaspoon.

Toppings bar: watermelon radish, basil, cilantro.

Other ideas: crushed peanuts, mint, etc.

To serve, scoop the stringy flesh out of the squash into individual bowls, then spoon the seafood curry over it, topping it with whatever you desire.

There are plenty of ways to make this more gourmet (saute some chopped shallots and minced garlic in the oil with that first step), but the fact of the matter is: this is a plan B kind of meal. This is the meal you need in your arsenal when SH!T hits the fan and you have sick kids home from school and no time to make anything. This is the meal you can make from the freezer and pantry. And it will taste awesome and home made and you can give yourself a pat on the back for that.

Simple Thai Seafood Curry with Squash Noodles [gluten free, soy free, dairy free, nut free]

Ingredients:

• 2 tbsp olive oil (or sub coconut oil or ghee)
• 1 jar Thai red curry paste (see notes above)
• 1 can full fat coconut milk
• 1-2 tsp grated fresh ginger
• 1 1/2 lb frozen seafood
• 1 1/2 cups frozen peas
• 1 tsp salt (or more to taste)
• 1 large spaghetti squash, roasted (see notes above)
• [optional toppings] fresh cilantro, basil, mint, julienned radish, chopped nuts, etc.

This will serve 4 with leftovers. If you want more leftovers you could increase the seafood to 2 lb without changing much else. I packed up the leftovers for Kyle to take to work with him the next day with brown rice leftover from weekend prep).

Now be sure to finish off your low carb meal with a nice serving of chocolate. 😉

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