Thai red curry sauce with chicken, quinoa

Today I made a Thai red curry sauce, with chicken and quinoa on the side.  I usually use quinoa as substitute for white rice. …. and I have about 10 pounds of quinoa in my pantry, as my husband could not pass up a chance to buy grain at a much cheaper bulk price.

I love Thai food and good Thai restaurants and often try to replicate Thai dishes at home.   After cooking red curry in many different ways and proportions, this is my “go-to” recipe, which is very popular with my family.   I also like that I can control the ingredients I put into Thai dishes, for instance, I like to use high quality chicken, vary vegetables, use quinoa instead of rice and so on.

This recipe makes 2 generous servings.

1)      In a medium pan, heat olive oil.  Add sliced mushrooms and sliced bell pepper.  Cook on high heat for 10 minutes until vegetables soften.

2)      In the mean time, cook chicken breast (or use the one already cooked).  You can either boil it, or roast it in the oven.  After it’s cooked, cut the chicken breast in medium size pieces .

3)      Bring coconut milk in a large pan to boil, reduce to simmer.  Add curry paste, fish sauce, brown sugar, lemon grass, and stir really well so that curry paste dissolves.  For a red curry paste, I usually use the one produced by Thai Kitchen (it’s a popular brand sold in most stores).    I like to use frozen lemon grass (chopped lemon grass), which you just add and it remains in the dish.  If I were to use a lemon grass stalk – I would remove it at the end of cooking time.  Simmer for 30 minutes for all tastes to blend.  During the last 10 minutes of cooking, add cooked vegetables and sliced chicken breast into the soup, stir well.

4)      In the mean time, bring 2 cups of water and 1 cup quinoa to boil, reduce to medium and cook quinoa for 10-15 minutes until all water is absorbed and quinoa is cooked al dente.

5)      To serve, pour soup into each bowl, garnish with basil leaves.  Serve quinoa in a separate bowl.