Red Curry Mint Thai Noodles

This recipe is adapted from this blog. 

I had a dear friend, Jacquie Lyman, post a delicious looking recipe on Facebook the other day and the second I saw it I just knew I HAD to put my spin on it and try my hand at some oriental cooking. 

From the second I mentioned this blog idea to my husband he was so excited because he knew that I would be expanding my cooking repertoire, and trying a ton of different things. In the past I had tried a few Thai or Chinese dishes, but I never go too crazy because I never really had the ingredients on hand. With oriental cooking you need so many different flavors and sauces and spices that it makes it hard to be frugal. But with the hopes that this blog will take off and become something amazing I feel much more inclined to buy the ingredients that I would normally ignore, and try the dishes that typically I would deem too expensive or impractical. Not to say that this dish is either of those things. I was surprised when I actually went to purchase all of the ingredients that I didn't have on hand, that I didn't spend more than $10. Which, if you have ever eaten out at a Thai restaurant, you will know that $10 will maybe get you one small curry dish. So I felt great in knowing that my $10 was buying me some oriental staples that I could use multiple times to make many tasty dishes. Definitely worth the small investment if you ask me!

In the original recipe it is supposed to come out more like a soup, which would also be amazing, but I wanted the noodles to be stickier and more like a Pad Thai so I cut way back on the liquid.  I think it turned out perfectly and would be delicious with some basmati rice and some peanut chicken! 

So here is what you will need to recreate this dish:

2 13 oz cans of coconut milk (at least one can needs to be full fat, not light)

1-2 tbsp Thai red curry paste
1 bunch of cilantro, stems and leaves chopped separately
2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, thinly sliced
1.5 cups of chicken stock
6 mint leaves
1 tbsp ginger root, grated
1.5 tbsp fish sauce
1 8oz package of wide rice noodles
2 cups bok choy, chopped
1 cup bean sprouts

1 can of water chestnuts, drained and rinsed

4 green onions, minced

1 cup of carrots, grated

To Start, Heat up your sauté pan over med-high heat. Open up the coconut milk that is full fat and scoop the fat and oil off the top of the can (should be about 3 Tbsp) and heat it up until it is sizzling. while it's heating up, add your desired amount of curry paste and it will dissolve into the coconut oil. Add your cilantro stems and chicken. Let those cook together for about 5 minutes, or until your chicken is no longer pink.

Add the coconut juice from the first can as well as the entire contents of the second can of coconut milk, water chestnuts, and fish sauce. Grate the ginger into the broth (easier to do if the ginger root is frozen, plus your ginger will stay fresh FOREVER if you freeze it). Turn the heat down to low and simmer for 20 minutes, until the broth has begun to thicken slightly. Add your chicken stock, rice noodles, bok choy and bean sprouts into the broth where they will quickly soften in about 5 minutes. Add your mint leaves and let them simmer in the broth for 5 minutes. Remove the mint leaves before serving. Add all but 2 tablespoons of the cilantro leaves and stir gently.

Ladle into large bowls and garnish with the green onions, grated carrots and the remaining cilantro.

The Verdict:

Alex and I both liked this dish, I think I had really high expectations, and so I was slightly disappointed that it wasn't spicier, but that is obviously an easy fix. I only used 1Tbsp of the curry paste, so next time I will use 2! We will definitely make this again!