Thai Coconut Chicken Curry Slow Cooker Recipe

One of the best things about travel is getting to know a new culture through its food. My husband and I love to check out local grocery stores when we’re traveling to see what kinds of things they have in stock that we don’t have at home, especially the fresh produce. When we’re in Asia especially, we love indulging in indigenous fruits like rambutans, mangosteens and lychee. But one of my all-time favourite food destinations in the world has to be Thailand. I could eat Thai food all day, every day.

In Thailand, food is pretty inexpensive. But all those fragrant curries and delicious pad Thais cost a lot more back home than they do in Thailand. So when you have a craving for Thai food, try whipping some up at home yourself. This Thai Coconut Chicken Curry slow-cooker recipe is super-easy to make and the result is a delicious meal that, if you close your eyes and inhale the combined fragrance of coconut milk, ginger and cilantro, will make you think you’ve been transported to the streets of Bangkok!

The slow cooker recipe below has been adapted from this recipe from The Endless Meal; I’ve eliminated the fish sauce and added a Thai red curry sauce, as well as a number of other variations but the basic recipe is the same. (When my husband texted me from the grocery store, asking if I needed anything, I sent him the ingredients list and I was pleasantly surprised to see that Trader Joe’s had a number of these ingredients. But my well-meaning husband brought home Thai red curry SAUCE instead of Thai red curry PASTE, as the recipe called for. So I added it to the recipe for an extra shot of flavour and the result is YUM!)

Since this is a slow cooker recipe, it couldn’t be any easier to make. Simply prepare all your ingredients and toss them into the slow cooker for four hours. By the time dinnertime rolls around, you’ll have a delicious meal ready to plate and serve.

Thai Coconut Chicken Curry

INGREDIENTS
-2 14-ounce cans of coconut milk
-3 tablespoons Thai red curry paste
-1 cup Thai red curry sauce
-2 tablespoons soy sauce
-3 tablespoons coconut sugar
-2 tablespoons minced ginger
-3 minced garlic cloves
-salt (as desired)
-2 lbs boneless, skinless chicken breasts chopped into small pieces
-1 small butternut squash, cubed
-1 medium yellow onion, roughly chopped
-4 cups of washed kale
-cilantro (as much as desired)
-5 hot and sweet cherry peppers, chopped
-lime juice

DIRECTIONS
1 Place all ingredients except for the kale, cilantro, cherry peppers and lime juice in the crock pot and leave to cook on high for four and a half hours.

2 Stir in the kale after four and a half hours and let cook while you prepare rice to serve alongside the curry.

3 Serve curry on a bed of rice and top with cilantro, cherry peppers and a splash of lime juice to flavour.