Two months ago I took a wonderful trip to Thailand with my best friend from college. It would be an understatement to say it was the most amazing place. We spent a couple days in Bangkok, a couple days on the beaches of Phuket, and a couple days in the mountains of Chaing Mai.
Each city we went to was awesome in its own way, but we particularly loved Chaing Mai. And if you’re as obsessed with food, eating healthy, working out, and being in touch with nature as I am, you would also fall in love with Chaing Mai.
While in Chaing Mai, we got to visit an elephant sanctuary, see some beautiful golden temples, and of course, we had to take a cooking class to learn how to make traditional Thai cuisine. My friend is not much of a cook (sigh) but I convinced her to come with me anyways! We both ended up having a blast. But my god, I was full afterward. I think I’m still mentally digesting from how much food we consumed in those couple of hours, but so so worth it.
One of our favorite dishes that we learned to make is called Khao Soi, which is a traditional dish from the Northern Thai cuisine. Khao Soi is a chicken coconut curry noodle dish. It is so freaking good. We ordered it at almost every restaurant we went to, but surprisingly our favorite place to get it was from a vendor on the side of the street.
The good news is, is you do not have to go to Chaing Mai to eat this wonderful dish. I decided to adapt the recipe from Thai Secret Cooking School that we made in Chaing Mai to a healthier, gluten-free version of Khao Soi. Instead of egg noodles (which are so freaking good by the way), I substituted zucchini noodles. Still just as delicious and good for you!
This recipe makes the entire dish from scratch. And since it is a Thai dish, you may need to go out of your way to get a few extra ingredients that you may not normally have in your pantry. One item you need is some Thai Dried Chiles. These add some spice and flavor to the curry. You can find them at most grocery stores in the Asian cooking section or online. Another ingredient that you need is lemongrass. You can get fresh lemongrass at Whole Foods or an Asian supermarket. And lastly, you will need some shrimp paste or Shrimp Sauce. This you can buy online or you can find in the Asian section of most grocery stores.
I like this chicken coconut curry so much that it will have to become a part of my weekly dinner routine. It’s so healthy and I feel a lot better when I don’t eat any dairy or gluten in my meals. You won’t even notice this dish is gluten-free or dairy-free because it is just full of exciting flavors and unbelievably yummy.
Check out the recipe below to try it for yourself!
Products I used to make this recipe:
- Thai Whole Dried Chile
- Shrimp Sauce
- Thai Kitchen Organic Coconut Milk
- Organic Thai Curry Powder
- Nutiva Coconut Sugar
- Spiralizer 5-Blade Vegetable Slicer
Thai Coconut Curry with Zucchini Noodles
Ingredients
Khao Soi Curry Paste
- 15 Dried Red Chiles
- 1 Tablespoon Coriander seeds toasted
- 1 Tablespoon Cumin Seeds toasted
- 10 Black Peppercorns
- 2 teaspoons Thai Shrimp Paste
- 10 cloves of Garlic peeled
- 1/4 cup sliced Lemongrass Stalks
- 1 Tablespoon Ginger chopped
- 1 Tablespoon Lime Peel grated
- 1-2 teaspoons Salt
- 1 teaspoon Ground Nutmeg
- 2 tablespoons Vegetable Oil
Chicken Coconut Curry Dish
- Khao Soi Curry Paste
- 4 Tablespoons Coconut Oil
- 2 13.5 Ounce cans of Coconut Milk
- 3 Pounds Chicken Breast
- 1 teaspoon Yellow Curry Powder
- 1 Tablespoon Coconut Sugar
- 1 teaspoon Fish Sauce
- 3 to 4 Zucchinis spiralized
Garnishes
- Cilantro chopped
- Lime sliced
Instructions
Khao Soi Curry Paste
- Place the dried red chiles into boiling hot water and let soak for 15 minutes
- While the chiles are soaking, prepare all the other ingredients
- Place the Coriander and Cumin seeds into a pan without any oil
- Heat pan on Medium heat and stir seeds until fragrant, be careful not to burn these seeds
- Once all the ingredients are ready, place all ingredients into a food processor
- Pulse until mixture forms a smooth paste
Chicken Coconut Curry Dish
- Using a Spiralizer, spiralize 3 to 4 Zucchinis and set aside
- Place Khao Soi Curry Paste and 2 Tablespoons of Coconut Oil into a large frying pan or wok
- Stir until curry paste becomes fragrant
- Add in the 2 cans of Coconut Milk and bring to a boil, frequently stirring
- Slice Chicken Breasts into bite sized pieces
- Once the pan comes to a boil, add in the chicken and reduce to a simmer
- Stir and add in the Yellow Curry Powder, the Coconut Sugar, and Fish Sauce
- Cover and cook for a few minutes over medium-low heat, stirring frequently until chicken is cooked all the way through
- While the curry is cooking, add the spiralized Zucchini and the other 2 Tablespoons of Coconut Oil to another large frying pan
- Saute the Zucchini Noodles until cooked al dente
- Spoon some Chicken Coconut Curry on top of a plate of Zucchini Noodles
- Garnish with Cilantro and Lime
- Serve and enjoy!
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