Pete's Thai Green Curry Chicken - Gutsy Cooks Club

I'm not sure who Pete is, but he makes a mean Thai green curry chicken. It was exactly what I was looking for--simple, flavorful, and good for you. (Thanks, Monica). But whatever you do, do not, I repeat DO NOT use four tablespoons of green curry. At least, not if your chosen brand is Thai Kitchen.

I never noticed how uniform my collection of Asian condiments was until this group picture. Apparently it's my supermarket's brand of choice, and thus mine. I knew from using this brand before that four tablespoons would take my head off, so I used about four teaspoons, or slightly more than one tablespoon, and it was still very hot. As you see, I bought "lite" coconut milk. I don't usually do this. First, there's usually not that much of a difference in calories. ("Light" olive oil is light only in color, but I'm sure many people are deceived into buying it because they think it's light in calories). Also, I'm opposed in principle to the word "lite." And "light" (or "lite") usually gives up more in flavor than it gives up in fat. But there was a substantial caloric difference between the regular and lite coconut milk, so I swallowed my principles. It's not as good, but since the dish was so heavily flavored anyway, I decided it would do.

After adding the coconut milk to the sauteed chicken breast strips and green curry sauce, it's just a matter of slicing and adding various vegetables.

I chose onions, a red pepper, and pea pods, maybe because I wasn't quite ready to give up the red-and-green holiday colors. Mushrooms and zucchini would also be good.

And then, at the last minute, lots of basil. The recipe specifies Thai basil, but you can use anything that's easy to get, which will probably not be Thai holy basil. Even though my basil wasn't holy, I felt purified after eating this spicily delicious Asian stir-fry.