Jump to video!
This video is sponsored by the Thai Trade Centre Vancouver
Can You Cook Delicious Thai Food Without an Asian Grocery Store?
Turns out not only is it possible, but this was one of the best things I've ever made on the show! Our good friends at the Thai Trade Centre Vancouver asked if I could make a recipe that uses only ingredients people can buy at their regular non-Asian grocery stores. No problem! Especially because nowadays most grocery stores stock at least a few basic Thai products. I was sure I would find coconut milk, at least one type of curry paste and fish sauce. Indeed those were what I found, but not much more!
You Don't Need to Make a Traditional Dish to Enjoy Authentic Thai Flavours
I decided to make a Thai taco with what I was able to find because I wanted to show you that can enjoy REAL Thai flavours by integrating Thai ingredients into dishes you're already familiar with. Making a full-on traditional dish is great, but it's certainly not necessary if you just want to enjoy the flavours of Thai food that you love. The key is in using real Thai ingredients!
Don't Want to do Tacos? Here are some modification ideas
Tortillas are great, but this recipe can be easily modified to many other dishes, such as...
- Lettuce wrap - Use crisp lettuce leaves instead of tortillas.
- Pita - Use pita bread instead of tortillas.
- Over rice - Simply serve the pork filling over rice and serve the cabbage slaw as a side dish.
- Shepherd's Pie - Use the pork filling as a base, maybe add a little more coconut milk to make a moist filling, and perhaps extra veggies. Top with mashed potatoes and bake. Slaw on the side.
- Fill anything with it! What kind of "filled pastry" do you have in your culture? Filo? Puff pastry? Empanadas? Samosas? Dumplings? Buns? Use the pork filling for any of them!
Watch The Full Video Tutorial!
All my recipes come with step-by-step video tutorials with extra tips not mentioned in the blog post, so make sure you watch the video below to ensure success - and if you enjoy the show, please consider subscribing to my YouTube channel. Thank you!
Thai Red Curry Taco with Cabbage Slaw
- Yield: About 8 tacos
Description
Note: Because this was an "on the fly" recipe challenge, some of the amounts given are estimated only. You can watch the video for a visual guide of how much I used.
Ingredients
~8 soft taco shells, or hard if you prefer
Filling
- 1 lb lean ground pork (or ground beef)
- 1 smal jar "Thai Kitchen" brand red curry paste (112g, 4oz), if using other brands you'll likely need about 3-4 Tbsp
- ½ cup coconut milk
- Fish sauce, to taste
- 1 tsp sugar
- ⅓ cup diced water chestnuts
Coconut “Crema”
- ⅓ cup coconut milk
- 1 ½ tsp cornstarch
- 2 Tbsp water
- ~ 1 teaspoon lime juice
- A pinch of salt
Thai Cabbage Slaw
- 2-3 Thai chilies, or to taste
- 1 tsp sugar (use palm sugar if you have it)
- 2 Tbsp Fish sauce
- 2 Tbsp Lime juice
- 2 tomatoes, diced
- 2 Tbsp thinly sliced shallot
- ~ 3 cups shredded red cabbage
- 1 green onion, chopped
- A few sprigs cilantro, chopped, plus extra for garnish
Want to save this recipe?
We can email this post to you, so you can come back to it later!
Instructions
For the Filling:
- Add coconut milk to a wok and bring to a boil over medium heat. Add red curry paste and stir to mix with the coconut milk, then keep cooking and stirring until very thick and the coconut oil will start to separate from the paste.
- Add the ground pork and toss to mix with the curry paste, turning the heat up to medium high. Keep stirring until fully cooked.
- Add sugar and water chestnuts and toss to mix. Then taste and add fish sauce as needed.
For the Coconut "Crema"
- Put coconut milk in a small pot.
- Dissolve the cornstarch in the water. Then add about half of the dissolved cornstarch to the coconut milk. Turn the heat on high and stir CONSTANTLY until it comes to a boil.
- Once boiling, look to see if it needs to be thickened further (it will thicken a bit more once it cools down). If so, add more of the the cornstarch slurry. You want it to still be easily pourable but thick enough that it won't run all over the place once you drizzle it on the taco. If you've added too much cornstarch, just add more coconut milk to thin it out.
- Add salt and lime juice, then taste and adjust as needed. You want it to be just a bit tart (no more than sour cream or yogurt-level).
For the Thai Slaw:
- To make the dressing, in a mortar pound chilies until fine (or you can finely mince).
- Add the sugar and swirl with the pestle to help break down the chili skins even more.
- Add fish sauce, lime juice, and stir to dissolve the sugar.
- Add shallots and tomatoes and stir to allow some of the tomato juices to mix in with the dressing. Set this aside until close to serving, don't toss it with the cabbage too far in advance.
- When ready to use, pour the dressing over the cabbage and add chopped green onions and cilantro to taste. Taste and adjust seasoning as needed.
Assembly:
If using soft tacos, heat the tortillas on a dry frying pan until hot. Place filling on the shell, top with the slaw and drizzle with the coconut crema. Enjoy!
Want to save this recipe?
We can email this post to you, so you can come back to it later!
Leah says
These are delicious! I made them with chicken to use up leftovers, because the recipe conveniently contained the entirety of four ingredients I needed to get rid of. Very happy with the result, despite not actually using enough curry paste (I only had about 1.5 Tbsp of Maesri brand) and will definitely be making these again.
Ashley says
Absolutely amazing dish. Bursting with fresh Thai flavors and an immediate staple in my cuisine rotation! I followed the recipe but chose to put it over basmati rice and it was DEVINE!!!!!! A must try. Thank you!!!
Pailin Chongchitnant says
So glad to hear!! Thank you!
Choua says
Absolutely delicious. I made this with crumbled tofu to make it pescatarian (can't give up my fish sauce, so not fully vegetarian). One of the best Thai fusion foods I've had!
Choua says
Absolutely delicious. I made this with crumbled tofu to make it pescatarian (can't give up my fish sauce, so not fully vegetarian). One of the best Thai fusion foods I've had!
Lynette says
Wonderful flavours , my family loved these tacos!
Michael Brennan says
Just made these today and they are the bomb. I used 5 tablespoons of my homemade red curry paste, added one tablespoon of fresh ginger, used two tablespoons fish sauce, did two teaspoons sugar instead of one, and a tablespoon of lime juice.
Jess says
This was surprisingly delicious and came together in about 30 minutes for us. Our pork was a little fatty, so next time I’d drain off the grease, but the meat was delicious. The slaw was also awesome (we didn’t have a tomato, but I imagine it would be a great addition to the slaw). We made the crema, and although it was a nice addition, the tacos were delicious without it. Thanks for a fun and yummy recipe!
soyee says
I tried this recipe twice now and will do it again tomorrow. Very delicious! The only thing I did different is to use chicken instead of ground meat and also I skipped the crema as it's already so good that I feel the crema is not needed. 🙂
Liz says
Love this recipe! It’s got it all—lots of flavors, textures, and colors. Delicious!
Aria says
How long does it take to make this recipe?
Ella says
Great recipe!
Sam Porter says
What a cool twist on tacos!
This was the first time I have used curry paste and the tacos turned out so good! After the red curry tacos I had to make them with green curry. So much flavor! I think I actually liked the green ones better 🙂
I admit I did not make the sauce - just the tacos so as good as they were, I’m sure that if I made the whole recipe they would have been that much better.
Luke Parlor says
What a game changer, and to think that this was just an idea that came out of your supermarket shopping challenge.
This recipe is now eating weekly in our house. We have also tried it with green curry and yellow curry paste (all with good quality Thai made pastes). Each was very different to the other, but we have sort of settled on the red curry as our favourite.
We have also expanded the left overs of this dish into a homemade wood fired pizza (no base sauce, just the taco meat mix, the coconut creme, a little cheese, cooked and dressed with the Thai slaw) it was incredible. Do yourself a favour and get this recipe into your life (ASAP).