Pad Prik King - Thai Red Curry Stir Fry with Chicken
This authentic recipe for pad prik king is quick and easy, but delivers an explosion of flavours. Spicy red curry paste is stir fried with tender juicy chicken and crunchy long beans, this dish truly represents the essence of Thai cuisine.
Ingredients
- 1 lb chicken breast or thigh, cut into bite-sized pieces (if using breast, make sure it's at least 1 cm thick)
- 2 teaspoon fish sauce, for marinating chicken
- 1 cooked salted duck egg, optional, but recommended (see note 3)
- 3 tablespoon Neutral flavored oil
- 3 tablespoon red curry paste, or more if you like it spicier (see note 1)
- 2 tablespoon palm sugar, finely chopped, packed, or sub light brown sugar
- 1-3 teaspoon fish sauce, for the stir fry (see note 2)
- ½ cup unsalted chicken stock or water
- 1 ½ cup long beans, cut into 1.5” pieces
- 7 makrut lime leaves, 5 torn into chunks, 2 finely julienned
- Jasmine rice , for serving
Notes
- Brands of Thai curry paste vary greatly. I recommend Maeploy, Aroy-D, or Namjai for best flavours. If using Maesri in little tins or Thai Kitchen, they are much weaker and you will need to double the amount of paste to get the same flavour.
- Some brands of curry pastes are saltier than others, so start with 1 teaspoon of fish sauce and add more as needed.
- You can buy cooked salted duck eggs at any Chinese/Asian supermarket. Make sure you buy the one that is cooked, not raw.
Instructions
- Toss the chicken with 2 teaspoon of fish sauce. Let chicken marinate while you prep other ingredients, about 15 minutes.1 lb chicken breast or thigh, 2 teaspoon fish sauce
- If using, cut the salted duck eggs right through the shell in half, then use a spoon to scoop the halves out. From here you have two options: you can cut each half into chunks and toss them into the stir-fry, or cut the halves into wedges and serve on the side and let people take as much as they want.1 cooked salted duck egg
- In a wok or a large skillet, add just enough of the oil to coat the bottom and heat over high heat until the pan is very hot. Add about half of the chicken and spread it into a single layer, being sure not to crowd the pan. Let the chicken sear without stirring until browned, about 1 minute. Once browned, stir the chicken briefly just to cook the surface of the other side, and then remove from the pan, leaving any excess oil behind—the chicken is not supposed to be fully cooked at this point. Repeat with the remaining chicken.3 tablespoon Neutral flavored oil
- Let the pan cool a bit, then with the heat OFF, add a little more oil as needed just so you have at least a tablespoon of oil in the pan. Add the curry paste and stir the curry paste in the oil until it's loosened, then turn the heat on to medium. Cook the curry paste, stirring constantly, for about 2 minutes until aromatic.3 tablespoon red curry paste
- Stir in the palm sugar, fish sauce, and deglaze with ¼ cup of the chicken stock or water. Keep stirring until the sugar is mostly dissolved, deglazing with more stock/water as needed if it starts to stick to the pan.2 tablespoon palm sugar, 1-3 teaspoon fish sauce, ½ cup unsalted chicken stock or water
- Add the torn makrut lime leaves and let them infuse into the sauce for about 30 seconds, stirring constantly.7 makrut lime leaves
- If the sauce looks thick, add a little more stock or water to get it into an pourable consistency. Add the chicken back in and toss just to coat in the sauce. Add the long beans and cook until the chicken is fully cooked and the sauce is no longer pooling and the curry paste is coating the chicken and the beans. If you want to add the salted duck egg chunks into the stir-fry, toss them in at this point and stir just to mix.1 ½ cup long beans
- Remove from heat and transfer to a plate. Garnish with finely julienned makrut lime leaves and if you didn't mix the duck eggs in, place the eggs wedges on the side. Serve with jasmine rice. and enjoy!Jasmine rice
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