In Thailand, a young coconut is sometimes used as a means of serving a curry on a special occasion. Even just a couple of years ago, this would never have been a suitable recipe for the UK due to the difficulty of obtaining young coconuts. I’m sure there are still parts of the UK where it might still be difficult to get one but now that stores like Marks & Spencer have started selling them I think it’s becoming pretty mainstream. They are also stocked in Asian supermarkets and other places. Now you could be forgiven for thinking this is just a fancy way of serving a curry, actually there is far more to it than that. Although many of these coconuts are sold here just for the coconut as a drink (Marks & Spencer’s even do a small one with a ring pull tab!), it is the young coconut flesh inside that combines wonderfully with Thai curries to create a really special dish. So, even if a little effort is required to obtain young coconuts I am sure you won’t be disappointed with the end result, and you get the added bonus of a wonderfully refreshing drink!
If you can find very small coconuts, you can use them as individual dishes, otherwise most young coconuts on sale generally work best as a serving dish for 2 to 4 people. Opening up the coconuts to extract the flesh and use as a serving dish is something I deal with here . You can also serve the curry of your choice this way, would be great with a Thai green seafood curry as well. If you are cooking it as above the ingredients are fairly flexible, I’m using 500 to 600 g chicken, per packet of curry paste. A mild red pepper, some small tomatoes and a handful of frozen peas. As always, a good quality coconut milk, and knowing how to use it, will make all the difference to your dish. See Coconut Milk Summary for details. The kaffir lime leaves are optional and you can follow this link for advice on where to buy them Kaffir Lime Leaves. You will also need some soy sauce. The fresh green peppercorns are simply something I had in the fridge, although readily available in Asian stores they are not essential to the recipe. The pastes are complete but it is always a good idea to have a little lime juice to hand to adjust sweetness, if needed, to your personal taste at the end of cooking. You also adjust saltiness by adding a little more fish sauce or salt if required.
Open and scoop out the flesh of the coconut following the instructions on this link.
Grill chicken under a fairly hot grill, you will be cooking fully in the sauce later so don't overcook it at this stage, generally speaking chicken breast will cook quicker than chicken thighs, depending on your grill this could be about five or six minutes. After removing from the grill place in a dish and marinate for five minutes with a spoonful of dark soy sauce. Sauté the cherry tomatoes in a little vegetable oil until the skins start to split. Reserve. Add the curry paste to the pan and half a can of coconut milk using the thicker part of the milk at the top of the can if possible. Heat until it bubbles.
Add the grilled chicken to the sauce followed by most of the coconut flesh reserving a few strips for later. Stir and heat through for a minute or two until once again the sauce starts to bubble. Add the remainder of the coconut milk.
Add the vegetables.
Cover the pan and simmer for 10 minutes or until the chicken is cooked through.
Put curry into coconut garnishing with the reserved strips of coconut flesh and some finely chopped kaffir lime leaf if you have it. Enjoy!
Enjoy!
If you like this recipe please click the star rating or add a comment below! Kop Khun Kha, Nitsa.x
It’s a little bit special both in terms of taste and presentation and far easier to make now with the advent of fresh coconuts in supermarkets for drinking purposes. The flesh of the young coconut is just made for Thai curries so for a special occasion it’s certainly worth the time involved to hunt out some young coconuts.
Grill the chicken thighs under a hot grill or sear in a pan for
a few minutes. They will be fully cooked in the sauce later so don’t overcook
at this stage. Slice them into eating sized portions and marinate for five
minutes with a spoonful of dark soy sauce.
Sauté the cherry tomatoes in a little vegetable oil, they are
ready when the skin starts to split. Reserve. Add the red curry paste to the
pan and half the coconut milk, using the thicker part of the milk at the top of
the can if possible. Heat until it bubbles.
Add the grilled chicken to the sauce followed by most of the
coconut flesh reserving a few strips for later. Stir and heat through for a
minute or two until once again the sauce starts to bubble. Add the remainder of
the coconut milk.
Add the vegetables. Cover the pan and simmer for 10 minutes or
until the chicken is cooked through.
Put curry into coconut garnishing with the reserved strips of
coconut flesh and some finely chopped kaffir lime leaf if you have it. Enjoy!
Recipe Note
On your travels you may have seen coconut sellers holding a
young coconut in one hand and slicing the top off it using a machete held in
the other hand. Not something I would recommend! Here is a much easier way to
do it. How to open a
young coconut.
As always using
the “right” type of coconut milk is a game-changer. See here.
These pastes are amazing…tried Green ones too but this Red paste is the business. Didn’t have the coconut, and added some green beans and a few bits of dried red birds eye chilli as well…guests licked the plates! Love your pastes…thank you!!
Keith Ricketts
September 01, 2018
My first try at a mythaicurry paste and it was everything I had hoped for. Very authentic tasting Thai dish and tasted delicious. I have to confess I didn’t bother with the coconut shell and it still tasted wonderful. And instead of grilling the chicken I put it in the oven at Gas mark 6 for 30 mins. Seemed to do the trick just fine. Can’t wait to try the other curry pastes I ordered.
Lucy
August 30, 2017
I cooked this for a dinner party last week and am now regarded as a culinary goddess by my guests! I knew beforehand it would taste great as I’ve used this paste to make the duck and pineapple curry and Thai fish cakes (sooo yummy) but I was a little nervous about this recipe as it seemed quite a bit more involved with hollowing out the coconut etc. I did make a bit of a hash of my first coconut but it was plain sailing after that! Really worth going for this if you want to serve something special.
My first confession is that that I never thought I would be sitting here writing a recipe for a Thai Curry pie, but times change and we change with them or stagnate. My interest was sparked on my first trip back to Bangkok after the pandemic, chicken curry puffs have long been a popular Thai snack but savoury pies, usually steak and kidney, were very much something that was restricted to the Bangkok expat pub scene. All that had changed, bake shops were springing up outside the traditional to...
I firmly believe that Khao Soi should be ranked as one of the world's great dishes. You can call it a curry or you can call it a noodle soup and it is both of those with more on top, literally on top! A broth of aromatic curry paste and orange-tinged coconut milk with tender chicken falling apart for you, boiled noodles lurking underneath and becoming coated with fragrant oil as they break the surface. Crispy noodles on top that you can manipulate and dunk into the sauce, make this dish..
This is a totally delicious way to serve roast chicken as well as being very simple to prepare. Cooking a whole chicken this way is practised in various forms throughout Asia, sometimes pot roasted, sometimes over hot coals and with many different curry pastes. Most often cooked in the home, rather than restaurants, which is most likely the reason why many Westerners are not familiar with the dish. Well, now is the time to change that and I promise you that you won't regret it! And of course ...
Give this a try if, like me, you can't be bothered to make your own paste and aren't keen on the disappointing (and overly garlicky, in my view) supermarket pastes. So simple to throw together a really tasty curry. Spice level is about right for me - a nice kick without being overwhelming. As another reviewer said, do read the blog on coconut milk as it really does make a difference between a creamy curry and a dubious tasting soup :-)
Andy Roker
August 26, 2019
These pastes are amazing…tried Green ones too but this Red paste is the business. Didn’t have the coconut, and added some green beans and a few bits of dried red birds eye chilli as well…guests licked the plates! Love your pastes…thank you!!