on Jun 03, 2020, Updated Aug 15, 2020 The beauty of an Instant Pot is how fast and easy it is to cook food in it. Pressure cooking also infuses food with flavour because of how the food is cooked in it. Plus you’ll be rewarded with perfectly tender, juicy pieces of chicken. Thai Chicken Curry is a standard dinner at home because its so fast and easy and you can load it up with different veggies which makes it healthy and hearty too. But my only complaint with store bought pastes is that they lack that oomph that comes with homemade curry paste. And I don’t have time ot the ingredients to make authentic paste at home. So I tried changing that. And tested this again and again to make sure it has that same intense flavour that legit Thai Curry (and I know – I’ve eaten Thai curry is Thailand) has.
Making Thai Curry taste even better
Saute ginger and garlic paste along with Thai red curry paste to add an extra layer of flavourUse lemongrass paste if possible. Lemongrass is a key ingredient in Thai Curry pastes but its flavour is not as prominent when you use store bought paste. If you can get your hands on it, add a teaspoon of lemon grass paste while sauteing the curry paste in the beginning. Unfortunately, I didn’t have any when I was shooting the video.Try to use Kaffir Lime Leaves if you can. Kaffir lime leaves are available in a lot of speciality gourmet stores these days. You even get them dried these days. A few leaves go a long way in adding that fresh, lemony flavourDon’t skip the Fish Sauce. Fish sauce adds that funkiness that makes real Thai Curry taste amazing! It’s really worth adding some. But if you absolutely don’t want to, use some soy sauce instead for that hit of saltiness and umami.The Thai Curry I tried in Thailand had brinjal and tomatoes in it. The Thai Brinjal is sweet and juicy. I couldn’t find any here so I used vegetables we like – zucchini, broccoli, bell peppers, sugar snap peas, mushrooms and cherry tomatoes. Feel free to add some tofu or switch up the veggies to whatever you like
Important Tips for success with IP Thai Chicken Curry
A key ingredient in Thai Curry is coconut milk. While testing this recipe, I used various brands of coconut milk; tried coconut cream instead and added these along with the chicken while pressure cooking. 8/10 the coconut milk split during pressure cooking. So to avoid that happening (since I can’t determine exactly which coconut milk you use); we are adding coconut milk later with veggies and simmering itChicken and vegetables have different cooking times. Add the vegetables once the chicken is pressure cooked and simmer them. This ensures that the vegetables are not overcooked and still retain some crunch versus soggy veggies. Use chicken thighs instead of chicken breasts. Chicken thighs retain their juiciness and flavour when pressure cooked versus breasts which can overcook and become stringy and rubbery6 minutes cooking time for chicken thighs is enough. It may seem like too less, but the chicken continues to cook some more while the veggies cook. Even then, 6 minutes pressure cooking produces the best results in my opinion.Use coconut oil if possible for that fantastic coconut flavour. Its my favourite oil to use whenever I’m making anything ThaiThai Red Curry paste can be easily switched up with green curry paste in this recipe if that’s what you have
Once I made Thai Chicken Curry in my Instant Pot, I never made it any other way again. There is definitely an improvement in flavour and I love how mess free it is!
More Thai Recipes:
Quick and Easy Thai Basil ChickenThai Shrimp CakesSticky Thai Basil MeatballsThai Butternut Squash BisqueThai Carrot Ginger SoupThai Peanut Mango Quinoa SaladThai Curry Pumpkin Noodle Soup
Watch How to make Instant Pot Thai Chicken Curry Recipe Video
