EZ Coconut Curry
As y’all can probably tell from my devotion to cumin, I love earthy, warm, spicy-sweet piles of food. I found a recipe for coconut curry at Simply Recipes and adapted it for my glamorous and glitzy dino-chow lifestyle. And now I’m sharing it with you, ’cause I like you.
Full disclosure: I totally cheat in the kitchen. I usually have cooked chicken, ground beef, and pork chops ready-to-go in the fridge, then I make sauces and salsas and coconut milk- or tahini-based yummy things and pour them over the top. I am a master assembler of tasty piles of food. I made the recipe below by cooking the curry sauce separately, then stir-frying it into already-cooked ground beef. I poured that mixture on top of already-steamed green beans re-heated in the microwave. EZ-peasy. But you can also follow the instructions below if you haven’t already horded protein sources and veggies in your fridge like a paleo-squirrel.
EZ Coconut Curry
Makes about 3-4 servings.Ingredients:
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground coriander
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground cloves
1/2 tsp ground cardamom
1/2 tsp black pepper
1/4 tsp chili powder
1/4 tsp turmeric
1/4 tsp ground ginger1 large red onion, chopped
5 cloves garlic, minced
2 jalapeno peppers, minced
1 cup coconut milk
3 tablespoons fresh basil leaves, torn1lb. protein: ground beef, cubed beef/lamb/chicken
Directions:
1. Combine spices in a small bowl and set aside.
2. Saute meat/chicken until it’s nicely browned and cooked through. Feel free to add a little EVOO if you’re feeling like you need some healthy oils. Salt and pepper is nice, too.
3. Take the meat out of the pan, and throw in the onion, garlic, and jalapeno. Stir fry until tender and onions are translucent. Don’t burn the garlic! (I often come dangerously close to burning the garlic because I like the stove on HIGH.)
4. Add the meat back into the pan and add the spices. Stir fry ’til fragrant; about a minute.
5. Add the coconut milk and basil leaves. Simmer until the meat is cooked through and the sauce thickens a bit.
Serve over steamed green beans, zucchini, chopped spinach, chopped cauliflower, spaghetti squash, or curry fried f’rice. (I like to mix chopped spinach with finely diced cauliflower; delicious and so healthy it’s ridiculous.)
Also really nice with sliced fresh tomatoes and sliced cucumbers on the side. Bonus points if you squeeze lemon juice over them and top with chopped fresh parsley.
Foodie Alert: Simply Recipes has some yummy-looking curry recipes that could easily be adapted to dino-chow. Commence drooling now.
45 Responses to “EZ Coconut Curry”
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SOunds great! I'm going to try this tonight.
One word.
CUMIN!
What an awesome idea! I'm totally going to become a Paleo squirrel!! =)
I think some day I will write an Ode to Cumin. Or a cumin haiku. Or both!
And maybe we need to draw a paleo squirrel!
sounds yummy! an easy sub for the spices (coriander,cumin, cloves, cinnamon, cardomom, pepper) is the Indian spice Garam Masala, which contains all those ingredients in roughly the same ratio. but the fresh ground spices are sooo yummy…..
Hey girl,looks awesome. I'm going to give it a try over the weekend.
Can you make a curry dish without *gasp* coconut milk? Just checking:)
Barbara, yes, you can! If you're not opposed to dairy, you can use Greek yogurt instead of coconut milk. You can also use chicken broth instead of either, but it won't be creamy. Amounts are equal, so you can just follow the recipe and swap the liquid as you like.
Hello, Melissa G! Nice to see you!
Nadia, I learned at Penzeys that garam masala also tastes great mixed with traditional yellow curry powder — just do half currey powder, half garam masala. If you try it, let me know how it is!
So we're talking the coconut milk in a can, right? (just asking because they sell it like SOY milk now too! (which is kinda awesome, really)
I use the kind in a can. If you look at this blog post you can see the EXACT kind if get at the grocery store:
http://theclothesmakethegirl.blogspot.com/2009/07/mango-cream-heaven-in-bowl.html
Oh I can't wait to try this! Everything's better with coconut
You know, it really IS better with coconut. One of the things that was hard about saying goodbye to dairy was giving up Greek yogurt. I wasn't eating a lot of "creamy" stuff, but sometimes I just crave that mouth-feel.
Now with coconut milk and the tahini dressing, my creamy jones is totally satisfied — AND I'm getting healthy fats at the same time.
Don't you love the win-win with yummy food?!
AHA! Whole foods actually sells it too, thankfully I've got one..err..two right around the corner from here. Yes, we're spoiled here in Boston
Yum – made this last night, thanks for the recipe! Also thanks for introducing me to Penzeys – that place is amazing.
And congrats on your pull-up success! Very cool.
I just made this for dinner. It was terrific! I can hardly wait for breakfast.
paleo-squirrel… funny, love it.. thanks for the recipe.
Hi, Denise! Thanks for stopping by… glad you like the recipe and the ridiculous squirrel reference.
damn it. i just made this for the first time, with very clean ground turkey and lots of julienned red pepper.
i ate about half of it right out of the pan. PROBLEM!
Mig! HA! That's awesome. Love that story.
I just made this and it's so freakin delicious I can barely stand it. Things this good don't come out of my kitchen. Minus the cardamom though…I couldn't bring myself to pay that much for a spice.
ArjadieJai, I'm so glad you like it! If your local grocery store has bulk spices, you can usually get just enough for a recipe like this for a few cents… I do that with spices I don't use frequently. But, as you discovered, it tastes pretty good without it, too.
You are hilarious! This blog is a mega jackpot!. First, great recipes all in one convenient place, I've pretty much made my whole food plan for the week from this one source. Second, the term "paleo squirrel." I think that could be a stand alone quality for me to keep reading.
faithskiJ –> Awesome! I'm glad you like the recipes — and feel free to think of yourself as a paleo squirrel
Oh my freaking goodness!!!
Made this tonight for the first time – and honestly – it doesn’t get much more fabulous than this <3 Thank you!
Jax_BabyJeep –> Thank YOU. Nothing better than seeing the word fabulous floating around. Glad you enjoyed it!
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Just made this. Funny story, came home and found the recipe and wanted to make this so badly that I went to the store for the coconut milk. After much discssion it turned out they were out of coconut milk. So it’s 7:00 and I’m starving so I picked up Chipotle on the way home.
THEN, went BACK out to a different store because I still so badly wanted to make this recipe that I made it AFTER dinner. Just finished. It is completely delicious. I agree with the previous poster that half can be eaten right out of the pan. We are actually going to have it for dinner with the Curry Fried Frice tomorrow, but it’s staring at me from the counter and is hard to resist!
Question…we love spicy food, but for some reason the jalapenos scared me in this one. I doubled the recipe except for the jalapenos. It tastes great with full flavor but certainly isn’t spicy. Am I safe to put the full amount of jalapenos in and not make it too spicy? I used to be able to correct with sugar if my curries ended up too spicy, but obviously that is out of the question. I removed the seeds and ribs, so maybe that cooled them down a bit.
LOVE your recipes!! Next up, Meatsa Pizza after my Penzey’s arrives!
I love your dedication. AWESOME!
The only way to know about the jalapenos is to try them… sorry! No scientific answer here. Our jalapenos in Texas are really hot, but I’ve had them in other parts of the country and thought they were mild. The only way to know for sure is to experiment.
And yes, removing the seeds and ribs makes them less hot.
Have fun with the Meatza Pie! I’m re-testing the recipe this weekend and we’re shooting it for the cookbook. So fun!
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I feel completely comfortable with stating that this recipe was wicked awesome… and I’m not even from Boston.
You are wicked cool to say so, and I’m not from Boston either.
(And now I feel like we need to watch that SNL sketch “Mark Wahleberg Talks To Animals” http://www.videolog.tv/video.php?id=439626
Yey! Made this tonight with a curry in mind but not really knowing where to start… I kinda improvised a bit & Sauteed garlic, brussels sprouts, sweet potatoes and zucchini, then added shrimp, threw in the spices & coconut milk, and HOT DAMN was it good! Was even hesitant to let my dog lick the bowl cause i wanted to myself
Only disappointment was that Mark Wahleberg never got around to talking to a squirrel. Whats that all about?
“Say hi to your motha for me!”
Booyah!
Made this for din-din tonight, in about a blink of an eye by the way. Anyhoo… Not only did EVERYONE eat like it, their plates were licked clean. And these are the kids and hubs who get about as exotic as bread and butter, if ya know what mean. Too bad nothing is left over for my meals tomorrow but that is an inconvenience I am happy to live with if it means they are slamming their dino chow in just about as fast as I can make it.
Awesome way to start the week! Thx
Man! I love stories like this. Thanks a ton for letting me know that you liked it!
I like your style! Had the chicken curry last night at a friends and wanted more! More recipes and more curry!
wow, this recipe was amazing! I even left out the chili powder and jalapenos to make it knightshade free and it was still awesome! It’s definitely going to be my new go-to meal.
This was wonderful! All of the spices were perfect. It made me excited to try more of your recipes. Thank you!!
HOORAY! I’m glad you guys like this recipe and are finding ways to make it your own. Hope you’re having fun in the kitchen and eating with gusto!
Mel,
Do you use canned coconut milk or the one that is found inthe refirgerated aisle??
Good question! You always want to use canned because the stuff in the cartons usually has other junk added to it. For canned, if you can get it without guar gum that’s best, but if not, guar gum is OK.
Can you cook this in a crock-pot?
Yes! Just throw everything in the slow cooker and let it rip! I’d say 2-3 hours on high or 4-6 on low.
This looks delish! Question, what kind of vinegar should I use?
oops, never mind wrong recipe!
I’m not sure why you’d use vinegar? The recipe doesn’t call for it… but if you tell me why you want to use vinegar, I can tell you what kind would be best.
I just made this for dinner tonight. I used ground turkey and served it over your Pineapple Fried F’rice. I’m sooo happy to report it was delicious! Even my my two very picky little boys liked it and that’s amazing!!! Thank you for the yummy recipes!