Thai curries are in many ways the ultimate 30-minute meal. Add coconut milk, a little water or stock, meat or fish of your choice, curry paste of your choice, whatever veggies you have around, some fresh herbs and bang! Done.
I am pretty sure most of you have had a Thai curry, but if you haven’t, they are lighter, brighter and to my mind more approachable than Indian curries. I find myself tiring of Indian curry, but I never tire of Thai ones.
There are lots of different kinds, but the basics are red, green and massaman, which is yellow. I tend to do green curry with fish, or with light-colored meats — in this case a pheasant curry.
I can hear some of you: You’re wondering why I’d rely on a store-bought curry paste. Well, for whatever reason, the premade curry pastes, especially Mae Ploy Green Curry Paste, stand up really well compared to the homemade stuff. I’ve done it by hand it it’s great, but not so much better that I feel the need to start from scratch every time.
My advice: Buy a selection of these curry pastes, a bottle of fish sauce and a few cans of coconut milk to keep around the house. They’ll all last for months (years, even!) and, armed with them, you can whip up something addicting and exotic in the time it takes to cook the rice you eat with this curry.
I have snow peas in this curry, but use whatever you want, so long as it’s green. Asparagus, regular peas, sugar snap peas, more herbs, bok choy, green beans — you get the point.
Serve your pheasant curry with long-grain rice and a lager beer.
Pheasant Curry
Ingredients
- 1 small onion, sliced thinly from root to tip
- 1 tablespoon peanut or other vegetable oil
- Salt
- 1 15- ounce can of coconut milk
- 1/4 cup chicken stock (optional)
- 3 citrus leaves (optional)
- 2 tablespoons fish sauce or 1 tablespoon soy sauce
- 3 to 4 tablespoons green curry paste
- 1 pound skinless pheasant breasts, cut into bite-sized pieces
- 1 to 4 serrano or jalapeno chiles, sliced thin
- 1/2 pound snow peas
- 1/3 cup chopped Thai basil or cilantro
Instructions
- Heat the oil over high heat in a wok or large frying pan. Sear the onion over high heat, stirring it often, until it browns on the edges. Salt the onion as it cooks.
- Pour in the coconut milk and the stock if using. Fill the coconut milk can halfway with water and pour that in, too. If you are not using stock, fill the can all the way up and pour the whole can into the pan. Add the citrus leaves if you're using them, as well as the fish sauce and the curry paste. Bring this to a boil, then simmer it for 15 minutes.
- Add the pheasant breast and simmer gently 5 minutes, then add the chiles and snow peas and simmer another 5 to 8 minutes. Stir in the basil or cilantro and serve.
Absolutely delicious. I have made this with several variations on the green vegetable depending on what I have available and it has always been great.
This is a perfect, quick and easy dish, if you’re short on time and hungry. I followed the recipe, exactly and the results were excellent!
Quick, easy, and delicious recipe.
Solid quick and easy recipe. It’s hard to find recipes for shot up birds, this one works great.
Thanks for your advice – I did end up brining them because I got over anxious – but I followed the rest of the recipe and it turned out delicious. Brining did make them a bit slimy in places though. Not sure what the situation was there but two days later everyone is still healthy so rinsing them off must have worked out fine.
well fingers are crossed! thanks!
So here’s a fun dilemma – I decided we should hang the pheasants – problem is that hubby brought them home pre plucked. So we hung them in the fridge for a week and a half (they smell fine, the blood that pooled in the bags under them, not so much). Now they are a bit dried out – my questions is, do I try and cut that dried stuff off, brine them, or just cook them in something acidic to soften them up. I was going to try this recipe because I made a curry paste had a pheasant, etc etc. Just curious what your thoughts might be on this. Next time he will leave the feathers on though!
LisaZ: I think they’ll be fine stewed in a curry.
Wow! Another great recipe-e! Thank you Hank! When all you hear is lip smacking and muttered grunts of “yum”, you can’t ask for any more!
D
Wondering a thing, Hank. Neither of us are particularly heat sensitive. Made ours with Mae Ploy green curry paste (our long time favorite brand) and no jalapenos. With 2 Tbs., it was hot. Neither of us are particularly heat sensitive. Is the Tbs. possibly a misprint and it’s supposed to be tsp.?
Mike: Nope, that’s what I use. Mae Ploy is kinda hot, though.
Loved it. We added some bell peppers as well. Just enough heat but could add some stronger Chiles for more heat.
Hey Hank,
My wife and I have made this recipe twice in 1 week. It’s simple and delicious! The secondgo around we decided to make it over spaghetti squash, and it was awesome! Highly recommended!
-Adam
Sounds delicious. Does it freeze well.
Sarita: I have no idea. I’ve never frozen it.
We loved it. The curry paste I used seemed pretty hot, so I ended leave out the additional peppers. Wife thought the pheasant came out dry, but my daughter and I think she’s may have smoked something before dinner. Kidding aside, great dish and comes together very quickly.
Used chicken,shitakes, brocollini and rice noodles. Excellent and that green curry is hot!!!!!!
I adapted this tonight using chicken thighs and several tablespoon of Panang curry sauce. Quick to prep, easy to cook and downright delicious. I see this one becoming a regular go-to weeknight dish.
Oh man, I LOVE Thai curry! Cannot wait to try this! Might not be able to wait for pheasant and have to give it a try with chicken first, lol. Thank you for the recipe!
I often cook an Indian style pheasant curry, but I hadn’t thought of doing Thai – food for thought next time!
I’m glad to hear curry paste lasts so long in the fridge. Ours is probably approaching a year. Every time I open it, I get more and more worried that I’ll end up with a container of mold, but nope!
I used to buy curry paste at the local regular grocery store. Man was that a mistake. Asian markets are so much cheaper!
Where did you get the pheasant for this recipe? (And for most of your recipes in general?)