Rene's Thai Coconut Curry

Doug and I are both crazy about ethnic food.  I almost always order the same thing -- Spicy Thai Basil Chicken and Thai Red Curry.  We figured out how to make the Thai Basil Chicken a while ago -- with the help of the lady at the local oriental market.

Our next dish to conquer was the Red Curry.  After quite a bit of research, I decided that using Red Curry Paste from Thai Kitchen was an acceptable shortcut.  (I used it a couple times to make sure).

Then I started experimenting.  Tonight I hit upon the perfect mix of ingredients.  This is roughly based on Scrumptious Thai Coconut Red Curry from Food.com.

Ingredients:

2 T olive oil
1 T butter
2 lbs chicken, cut into small pieces
2 onions, sliced thinly
1 green pepper, sliced thinly
1 c thai basil, minced
1 can bamboo shoots
1 c sliced mushrooms
3 T minced garlic
1 can coconut milk
1 can coconut cream
3 T red curry paste
2 T fish sauce
3 T brown sugar
1 c chicken broth
Thai crushed pepper, to taste

Directions:

1.  Melt butter in saucepan.  Add 1 T olive oil and heat. 
2. Add onions, green pepper, mushrooms and garlic.  Saute until vegetables until soft.  add 1/2 of basil and heat.  Remove vegetables from pan.
3. Add remaining tablespoon of oil to pan and heat.  Add chicken.  Season with salt and pepper.  Cook until no longer pink.  Remove from pan.
4. Add coconut milk, coconut cream and red curry paste to pan.  Whisk together and heat for five minutes
5.  Add fish sauce, chicken broth, thai pepper and brown sugar.  Whisk.  Simmer for 10 to 15 minutes.
6. Add chicken, vegetables and remaining basil to sauce.  Heat for five  minutes.
7. Serve over basmati rice