CRISPY CHICKEN THIGHS AND RED COCONUT CURRY
This is the only way you should be making chicken thighs from now on.
The chicken thighs are really the star of the show here. They’re juicy, crispy, and I served them with a red coconut curry sauce. It’s amazing what a difference a couple of tips and tricks can make, along with a bit of patience. This dish proves that while quality ingredients matter, it’s what you do with them that truly counts.
Ingredients:
5 chicken thighs (skin-on)
400ml coconut milk
1 tbsp red curry paste
1 lime
1 tbsp fish sauce
½ disc palm sugar (or substitute with ½ tbsp white sugar)
Fresh coriander and green chili, for garnish
Method
Step 1: Start off by prepping the chicken thighs. I like to buy bone-in, skin-on thighs and prep them myself. This can seem daunting if you’ve never done it before, but I promise it’s the easiest bit of butchery you can do, and a great way to practice your knife skills. Tip: Keep the bones in the freezer and use them to make chicken soup once you’ve saved enough. I personally always buy a whole chicken, even if I only need the breast. It works out much cheaper, and I keep whatever I didn’t use in the freezer for emergency soup days when you’re feeling low.
I can show you how to debone a chicken thigh much easier than I can explain it, so you’ll find a demo below. But in short: make an incision along the bone on the meat side, then cut along both sides of the bone until you can get underneath and remove it. Just be careful not to cut too deep and pierce the skin on the other side.
Step 2: Make sure the chicken skin is very dry. Tip: Pat it down with a paper towel right before it goes into the pan.
Step 3: Place the chicken thighs skin-side down in a cold stainless steel pan. Tip: Starting cold might seem strange, but it lets the fat slowly render as the pan heats up, giving you ultra crispy skin.
Step 4: While the chicken is cooking, season the meat side with salt or whatever you like. I usually keep it simple since the sauce brings most of the flavours.
Step 5: Turn the heat to low/medium and let them do their thing, this is the most important tip: patience. Don’t move them. Don’t poke them. Don’t even look at them (okay, maybe look). Cook them skin-side down for about 90% of the total time. When the skin looks crispy, give the pan a little shake. If the chicken releases from the pan on its own, it’s ready to flip.
Step 6: Once flipped, cook for just another 1–2 minutes. Transfer to a plate and rest skin-side up so the skin stays crispy.
Step 7: Don’t clean the pan. All that fond and rendered chicken fat is flavour and a great base for our sauce. Pour in half the coconut milk, scraping up all that goodness and mix it in with the milk.
Step 8: Turn the heat to medium-high and let the coconut milk bubble and reduce by half.
Step 9: Once it’s thickened slightly, stir in the red curry paste and fry for about 3 minutes, then add the rest of the coconut milk.
Step 10: Season the sauce with lime juice, fish sauce, and palm sugar (or ½ tbsp white sugar if that’s what you’ve got), plus a pinch of salt. Taste and adjust, if you want it punchier, add more lime or fish sauce. I personally wanted it a bit more punchy and acidic so added more fish sauce and lime juice.
Step 11: Cook over medium-high heat until the sauce has a silky, thick consistency. It won’t take long.
Step 12: Slice or leave the chicken thighs whole, and add them back into the sauce just to heat through. Top with fresh coriander and green chili. I served mine with rice and a papaya salad, but that’s a recipe for another day.
Trying it tonight, I'll come back tomorrow for feedback 👨🍳
Anything coconut curry related, sign me up!