If you’re after a Thai-style curry, you would be forgiven if you think you need to have coconut milk on hand. But that’s not the case – and this spicy prawn curry doesn’t use any coconut milk but is still packed with punchy Thai flavours.
This is packed with vegetables and uses store-bought red curry paste amended with a few extra flavours (and chillies!). It can also easily be made using frozen prawns (that’s what I did). The best thing, it’s ready in under 30 minutes, so it’s perfect for a busy weeknight.
How to Make Thai Prawn Curry Without Using Coconut Milk
This is inspired by Thai jungle curry, which is a kind of “water curry” that is known for using lots of veggies.
To make this more accessible, I’ve tried to adapt it with ingredients that are easily found in supermarkets – or, at least, in my local supermarket.
It’s a super simple recipe with not a lot of steps. The first thing you need to do is add a bit of neutral oil to a medium saucepan. Set the pan over medium heat and once the oil is shimmering, add in some Thai red curry paste.
To amend the paste a little bit, go ahead and also add in some minced fresh ginger, minced green Thai chilies and some finely chopped cilantro stems. Cook all of this until it’s super fragrant, only a few minutes.
This recipe doesn’t use a lot of red curry paste, but I have lots of recipes where you can put the paste to good use. Check out my Thai-style sea bass or my tofu satay skewers.
Now, pour over some chicken stock and a splash of fish sauce. Add in a spoonful of brown sugar along with some lemongrass and makrut lime leaves. Let the mixture come to a simmer and allow it to bubble away for about 5 minutes – just to let the flavours infuse.
Then, it’s time to add your veggies. Now, you can use whatever combination of vegetables that you’d like, but I like to add in green beans, red pepper, baby corn and carrot. It would be great with some bamboo shoots or Thai eggplant, as well, if you can get them!
Cook the veggies for only a few minutes, just until they’re tender but still crisp. Then, add in your prawns. I just use defrosted frozen prawns because it’s the easiest option!
Let the prawns gently cook in the broth until they’re cooked through – this will not take long. Once they’re done, remove the pan from the heat and stir in some Thai basil along with a splash of lime juice.
Now, all you need to do is serve! Make sure to have plenty of steamed rice on the side.
Spicy Prawn Curry without Coconut Milk
Ingredients
- 1 tbsp Thai red curry paste
- 3-4 green Thai chilies finely minced
- 1 tsp fresh ginger grated or minced
- 1 tsp coriander/cilantro stems finely chopped
- 250 ml unsalted chicken stock (see note 1)
- 1 tbsp fish sauce
- 2 tsp dark brown sugar
- 3 makrut lime leaves
- 2 stalks lemongrass
- 75 g green beans trimmed & cut into bite-sized pieces
- 1 small carrot peeled & cut into bite-sized pieces
- 1 small red pepper julienned
- 6 baby corn halved, fresh or tinned (see note 2)
- 12 medium prawns peeled & deveined, defrosted if frozen
- 15 g Thai basil leaves picked
- 1 tbsp lime juice
Instructions
- Add 2 tbsp of neutral oil to a medium saucepan and set over medium heat. Once shimmering, add the curry paste, chilies, ginger and cilantro stems. Cook, stirring constantly, until very fragrant and beginning to stick to the bottom of the pan – about 2 minutes.
- Pour over the chicken stock and add the fish sauce, brown sugar, lime leaves and lemongrass. Bring to a simmer and allow to simmer for about 5 minutes.
- Add the green beans, carrot, red pepper and baby corn. Allow to simmer until the veggies are tender but still crisp – a few more minutes.
- Add the prawns, stir and simmer until the prawns are just cooked through – only about 3 minutes. Remove from the heat and stir in the Thai basil and lime juice. Serve immediately with steamed rice.
Notes
- By default in all of my recipes, I use unsalted chicken stock rather than a version with salt added. However, it is especially important in this recipe as curry pastes and fish sauce can have their own level of salinity and using unsalted stock allows you to be in control of the salt content of the finished curry.
- If using tinned baby corn, drain and rise the corns before adding to the curry.
Nutrition
Disclaimer: Nutritional information is automatically generated and provided as guidance only. Accuracy is not guaranteed.
This prawn curry is so simple yet so spicy and delicious, you’ll be surprised that something so good can be made so quickly.
Are you looking for a curry without coconut milk? Have any questions about this recipe? Let me know in the comments!
