Evil Jungle Prince With Chicken

"This recipe was created and named by Keo Sananikone, for his Thai restaurant, Mekong, located in Hawaii. Keo's recipes are some of my favorite ones in Thai cuisine. This dish has graced the pages of Bon Appetit, Food and Wine, Bazaar, and both the Los Angeles and New York Times. I can't wait to give it a whirl!"
 
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Ready In:
40mins
Ingredients:
12
Serves:
4
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ingredients

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directions

  • Cut chicken in to thin strips (approximately 2 inches long).
  • Grind together peppers, lemongrass and kaffir lime leaves in a mortar or food processor.
  • Heat oil to medium-high in a medium saucepan and add peppers, lemongrass and kaffir lime leaves mixture, sautéing for 3 minutes.
  • Add coconut milk to the pan and stir well, continue cooking for 2 minutes.
  • Add chicken to the pan and continue cooking for 5 more minutes.
  • Reduce heat to medium-low, stir in fish sauce, sriracha sauce, and brown sugar, and basil and simmer for 1 last minute. (thanks to VintageChrome for the tip on 2 secret ingredients!).
  • Serve atop the bed of cabbage and enjoy.

Questions & Replies

  1. I have had "jungle curry" and this is the only one that calls for coconut milkThai Jungle Curry with Chicken (Gaeng Pa Gai) Ingredients Quick-Fix Jungle Curry Paste ? 4-5 tablespoon red curry paste ? 3-5 green Thai chilies, or as many as you can take ? 2 tablespoon fingerroot (grachai), chopped ? 2 tablespoon lemongrass, thinly sliced Jungle Curry ? 2 tablespoon neutral oil ? 12 oz boneless skinless chicken thigh, cut into strips ? 2½ cups unsalted chicken stock ? 1-2 tablespoon fish sauce ? 2 teaspoon finely chopped palm sugar ? 4.2 oz long beans, 2-inch pieces ? 8 baby corn, bite-sized pieces ? 4 Thai eggplant, cut in 4 or 6 wedges ? 2 stems young green peppercorns, (optional) ? ¼ cup julienned fingerroot (grachai), (optional) ? 4-5 makrut lime leaves ? 2 spur chilies, julienned (see note) ? 1 cup holy basil leaves ? 1 ½ tablespoon toasted rice powder, (see note) Jungle Curry Paste from Scratch ? 0.7 oz mild dried chilies, such as guajillo or puya ? 3-5 green Thai chilies, or as many as you can handle ? 1 teaspoon coarse grain salt ? ¼ teaspoon white peppercorns ? 1 stalk lemongrass, bottom half only, thinly sliced ? 1 tablespoon galangal, finely chopped ? 2 tablespoon fingerroot (grachai), finely chopped ? 1 teaspoon makrut lime zest, finely chopped ? 1 teaspoon cilantro roots or stems, finely chopped ? 3 tablespoon shallots, finely chopped ? 1 tablespoon garlic, finely chopped ? 1 teaspoon fermented shrimp paste (gapi)
     
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Reviews

  1. Just an FYI, I worked for Keo's in Honolulu, my experience in making this dish is to add Sriracha Sauce, and approx 1 TBL brown sugar. I recall they also add julienne cut bamboo shoots to the dish. Typically served with stickey rice. There is a cookbook he published with the recipe, but evidentally omitted a few "secret" ingredients. I believe the sauce and sugar are 2 of a few...good luck! The dish is truly excellent.
     
  2. I have made this many times adding bamboo shoots, aparagus, straw mushrooms, baby corn and beans. I have Keo's cookbook and I grow Kaffir lime leaves, galanagal, chili, lemon grass and basil so I can make any of his recipes any time. Prepping the ingredients takes the most time, the cooking is very fast and the fresh herbs smell wonderful. Thank you for posting
     
  3. I followed the recipe, but instead of brown sugar I used Palm Sugar, which is more traditional in Thai Cooking.
     
  4. Omg, I forgot all about this recipe! I made it a couple of times a few years ago after my employer showed me how, and absolutely loved it. Just never got around to hunting down the kaffir lime leaves, etc. I highly recommend trying out this recipe.
     
  5. Delicious and so easy to make! I couldn't find lime leaves this time so I just made it without. Still totally tasty.
     
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Tweaks

  1. Substituted Palm Sugar instead of Brown Sugar.
     

RECIPE SUBMITTED BY

<p>I'm lookin for fool-proof recipes, because I am a fool in the kitchen, ask my friends and family!</p>
 
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