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A few years ago I fell in LOVE with the taste only found in a Thai curry. The first time someone asked me to try Thai curry, I said NO because I figured I wouldn’t like it. It was the word ‘curry’ that threw me off. I thought it was going to taste like an Indian curry, and no offense to Indian food lovers out there, but it’s not my thing.
But soon after that, totally by accident, I ended up eating a Thai curry and was immediately blown away. I loved the mix of heat and coconut which made it taste creamy and spicy all at the same time. It’s become a staple of mine when eating out.
Now that I live half the year in an RV, I wanted to try and make an easy version of red Thai curry at home. Even more so, I wanted to make a lower carb version of it, but something that would still be really filling. I know that a Thai curry can be made with just veggies and protein and without rice or noodles, but my husband would definitely ask me: “Where’s the rest of the meal?”
Since cauliflower rice has jumped onto center stage as a lower carb alternative, and I thought it would be the perfect base ingredient for my RV-friendly red Thai curry.
I actually did a sneaky thing the first time I made this meal. The back-story: my husband HATES cauliflower (and broccoli!) and 100% refuses to eat it. In my mind I figured that if I made a meal that had as much flavour as a Thai red curry and made it really colorful, he wouldn’t even realize I had swapped out regular rice for cauliflower rice.
And guess what – he DIDN’T realize!
I didn’t say a word and just put the plate in front of him. It must have been the aroma of coconut and peanut butter, but he just started devouring it without question. Once he was almost done he asked “Is this rice different from the stuff you usually use?”
When I told him what it really was, he made a disgusted face, but then (reluctantly) admitted he couldn’t taste the cauliflower at all. Now I use it as a swap for this recipe, but a few others as well.
This Thai curry is so easy to make in an RV because it uses only 1 pan and requires minimal counter space. Any meal that just uses 1 pan is a life-saver for me.
It also doesn’t dirty many dishes at all, which helps when you have to do them in a tiny RV sink.
Healthy RV Meals:
Cauliflower Rice Thai Red Curry
Space and Equipment You'll Need
- 20 inches by 20 inches of counter space. Just enough to chop and organize ingredients.
- 1 burner/element
- 1 large frying pan or wok
- 1 spatula
- Cutting board
- Good veggie cutting knife
Cauliflower Rice Red Thai Curry-
Shopping List
- Chicken breast (bonus points if it’s free range and antibiotic free)
- Bag of frozen cauliflower rice (or head of cauliflower to make your own)
- Olive oil, avocado oil or similar cooking oil
- Thai red curry sauce mix
- Optional: Peanut Butter. I used Fatso coconut peanut butter and it gives it an amazing flavour
- Lots of veggies
There is no ‘rule’ on which veggies to use. I realize that a Thai curry usually has some standard ones, but hey, the more veggies you can get in your meal the better! I mix it up ALL the time. Here are some vegetables I have used in the past:
- Carrots
- Celery
- Red or orange peppers
- Green beans
- Green onion
- Red cabbage
- Broccoli
- Snap Peas
- Mushrooms
Thai red curry sauce
Here is the package of Thai red curry sauce I use by a company called Blue Dragon. I can’t really argue with the ingredients, as they are the cleanest that I have seen for this kind of product at regular grocery stores. It’s non-GMO, has no artificial colors or flavours, and is pretty straight forward.
Of course, making your own will always be the healthiest option, but I don’t really have time/space for that in the RV.
If you want to make your own you’ll need a few extra ingredients like: coconut milk, coconut cream, lemongrass, red chilies, garlic, ginger, kaffir lime peel, paprika, coriander, and a few others. You can always Google how to make Thai red curry from scratch.
Frozen Cauliflower Rice
I know I could easily make my own in a blender, but with the price of Cauliflower heads in Canada right now, it's almost cheaper to get frozen! (I have seen a head of cauliflower for $8 at my local grocery store this summer!)
I buy the Green Giant frozen cauliflower rice in this bag. I like that it already has a few green peas, carrots and onions in the mix, plus the portion size works out perfectly with my Thai sauce package.
Fatso Peanut Butter
This recipe already has so much flavour that you might not need to add this PB, but I do because I LOVE it! (I've actually been adding it to smoothies, toast and even protein pancakes!) Fatso PB has just a hint of coconut in it, plus extras like MCT oil and flax seed. I adore this stuff!
Ingredients and Measurements
Once you have all your veggies and protein out of the fridge, just chop up what you think you need. I don’t measure any of my ingredients for this meal, I just cut up what I think will fit in the pan. Every meal comes out a little different.
Some of the ingredients I know the amounts of are:
- 2 small or medium chicken breasts
- 1 tablespoon oil
- 1 bag frozen cauliflower rice
- 1 packet of Thai red curry sauce
- 1 or 2 tablespoons of peanut butter
This amount of ingredients will make 4 servings of Thai red curry. We eat 2 of them for dinner and keep 2 servings as leftovers for the next day.
Directions: How To Make Cauliflower Rice Red Thai Curry
→ Wash and chop all your veggies
→ While you are chopping veggies, put the frozen bag of cauliflower rice in the microwave for 5 minutes. If you made your own, just have it on the counter ready to go.
→ Heat frying pan with cooking oil and cook the chicken breasts. Chop up and add in Thai red curry sauce package. Keep at low simmer for 5 minutes.
→ Add in veggies slowly and continue to stir frequently. If you made your OWN cauliflower rice, add it now. Simmer for 5 minutes.
→ Optional. Add in peanut butter and stir.
→ Lastly, open up the package of (now cooked) cauliflower rice and mix into your pan with everything else. Let simmer for a few minutes.
→ Remove from heat and serve
Key Nutritional Info
I'm not into counting macros with my meals. I used to and it always just caused me stress. I have found that eating what I want and making it as healthy as I can is much better than focusing on numbers.
However, you can easily calculate macros if you wish. Once you have all your ingredients, add up the categories you care about and divide it by how many servings you came out with.
This meal is higher in healthy fats (thanks to the peanut butter and coconut cream in the curry), but it’s still healthy and packed with protein and vegetables. I like that I made it lower carb using cauliflower rice instead of real rice, but you can absolutely omit the cauliflower rice as well.
Vegetarian/Vegan Notes:
If you are a vegetarian or vegan, all you need to do is omit the chicken and it will fit into your diet completely. Try adding in potatoes or chickpeas instead.
Pin: Cauliflower Rice Thai Red Curry – Healthy RV Meals
