Thai Red Curry with Pork and Green Beans Recipe
Aromatic red curry with tender pork and crunchy green beans is a classic of Thai home cooking. Served with jasmine rice, it’s filling, warming and full of flavour – a bit like our goulash, just in a coconut-and-spicy version.
Red curry (gaeng phet) is one of the basic Thai curries, alongside green and yellow, and is often served in small eateries with jasmine rice. In Thailand the base is often a homemade paste with chilies, lemongrass and galangal, but in home kitchens outside Asia people usually turn to a good-quality jarred paste.
This curry is very close to what you’d get in simple Thai street eateries, but adapted for a regular pan and stovetop. Green beans as the main vegetable lighten the dish and add fresh crunch to the thick coconut sauce. The ratio of curry paste, coconut milk and fish sauce is tuned so you can easily adjust the heat and saltiness to your taste.
Why this version works
- Thinly sliced pork softens quickly and doesn’t dry out in the thick, spicy sauce.
- Frying the curry paste in oil first brings out the aroma of the spices and chilies instead of leaving a raw, harsh flavor.
- Adding the green beans at the end ensures they stay juicy green and lightly crunchy.
- Tearing kaffir lime leaves by hand releases more citrus aroma than cutting them with a knife.
Chef's tips
If you don’t like your food very hot, start with 1–1.5 tablespoons of curry paste and add more only after tasting – it’s easier to turn up the heat than to mute it with coconut milk. Remember that fish sauce is salty, so extra salt at the end is almost never needed. When the sauce tastes “flat”, instead of salting, add a touch of sugar or a squeeze of lime juice – the flavor immediately becomes fuller and more distinctly Thai.
How to serve
Serve with jasmine rice or a jasmine–brown rice mix, which soaks up the sauce better. Put extra fish sauce, lime and fresh chilies on the table so everyone can adjust their own bowl. A quick cucumber slaw with lime and coriander is a great match and refreshes the palate after the spicy sauce.
Watch out for
- Don’t fry the curry paste over too high heat – if it burns, it will give the whole dish a bitter, choking taste.
- If the coconut milk starts to curdle and separate, the heat is too high – turn it down and stir until the sauce is smooth again.
- Don’t cover the curry tightly over high heat, as the sauce can boil over and catch around the edges.
- Don’t cook the green beans too long – an olive, khaki color means they’ve lost their crunch and fresh flavor.
Substitutions
- Instead of pork you can use chicken thighs, extending the braising time by a few minutes.
- You can swap the green beans for broccoli cut into small florets, added at the end of cooking.
- You can replace kaffir lime leaves with thinly pared lime zest, using less so it doesn’t dominate the sauce.
- You can substitute Thai basil with fresh coriander or regular basil added just before serving.
Ingredients
- pork shoulder or pork neck - 500 g
- green string beans - 250 g
- coconut milk kokosowe - 400 ml
- red curry paste - 2.5 tablespoons
- fish sauce rybny - 2.5 tablespoons
- palm sugar or brown sugar - 1.5 tablespoons
- kaffir lime leaves - 3 piece
- oil roślinny - 1 tablespoon
- water - 150 ml
- fresh Thai basil or regular basil - 1 handful
- jasmine rice jaśminowy - 280 g
Preparation
- Rinse the jasmine rice several times until the water is almost clear. Cook according to the instructions, then leave covered for 10 minutes – the grains should be plump and fluffy, not stuck together in one mass.
- Slice the pork thinly across the grain into slices about 3–4 mm thick so it softens quickly. Trim the ends off the green beans and cut them into 4–5 cm pieces – after cooking they should stay firm and intensely green.
- Heat the oil in a large pan or wok over medium heat. Add the red curry paste and fry for 1–2 minutes, stirring, until it smells very aromatic and starts to separate slightly from the oil; the paste should look glossy, not dark brown.
- Pour in about one third of the coconut milk. Stir for 2–3 minutes, until the sauce thickens slightly, becomes smooth and tiny bubbles appear on the surface – it should gently simmer, not boil hard or split.
- Add the slices of pork. Fry for 5–7 minutes, stirring, until the meat turns white on all sides and is no longer raw and pink at the edges; the sauce should be gently bubbling and the meat should stay juicy, not dried out.
- Add the rest of the coconut milk, the water and the kaffir lime leaves torn by hand. Bring to a gentle boil, reduce the heat and simmer for 10–12 minutes, until the meat is tender when pierced with a fork and the sauce has thickened slightly and coats the pieces of pork evenly.
- Add the green beans and cook for 5–7 minutes. They are done when they turn a vivid green, can be cut easily with a knife but still have a bit of resistance in the center – they shouldn’t be olive-grey or soft like in soup.
- Add the fish sauce and palm sugar. Cook for 2–3 minutes and taste the sauce – it should be distinctly salty, slightly sweet, spicy and with a citrus note. If needed, adjust with more fish sauce, sugar or a splash of water if the flavor is too intense.
- Take the pan off the heat, add the basil leaves and gently stir just until they wilt from the heat of the curry but stay bright green. If the sauce seems too thick, add 2–3 tablespoons of water and briefly heat again until smooth.
- Serve the hot curry in bowls with jasmine rice alongside or underneath so the rice soaks up the sauce. The green beans should still have a pleasant crunch, and you can add fresh chilies or lime wedges on top for extra seasoning at the table.
Storage
No storage information available for this dish.
I often make this curry when I have leftover vegetables in the fridge – I’ll throw in bell pepper or zucchini, but I always keep the green beans because they give the best crunch and color.
