Food

Health Benefits of Red Thai Curry – Delicious but Healthy Thai Food

Thailand food is always full of surprises! Its rich spices make Thailand food become favorable to try when you visit Thailand. Curry is one of the famous dishes coming from Thailand. There are many types of curry based on the color, such as green, red and yellow curry.

Three of them are worth to taste when you visit Thailand. The three curries are actually made from the same ingredients, which are chilies. Green curry has green chili as its main ingredient, yellow chili is used as yellow curry’s main ingredient and red chili for red curry. Regarding to the taste, each curry has its distinctive flavor.

When you try or taste some dish from certain countries, then you start wondering whether they are healthy or nutritious, so does to red curry. Some street food are doubted to have healthy effect on your body, but curry can be classified as healthy food. Red curry has some ingredients that are beneficial for our health.

Let’s talk about the nutrition contained in red Thai curry, how to make healthy red Thai curry and health benefits of red Thai curry.

How nutritious is red Thai curry?

Red Thai curry is very rich in spices that are beneficial for your health. It is made from red chilies, turmeric, garlic, limes and lemongrass.

To make red Thai curry, the chef could add up to 20 chilies to make the red color in the curry. But some chefs use chili powder to create deeper flavor. Some ingredients could be added to red Thai curry, such as chicken, seafood, tofu and some vegetables.

Red Thai curry is very healthy when you pay attention to the amount of coconut milk used in the curry. We all know that coconut milk is rich in fats and cholesterol. You can use light coconut milk to make your red Thai curry healthy.

In one serving of red Thai curry, you can find the following nutrients:

  • 298 calories
  • 8 g of protein
  • 7.5 g of saturated fat
  • 1.15 g of Monounsat fat
  • 4.85 g of Polyunsat fat
  • 25 g of carbohydrate
  • 2.5 g of fiber
  • 0 mg of cholesterol
  • 170.6 mg of calcium
  • 154.45 mg of vitamin C
  • 25.49 mg of magnesium

You can see that red Thai curry is free of cholesterol. It is surprisingly healthy! Let’s see the following section which is how to make red Thai curry in a healthy version.

Read 6 Awesome Benefits of Tom Yum Goong Which Comes From Its Fresh Ingredients and Health Benefit of Pad Thai – A Favorite and Delicious Thai Dish to view other types of Thai food.

How to make the healthy version of red Thai curry?

Here is the recipe of red Thai curry in a healthier version. Check these following out!

To make a healthy red Thai curry, you will need:

  • 2 tbsp of oil (olive oil is suggested)
  • 1 tbsp of peeled ginger (minced)
  • 3 cloves of garlic (pressed and rested for 10 minutes)
  • 1 ½ tbsp of red Thai curry paste
  • 2 carrots (peeled and sliced)
  • 1 red bell pepper (seeded and diced)
  • 2 cans of light coconut milk
  • 1 pound of broccoli
  • 8 ounces of tofu (cut into ¾ -inch cubes
  • 2 tsp of lime zest (grated)
  • 1 tbsp of lime juice
  • 4 light green and white scallions (thinly sliced)
  • Lime wedges
  • ¼ cup of fresh cilantro leaves (chopped)

Here are the steps of making red Thai curry:

  1. Pour the oil onto the pan with medium heat. Put garlic, ginger and red curry paste. Let it be cooked for around 30-45 seconds and add the carrots and saute for 3 minutes.
  2. Add peppers onto the pan, stir them well and saute for 2 minutes. Pour coconut milk, 1 cup of water and let them simmer. Stir them occasionally, so that the liquid is thickened and reduced. Wait for around 8 minutes.
  3. Add broccoli and tofu, cook them well until they are tender. It takes around 2 minutes.
  4. Remove the heat. Put the lime zest and lime juice. Top the curry with chopped scallions, cilantro and lime wedge.
  5. Red Thai curry is ready to be served!

You can add some ingredients such as chicken and seafood into this curry.

What are the health benefits of red Thai curry?

By looking at the ingredients of red Thai curry, you can see that they are very healthy. Here is the health benefits of red Thai curry.

Improving metabolism

Chili peppers are rich in vitamin A, D and C and antioxidants. Chili peppers are great to detox your body from harmful substances. Besides, it will also boost your metabolism so that your digestive system is healthy and the energy is transferred all over your body well.

No more getting sick easily

Garlic in red Thai curry is very useful to help you to boost your immune system. So, say no more to getting sick easily, especially colds and flu.

Read Benefits of Garlic for Asthma Treatment – Works or Not? to get an idea of another benefit of garlic.

Sour but helpful

Lime in red Thai curry is very great for your body. Despite its sour taste, it it is very great to detox your body and help you for cancer prevention.

No more fever and getting cold

Lemongrass is rich phytonutrients that will improve the circulation of your blood so that it will relieve the pain if you are experiencing cramps, headaches or sprains. It also helps you to calm your nerves, especially when you feel anxious or tired.

So, after reading the whole article about red Thai curry, it is recommended to try red Thai curry at home or when you visit Thai restaurant. Bon appetite!