Thai Chicken Curry

Ah! Your problem is probably because to make "Thai curry" it's always the paste PLUS other ingredients. It's sort of like chicken bouillon. If you were tying to make chicken soup with JUST the bouillon it would taste awful. Here's a coconut "fish" curry (just substitute fully cooked chicken) that is one of my favs. Serving over Basmati is my favorite, but rice sticks are also great.

Thai Coconut Cod Curry
serves 2-3 (I usually double it)

2T peanut oil
1 1" piece of ginger, peeled and chopped fine (or 1 TBS of ginger paste from a tube)
1 garlic clove, peeled and finely chopped
1C coconut milk (about half a can)
1Tb fish sauce (thou must, must, must use fish sauce in thai curries)
1Tb thai red curry paste
1 pound fresh cod
zest from 1 lime
2Tbs chopped fresh Thai basil, or regular basil in case you aren't near Whole Foods or in Thailand
A few Tbs chopped fresh cillantro
2Tbs brown sugar

the original recipe adds a serrano chili and has no brown sugar, but
the curry paste makes it plenty spicy for me, and everything is better
with a little brown sugar.  i report, you decide..

directions:
heat 1T peanut oil , saute garlic & ginger 2-3 minutes until fragrant
but not brown.  add coconut milk, fish sauce, brown sugar and curry
paste. simmer 5-8 minutes.
meanwhile, heat 1T peanut oil in a heavy skillet. add the cod,
browning for 2-3 minutes on each side.
pour coconut mixture over the cod, add the lime zest, and simmer until
the fish is opaque and flakes easily with a fork. (for chicken, let it go 15 minutes or so, so that the chicken can soak up some of the curry)
 At the last moment add the chopped basil and stir.  serve immediately, with  rice if you're into that sort of thing. also with cilantro if possible

If it's too spicy, double the coconut milk. :)

enjoy!

Okay two ideas that we love. 1) thepioneerwoman.com has a recipe for Chicken Tikka Masala that is SO delicious. Actually tastes like real indian food. And it's easy. So check that out. That is certainly a treat though...not for every day cooking in my opinion. So...2) Trader Joes has a chicken curry simmer sauce in a jar that is good. But I dr. it up a bit. So if you have trader joes, you just put raw chicken and the sauce in a pan and let it simmer. I add diced dried apricots (or raisins)and par cooked sweet potatoes to the mix and let them simmer together. I find those two things really bump up the flavor. Easy easy dinner for a weeknight.

I wonder if you're missing the taste of the msg. It's often added to make the food taste good. I've read that it makes you crave that food. Just a possibility...
I made curry yesterday and it seemed flat. Adding a bit of cayenne and lemon juice once it was in my bowl spruced it up a bit, but it still didn't taste like what's at the restaurant.