Thai is actually quite a Coeliac friendly cuisine!  Thai curries (which are made using coconut milk) and rice noodles are gluten free which means you  feel  like you have so much more choice, although watch out for soya sauce in things like Pad Thai and some of the Thai salads.  Fish sauce seems to be preferred to soya sauce which is great news as it is gluten free!  My go to options when I am in a Thai restaurant would tend to be papaya salad, rice paper wrapped spring rolls (if on the menu) and a Thai seafood curry, YUM!!!  Many of the Thai restaurants here in Dubai actually have a gluten free menu which is fantastic.  I have had great experiences in Pai Thai, Spice Emporium, Blue Jade, Thai Kitchen and, my personal favourite, Thiptara.

After spending quite a bit of time in Thailand when I was travelling I found a real love for Thai curries.  It meant that I could order with confidence even when the waiter’s English wasn’t that great.  It just wasn’t worth risking noodles or fried rice when they could easily add soya sauce and not really understand my request to remove it.  And of course cross contamination could be an issue as they may use the same pan even if they did leave out the soya sauce.  So it was Thai curry for me.  Green, red or yellow, they are all delicious and so full of flavour.

When I was in Thailand we had a Thai tour guide and she was great at helping me out with ordering food meaning that I was able to sample some Pad Thai and rice dishes.  We had some delicious local sweet treats too.  One was lovely sweet purple sticky coconut rice wrapped in a banana leave which we had for breakfast one day and sticky coconut rice with mango which I absolutely love!  There seem to be lots of sweet rice dessert options which are ideal for those on a gluten free diet.  Many people on a gluten free diet are very worried to travel to Thailand but my experiences there were great food wise so definitely don’t be put off.  Believe me, China was much trickier and I still managed to find food there!

I may get accused of cheating with this recipe as I use a curry paste but I figure when there are such great curry pastes out there it makes sense to use them and save some time when we all have such busy lives.  I use the Thai Choice red curry paste which is great.  No added sugar and no oil, just lots of amazing flavours!  There are quite a few options out there but just be sure to check the ingredients to make sure there isn’t anything in there that you wouldn’t want to eat.  I love prawns and squid in my curry but this isn’t for everyone so you could easily substitute the seafood for chicken or even just vegetables if you wanted a vegan option!

Serves 4

Ingredients

250g Raw Prawns

250g Squid rings

400g can chopped tomatoes

400ml can of Coconut milk (I tend to use light coconut milk)

Baby corn

Broccoli

Sugar snap peas

1 inch piece of fresh ginger

2 tablespoons Thai curry paste (I tend to use red paste purely just because I like the colour!)

1 large red onion

Coconut oil

 

Method

1. Begin by heating a wok with 1 teaspoon of coconut oil and fry the onion for a few minutes until slightly softened.
2. Add the prawns and cook until pink.
3. Meanwhile chop the baby corn, sugar snap peas and broccoli into bite sized pieces.
4. Once the prawns are cooked through add the vegetables and fry for a few minutes.
5. Grate the ginger into the pan and add the curry paste ensuring that everything is coated and cook for a further few minutes.
6. Add the can of chopped tomatoes and coconut milk (I tend to use half a can or slightly more depending on how much veg I add but you may want to use more if you like a lot of sauce) and cook for 10 minutes to allow the sauce to thicken.
7. Add the squid rings and cook for 4 minutes. It’s important to not overcook the squid as it will go very rubbery!
8. Serve with rice of your choice, I usually go for cauliflower rice.

 

Enjoy!