Thai green curry

As a big fan of green and Thai, it was only a matter of time before I moved on to green curry. I'm a firm believer in having as much as possible, if not everything fresh and home made. So this curry recipe calls for everything to be made from scratch.

Green curry paste

The soul of a curry is composed of its spices. For a curry like this the curry paste is almost the complete dish condensed into a few spoonfuls. Making it from scratch is well worth the effort as it tastes better and like all home made food you can rest easy knowing what goes in it. This is a version I adapted and tweaked that uses minimal ingredients to produce a mild and flavourful curry.

Ingredients

1/2 tsp coriander seeds
1/4 tsp cumin seeds
6 white peppercorns or 1 tsp ground white pepper
1/4 tsp ground turmeric
2 lemongrass stems (pale part only), roughly chopped
1 tbs freshly grated galangal or ginger 
3 long green chili, roughly chopped
4 kaffir lime leaves (fresh) spine removed, roughly chopped or 4 dried kaffir lime leaves
2 eschalots, roughly chopped
4 garlic cloves, roughly chopped

Method

1. Toast the dried spices until aromatic and grind to a fine powder in a mortar and pestle

2. Transfer the spice mix and remaining into a blender or food processor and blend with 1 tbsp water until a paste consistency as seen above.


Thai Green Curry

With a paste prepared, a complete curry is only a few steps away  

Ingredients

2 tbs sunflower oil or vegetable oil
2 baby eggplants, halved lengthways, cut into 2cm pieces
2-3 tbs green curry paste (see above recipe)
500g skinless chicken thigh fillets, cut into 3cm pieces
2 cups (500ml) coconut cream
2 cups (500ml) chicken stock
125g fresh baby corn, halved lengthways
2 tbs fish sauce (optional for taste)
1 tbs lime juice
1 tbs sugar, to taste (personally I use 3 tbs because I like my curry sweet)
Sliced red chilli and Thai basil, to garnish

Method

1. Heat oil in a wok or deep frypan over high heat. Add eggplant and stir-fry for 3-4 minutes until golden. Set eggplant aside.
 
2. Add paste to wok and stir briefly. Add chicken and stir-fry, tossing to ensure paste doesn't burn, for 2-3 minutes until seared. Add coconut cream, stock and corn and bring to the boil. Return eggplant to pan, then reduce heat to low and simmer for a further 5 minutes until chicken is cooked and corn is just tender. Stir in fish sauce, lime juice and sugar and heat through for 1 minute.
 
3.Garnish with red chilli, extra lime leaves and Thai basil. Serve with steamed rice.