2013 Cooking Club Week 4: Thai Green Curry

Curry Addict

My tried and trusted recipe for Thai Green Curry. It is 100% authentic how its made in Thailand.

It takes 15mins max to make the paste and its super simple, bung all the ingredients into a blender and blend for 5mins, no need even to chop anything!
Once the paste is made its a nice quick curry to make, 20 mins should do it.
Why make it from scratch? Well its a lot better end result than buying the paste. Commercial pastes are loaded with salt and citrus flavors, a pot of Moy ploy paste for example is 12% salt! this means i cant add barely any fish sauce and i cant add fresh citrus ingredients so my overall flavors are going to be more bland.

how does it compare to what im used to in restaurants here? It is less creamy and less sweet, as much less coconut milk is used. but it is much more healthy and has a better flavor profile overall as the subtle flavors shine through better.

Green curry paste
1tsp coriander seeds
1tsp cumin seeds
1tsp white peppercorns
1 stalk of fresh lemongrass
3cm of fresh galangal or ginger, chopped
10 small green chillis, chopped
2 long green chillies, chopped
4 cloves of chopped garlic
3 pink thai shallots or 2 regular shallots
3 coriander roots, chopped
1tsp of lime skin or finely chopped kaffir lime leaves
2tsp of shrimp paste
1tbs oil

Simply add all the ingredients to a blender and blend for about 5mins until you reach the required consistency.


Thai Green Curry
2tbs of oil
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
2tbs green curry paste
2 chicken breast fillets, thinly sliced in lengths
400ml coconut milk
400ml chicken stock
1 large fresh red chilli, chopped diagonally into thin ovals
2 types of suitable veg chopped into bite size pieces.
2-3tbs Thai fish sauce
1tbs palm sugar (normal sugar will do)
20 fresh sweet basil leaves.

Heat the oil in a wok or pan, add the garlic and green curry paste and fry for 30secs.
Add the sliced chicken and a couple of tablespoons of the coconut milk and fry for about 3 minutes.
Add the veg, keep the pan hydrated by adding small amounts of coconut milk and cook for 2 minutes.
Add the rest of the coconut milk and then the stock, bring to the boil and simmer for 5mins or until the veg is tender.
Add the palm sugar and the fish sauce 1tbs at a time to taste.
Stir in the basil leaves and serve.


recipe notes :- freeze the excess curry paste in an ice cube maker and cover with a bag and it will stay good for months. you can then make a green curry in 20 mins next time.
When i make a paste I usually triple the amounts so i make a load and freeze it.
It may look very white while your cooking it, dont worry it magically turns green at the end!
coriander roots what are they? the roots of a bunch of coriander herb. when you are buying coriander herb, try to buy with the roots on. chop off the roots and freeze them until you making your next paste. Note sometimes i have to make a paste without this ingredient and it doesnt make much difference.
I use home made stock, you can use cubes or whatever but then you need to be careful and use less fish sauce.
Make sure your fish sauce is still within its best before date, if its gone off its really rank!

Curry Addict

more pics

sjaakie

yum yum.. the pictures are kinda vague and wobbly. something must be up with your camera

eviltwin

I have a tin of coconut milk in the press the last 3 weeks, no idea what to do with it, going to make this over the weekend.

homemadecider

Curry Addict strikes again! Looking forward to making this one.

hattoncracker

I..... I think I love you!!!!

Curry Addict

sjaakie wrote: »

yum yum.. the pictures are kinda vague and wobbly. something must be up with your camera

thats to cover up all my mistakes

The Black Oil

You ain't called Curry Addict for nothing. :pac:

BaZmO*

Can't wait to try this

Mellor

Thai green curry is one of my go to recipes, very similar to your own except;
I skip the stock. I buy a lighter type of coconut milk, so its already less creamy.
And, I never bother to make my own paste. I'm sure its miles better, I'm just stuck in a rut with Moy ploy.

Curry Addict

Mellor wrote: »

Thai green curry is one of my go to recipes, very similar to your own except;
I skip the stock. I buy a lighter type of coconut milk, so its already less creamy.
And, I never bother to make my own paste. I'm sure its miles better, I'm just stuck in a rut with Moy ploy.

once you make your own paste there is no going back, you will be surprised how easy it is :pac:

BaZmO*

Gonna make this later but could only get dried sweet basil leaves. I assume these will be fine?

Curry Addict

BaZmO* wrote: »

Gonna make this later but could only get dried sweet basil leaves. I assume these will be fine?

yes sounds great, good luck with it

BaZmO*

Made this last night, and as usual (from a Curry Addict recipe) it was beautiful! Super spicy but not blow your head off hot. Everything was just so perfectly balanced and it reminded me of the food I tried when I was in Thailand many many moons ago.



I got the dried Sweet Basil because for some reason I thought it went into the paste so it would've been ok to use dried, but it goes into the final dish.
So I soaked a tblsp in a bit of water and then chopped it as fine as I could before adding it to the dish. Would've preferred fresh but I think it worked great.

Word of warning for anyone cooking this though, the shrimp paste absolutely stinks! I was getting worried when I was initially cooking the Paste but once it's cooked out it's beautiful.

I also got some a pretty cool version of Palm Sugar to the one I got the last time (shown in the OP's pictures). It comes in little cubes in mini plastic trays like ice cube trays. Each cube is about a tablespoon so they're dead handy to use.

Anyway, enough waffle, fantastic dish. Can't wait to have it again on Monday! Thanks OP!

Curry Addict

looks even better than mine Bazmo, makes me want to have to now for dinner

sjaakie

looks great Bazmo, what kind of rice did you use? (it looks a bit sticky , I reckon it is jasmine? )

oscarBravo

I made this last night, it was delicious! I have two portions in the freezer and a bunch of the curry paste frozen in ice cube trays.

BaZmO*

sjaakie wrote: »

looks great Bazmo, what kind of rice did you use? (it looks a bit sticky , I reckon it is jasmine? )

I just used Tesco Thai Long Grain Rice, couldn't get Thai Sticky Rice.

Malari

Any substitute for shrimp paste? I'm having trouble finding any in the local supermarkets...

Faith

Malari wrote: »

Any substitute for shrimp paste? I'm having trouble finding any in the local supermarkets...

You'll definitely get it in Mr. Bells in the English Market if that's any good to you.

Malari

Faith wrote: »

You'll definitely get it in Mr. Bells in the English Market if that's any good to you.

Thanks. I'm not sure if I'll be in there before I want to cook this, so was wondering if there was a substitute, but it might have to wait!

Curry Addict

shrimp paste is a very unique ingredient type, its hard to imagine anything that could replace it.

emaleth

Four resounding thumbs up from the emaleth household, we licked our plates. Great nuance of flavour and not too sweet. For reference, I got four generous tablespoons of paste out of the recipe above, so two are in the freezer for next week. Big kiss for Curry Addict

Curry Addict

emaleth wrote: »

Four resounding thumbs up from the emaleth household, we licked our plates. Great nuance of flavour and not too sweet. For reference, I got four generous tablespoons of paste out of the recipe above, so two are in the freezer for next week. Big kiss for Curry Addict

glad you enjoyed! i normally triple the paste recipe to make loads at once so I dont have to make it very often.

hdowney

For those of us who don't live near the above shop? A source for the shrimp paste?

homemadecider

They have it in Fallon & Byrne in Dublin.

Malari

Just made this after I got me shrimp paste in the market! I think I may have used the wrong chillies...I got just regular green ones instead of two sizes :-/ I guess the smaller ones are hotter because the curry was very mild. Tasty though, but the flavours were really subtle. I think I'll add more paste and another chopped chilli the next time I make it.

Curry Addict

Malari wrote: »

Just made this after I got me shrimp paste in the market! I think I may have used the wrong chillies...I got just regular green ones instead of two sizes :-/ I guess the smaller ones are hotter because the curry was very mild. Tasty though, but the flavours were really subtle. I think I'll add more paste and another chopped chilli the next time I make it.

yes smaller chillies have more fire. more paste next time should give it more umfh!

hdowney

homemadecider wrote: »

They have it in Fallon & Byrne in Dublin.

No use to me. I live in wicklow. I also don't even know where Fallon & Byrne is!

Faith

hdowney wrote: »

No use to me. I live in wicklow. I also don't even know where Fallon & Byrne is!

It usually helps to give your location in the first place!

homemadecider

hdowney wrote: »

No use to me. I live in wicklow. I also don't even know where Fallon & Byrne is!

Order it online. Google is your friend!

B0jangles

hdowney wrote: »

No use to me. I live in wicklow. I also don't even know where Fallon & Byrne is!

Can you get up to Bray fairly easily? They have shrimp paste in the Chinese supermarket on the main street.

And yes, it is super-stinky when you fry it. When I make nasi goreng I dry fry the amount I'm going to use a couple of hours before I cook the dinner because it'd put everyone off their food otherwise

Seaneh

Locvely recipe.
Only recipe change I'd make would be when to add the chicken.

Not long ago I cooked a green curry for a few friends, one of them happened to be second gen thai and she saw me about to add the chicken near the start like in this recipe and launched into a 5 minute scolding session about how the chicken needs to be poached gently in the simmering curry and how stir frying it before adding the liquid makes it tougher and is not the traditional method. Apparently you only ever stir fry thin strips and in a green curry you want nice bite sized chunks. After looking into it, it seems she's right. Other tip she gave me was to mix a little of the paste and coconut milk with a tiny bit of papain (papaya enzyme) and use it as a marinade for the chicken to about an hour before you add it to the sauce. It actually makes a noticeable difference.

Tusky

How many portions does the above recipe make? 2/4?

And any recommendations for the veg to add?

Curry Addict

Seaneh wrote: »

Locvely recipe.
Only recipe change I'd make would be when to add the chicken.

Not long ago I cooked a green curry for a few friends, one of them happened to be second gen thai and she saw me about to add the chicken near the start like in this recipe and launched into a 5 minute scolding session about how the chicken needs to be poached gently in the simmering curry and how stir frying it before adding the liquid makes it tougher and is not the traditional method. Apparently you only ever stir fry thin strips and in a green curry you want nice bite sized chunks. After looking into it, it seems she's right. Other tip she gave me was to mix a little of the paste and coconut milk with a tiny bit of papain (papaya enzyme) and use it as a marinade for the chicken to about an hour before you add it to the sauce. It actually makes a noticeable difference.

yes thats a nice cooking method and works well, nice tip about the papaya. if im making a massaman ill poach the chicken gently as i like to cook a massaman much longer as it really suits this heavier curry.

for a green curry i like to cook thin strips of chicken in the paste with a couple of spoons of coconut milk. i allow the chicken to absorb the caramelized coconut and colour the edges of the chicken. the chicken will then taste amazing and retain a nice texture. it may not be the most authentic cooking method but i guess i love this extra flavour in the lighter green curry.

Curry Addict

Tusky wrote: »

How many portions does the above recipe make? 2/4?

And any recommendations for the veg to add?

the recipe is for 2 portions. the paste recipe will make maybe 6-8 portions of paste.

aubergine, sugar snaps, green beans, pees, baby sweet corn, egg plant work well.

BaZmO*

Curry Addict wrote: »

aubergine, sugar snaps, green beans, pees, baby sweet corn, egg plant work well.

Same thing no?

Green Pepper and Courgettes work great too.

cotton

B0jangles wrote: »

Can you get up to Bray fairly easily? They have shrimp paste in the Chinese supermarket on the main street.

And yes, it is super-stinky when you fry it. When I make nasi goreng I dry fry the amount I'm going to use a couple of hours before I cook the dinner because it'd put everyone off their food otherwise

Where abouts on the main street is it? Is it down near O2 or up near Mermaid Centre? Have been dying to try this recipe for ages but couldn't find shrimp paste anywhere.:)

Malari

Curry Addict wrote: »

aubergine, sugar snaps, green beans, pees, baby sweet corn, egg plant work well.

BaZmO* wrote: »

Same thing no?

That's why he's a curry addict, not a veggie addict

I used sugar snap peas and they went in too early I think. I'd really throw them in at the last minute in future as I like them crunchy. I'd like to try with sweet potato too, I think that would be good in chunky cubes.

B0jangles

cotton wrote: »

Where abouts on the main street is it? Is it down near O2 or up near Mermaid Centre? Have been dying to try this recipe for ages but couldn't find shrimp paste anywhere.:)

It's almost directly opposite the O2 shop

Bray's actually pretty good these days for ethnic shopping - off the top of my head I can think of 2 polish, 1 indian, 1 philippino and one other chinese shop near the town centre.

cotton

B0jangles wrote: »

It's almost directly opposite the O2 shop

Bray's actually pretty good these days for ethnic shopping - off the top of my head I can think of 2 polish, 1 indian, 1 philippino and one other chinese shop near the town centre.

Indian???? I didn't know that either, I cook Indian at least 3 times a week & have been travelling to Blackrock for my spices.

Thanks a million, you've made my day.

B0jangles

cotton wrote: »

Indian???? I didn't know that either, I cook Indian at least 3 times a week & have been travelling to Blackrock for my spices.

Thanks a million, you've made my day.

Not at all

The indian shop is in the same little shopping centre thingy that has the tesco express, just across the road from grocery Dunnes on the Quinsborough road. it's quite small but has a pretty solid range.

Loopy

Made this tonight. By far, the nicest curry I've ever made.
The only thing I didn't have was shrimp
paste but I used a little thai paste that I
had.

Curry Addict

looks yum yum Loopy, glad you enjoyed :pac:

Loopy

I froze the remaining green paste and had to buy lemongrass & a few other ingredients so it'll be regular feature in our house whether they like it or not!
They did btw .

Curry Addict

Loopy wrote: »

Made this tonight. By far, the nicest curry I've ever made.
The only thing I didn't have was shrimp
paste but I used a little thai paste that I
had.

Loopy if you liked this recipe, you will love this one as its in a similar vein
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2056172200

Loopy

I'll defo give it a shot
Thanks..

Ipso

Did you post recipes for Red, Yellow or Penang curries by any chance?

Curry Addict

no but maybe next year

oscarBravo

Made this tonight using frozen curry paste from last time. Om nom.

Mrs Fox

I made this for dinner tonight. This curry is the real deal! Consistency wise it's how it should be, light enough to slurp it like broth. All this while I've been making my green curry thickish as that's how Mr Fox prefers it.
I had it with fragrant rice so it sticky enough to soak up the curry. For veg I used garden peas, aubergine, button mushroom and red pepper. In the paste I added both galangal and ginger. And I was a bit bold at adding another stalk of bruised lemongrass when making the curry as I do love the flavour (I noticed your recipes are all about balance so I'm sorry if I went overboard with this). The spices from the paste tasted so fresh and punchy; only after you mentioned I've come to realise how citrusy ready made pastes are.
I had extra slices of finger chillies on the side as I love mine hot hot hot.
Sorry I can't put up photos at the moment. Thanks for the recipe, CA!