Please help my Thai green curry

FocusFord

Hi everyone,

I've been trying to make a thai green curry chicken dish that tastes right for about the last 2 years. We've gone through every brand of jarred green curry sauce and several different pastes. The last two dishes I cooked I used the mae ploy green curry paste which I was convinced would finally give it the taste I wanted.

I always find the sauce I make to be lacking the distinctive thai green curry flavour that I get from any chinese take away or thai/chinese restaurant I eat at. Aswell as this, I find that the sauce in restaurants /takeaways is always rich with flavour while mine always tastes bland.

The last thing I think it could possibly be is that I need to use 2 tins of coconut milk instead of the 1 tin I used in my last 2 dishes... and they were to feed 3-4 people.

Please help !!

Thanks

Minder

What else are you adding?
You need to boost the flavour. I usually add garlic and whole lemongrass stalks to a green curry, along with the curry paste. Bruise or bash the lemongrass to allow the flavour to escape. Add green chilli for heat and sugar to balance the sweetness. One 400ml tin of coconut milk is enough for 4 people. Kaffir lime leaves, lime juice and fish sauce to complete the sauce. Then thai basil right before serving.

duploelabs

If you can get it, Thai sweet basil will give it that edge as well as thai ginger

Mrs Fox

duploelabs wrote: »

If you can get it, Thai sweet basil will give it that edge as well as thai ginger

Thai ginger as in galangal?

duploelabs

Mrs Fox wrote: »

Thai ginger as in galangal?

Yup, mince it up and fry it off when you're frying off your paste and that'll add that extra thing you're missing

Swiper the fox

My tip would be to use twice as much paste as recommended, use lots of fresh bruised lemongrass, take it out obviously before eating, be very generous with the fish sauce(nam pla) and use loads and loads of lime juice. The coconut milk is just to bulk it up, it doesn't add much to the final flavour.
Just a tip if you want it to be more substantial, add green veg like green beans, mangetout and the likes. I always steam a load of baby potatoes in advance and peel them and add to the final curry as well.

FocusFord

In my last dish I added green curry paste, 1 tin coconut milk, green peppers, scallions, mushrooms, plain basil and some sugar. So maybe its the lemongrass or galangal that adds that taste im missing, or the kaffir lime leaves, fish sauce or thai basil .. I hope so anyway Also the last dish I added enough of the paste as it was fairly spicy and any more would have made it too spicy.

Swiper the fox

FocusFord wrote: »

In my last dish I added green curry paste, 1 tin coconut milk, green peppers, scallions, mushrooms, plain basil and some sugar. So maybe its the lemongrass or galangal that adds that taste im missing, or the kaffir lime leaves, fish sauce or thai basil .. I hope so anyway Also the last dish I added enough of the paste as it was fairly spicy and any more would have made it too spicy.

Fish sauce, garlic and lime juice are absolutely essential. Kaffir lime leaves, thai basil, galangal and even lemongrass are optional and will make a little difference but as I said without the essential ingredients(coconut milk, paste, garlic, lime juice and fish sauce) you are in trouble. Good luck

JPA

FocusFord wrote: »

In my last dish I added green curry paste, 1 tin coconut milk, green peppers, scallions, mushrooms, plain basil and some sugar. So maybe its the lemongrass or galangal that adds that taste im missing, or the kaffir lime leaves, fish sauce or thai basil .. I hope so anyway Also the last dish I added enough of the paste as it was fairly spicy and any more would have made it too spicy.

Peppers and mushrooms can bulk it up but aren't going to help the flavour.
Thai basil and/or coriander will add a freshness to the flavour as well as lime juice. Fish sauce is also definitely needed but be careful as too much is sickening.

Minder

Kaffir lime leaves and lemongrass can be bought and frozen. The lime leaves resist freezer burn really well. Just use a few more to increase the flavour. Lemongrass is also good frozen. The outer leaves will look a little damaged after some months in the freezer, but you can peel these off. Fish sauce is essential of that umami flavour. Galangal is also good frozen if you use it in large discs. A lot of the aromats in a Thai green curry are not for eating in the finished dish - added in large pieces, just ignore them when plating.

okedoke

It sounds like approach is the same as for red curry

4 portions of thai red curry

fry 2 heaped tablespoons of red mae ploy in 1 tablespoon of veg oil until the paste begins to soften
open can of coconut milk and spoon in the thick half of the can (as long as you don't shake the can the milk will separate into this and thin parts, with the thick part floating to the top)
keep cooking until the begins to simmer.
Add the remaining (thin) coconut milk.
Add 200ml of chicken stock
bruise (bash) 2 lemongrass stalks and put in with 2 finely minced Kaffir Lime leaves (you can get these in Asian shops)
Add the juice of 1/2 lime
Add 2 teaspoons of palm sugar and 1/3 to 1/2 teaspoon of fish sauce (you can get these in Asian shops). This is the part that I couldn't get right for ages - I was putting in too much fish sauce and not enough palm sugar.
Get the flavour of the broth right before adding any meat/fish or veg - i.e. the balance between sugar and fish sauce.
Once you're happy with the flavour add chicken simmer until nearly cooked then add peppers/courgettes.
Stir in a handful of chopped basil leaves before serving.

You can omit the chicken stock and add 200ml more of coconut milk to get a richer curry.

FocusFord

Thanks for the replies. I'll be sure to try out the above steps okedoke, do you know where I can get palm sugar ?

Zascar

Good advice there! OP like you I had been trying for ages. Mae Ploy is defintieyl the best I've found. Also try the red curry. I use a big dollop of paste, with loads of olive oil, and also add in in ginger and chillies too. I do more or less what okedoke does, its a balance between the amounts of coconut milk, sugar, fish sauce and lime juice to get the perfect sauce, spice and texture

Slattsy

Kaffir Lime leaves are essential and can be got in Tesco.
Dont be shy with the fish sauce but the balance is essential between that and sugar. Taste as you go. But it is trial and error.

Mrs Fox

FocusFord wrote: »

Thanks for the replies. I'll be sure to try out the above steps okedoke, do you know where I can get palm sugar ?

Any Asian shops, but Tesco have their own range of palm sugar too. On the same shelf add the exotic goods.

okedoke

FocusFord wrote: »

Thanks for the replies. I'll be sure to try out the above steps okedoke, do you know where I can get palm sugar ?

any asian shop should have it. Its a solid block of sugar, you cut pieces off it./

okedoke

My local thai restaurant includes a vegetable in their red curry but I don't know what it is. Its pale, cream in colour and is served in slices about 1.5cms wide, a few mm thick and maybe 5/6s cms long. Anyone got any ideas?

roweeeeena

okedoke wrote: »

My local thai restaurant includes a vegetable in their red curry but I don't know what it is. Its pale, cream in colour and is served in slices about 1.5cms wide, a few mm thick and maybe 5/6s cms long. Anyone got any ideas?

Bamboo maybe?..

Mrs Fox

Sounds like bamboo shoots alright. I like them only in red curry for some reason.

efc67

FocusFord wrote: »

Hi everyone,

I've been trying to make a thai green curry chicken dish that tastes right for about the last 2 years. We've gone through every brand of jarred green curry sauce and several different pastes. The last two dishes I cooked I used the mae ploy green curry paste which I was convinced would finally give it the taste I wanted.

I always find the sauce I make to be lacking the distinctive thai green curry flavour that I get from any chinese take away or thai/chinese restaurant I eat at. Aswell as this, I find that the sauce in restaurants /takeaways is always rich with flavour while mine always tastes bland.

The last thing I think it could possibly be is that I need to use 2 tins of coconut milk instead of the 1 tin I used in my last 2 dishes... and they were to feed 3-4 people.

Please help !!

Thanks

I would probably bet your Chinese take away or Thai/Chinese restaurant are using MSG

okedoke

roweeeeena wrote: »

Bamboo maybe?..

yea, thats it - something to add next time

cheers

bunalunhoney

Jamie Oliver's Thai green curry from his Ministry of Food book is absolutely gorgeous. He shows you how to make your own paste from scratch which is dead easy and the freshness of the flavours are something you can't get from a jar of paste. You can make extra and freeze it. Enjoy!

B0jangles

If you are in a chinese supermarket check the freezers for kaffir lime leaves - frozen are way nicer than dried, if you can get them

stevenmu

I use the jars of paste fairly often, both the tesco own brand or the blue dragon, and find them pretty decent. They're fairly weak though, so where they say to use one or two spoons of paste to a can of coconut milk, I use almost the whole jar to a bit less than a full can of coconut milk.

Dubl07

One tip I picked up is to spoon off the thick 'top' half of the coconut milk for the curry sauce and use the watery lower portion as part of the cooking liquid for the rice. It works a treat.

Mick Murdock

efc67 wrote: »

I would probably bet your Chinese take away or Thai/Chinese restaurant are using MSG

This. Like most Thai/Chinese takeaways they use this stuff by the ladel full!! It's added to everything.

You will not replicate the average takeaway without it. It's available in most Asian shops.


Camile Thai (have numerous stores in Dublin) are one of the exceptions, they do not add msg to their food.

Here is one of their chefs cooking Green Curry. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YPUOSJHw7Kk

Have never been blown away by their food, but they have a great menu and use Irish meat (very rare) and produce wherever possible.

stevenmu

Yeah, they're a bit pricier than your average takeaway, but they do seem to use quality ingredients. I'm a big fan of their special fried rice.

FocusFord

The next green curry I make I'll use all the different ingredients mentioned and i'll update on how it turns out. My favourite thai green curry dish would be that made by the thai garden chefs in galway. I'm trying to replicate that dish.
Does anyone know if they use MSG's in the thai garden ?

Zascar

I thought MSG was an additive in other things, I did not know you can simply buy it on its own - as a magically makes everything taste better sauce. I know its not good for you but I now want to buy some to add to my curry to try it!

Deffo want to get some of the above mentioned ingredients like palm sugar, karrer lime leaves. Will all this be available in asian shops?

Mick Murdock

Zascar wrote: »

I thought MSG was an additive in other things, I did not know you can simply buy it on its own - as a magically makes everything taste better sauce. I know its not good for you but I now want to buy some to add to my curry to try it!

Deffo want to get some of the above mentioned ingredients like palm sugar, karrer lime leaves. Will all this be available in asian shops?

Any decent Asian shop should have all of the above.

MSG is just a salt like substance - it's extremely cheap to buy. Most takeaways will just add it as they cook, some curries etc. are made with powders that are full of it but for a lot of dishes it's just added as they cook. That includes fried rice, chips and pretty much everything on the menu. You can request no msg where possible if it's a decent place..

I don't think it's as bad as it's made out to be. Some people get headaches and have allergic reactions to it so it has a bad name.

It's an ingredient in so many things that most people are probably eating shedloads of it whether they know it or not.

Indian food has lots and lots of vegetable oil (ghee if they're big spenders) but little to no msg.

FocusFord wrote: »

The next green curry I make I'll use all the different ingredients mentioned and i'll update on how it turns out. My favourite thai green curry dish would be that made by the thai garden chefs in galway. I'm trying to replicate that dish.
Does anyone know if they use MSG's in the thai garden ?

I checked their website, it doesn't say that they are not using MSG so they most definitely ARE.

Camile is in a very very small minority - that's why they point it out and use it as a selling point.

Curry Addict

FocusFord wrote: »

The next green curry I make I'll use all the different ingredients mentioned and i'll update on how it turns out. My favourite thai green curry dish would be that made by the thai garden chefs in galway. I'm trying to replicate that dish.
Does anyone know if they use MSG's in the thai garden ?

I have eaten many times in the the Thai gardens sister restaurant in blanchardstown and they definitely don't use msg there. I like it its good!

If your trying to replicate their green curry sauce, the paste tastes very like blue dragon green curry paste(its regular enough for thai restaurants here to use bought pastes), its quite sweet so heavy on the sugar and its rich so I doubt they use stock just coconut milk.

FocusFord

Yeah I used that paste in the past but I would have used it only with coconut milk and none of the essential extras.. so maybe thats why it didn't taste anything like the thai garden curry for me

Mick Murdock

Curry Addict wrote: »

I have eaten many times in the the Thai gardens sister restaurant in blanchardstown and they definitely don't use msg there. I like it its good!

If your trying to replicate their green curry sauce, the paste tastes very like blue dragon green curry paste(its regular enough for thai restaurants here to use bought pastes), its quite sweet so heavy on the sugar and its rich so I doubt they use stock just coconut milk.

I stand corrected. They do in fact state on their website that they not use monosodium glutamate.

Will check them out in Spanish Arch the next time I'm home.

livingthedream

FYI,

I was having lunch in Siam Thai in Dundrum a couple of months ago and saw that the shelves in the store room were packed full of red/green Mae Ploy pastes. I reckon they add more to them but their food is very tasty so another thumbs up for Mae Ploy pastes....

Curry Addict

livingthedream wrote: »

FYI,

I was having lunch in Siam Thai in Dundrum a couple of months ago and saw that the shelves in the store room were packed full of red/green Mae Ploy pastes. I reckon they add more to them but their food is very tasty so another thumbs up for Mae Ploy pastes....

anytime i eat in a thai restaurant i'm interested to see if they use a bought paste or not. so I do try to look for the drums of paste on the shelves of the kitchen if i can get a peep in
I have noticed that a lot of restaurants do use the bought in pastes and particularly the Mae Ploy. Im not a big fan of the Mae Ploy, if you look on the label you will see its 12.5% salt!!! that's a turn off for me.

One big advantage of making your own paste is the 0% salt, so you can use more fish sauce in the seasoning of the curry and hence get a nice flavour advantage over the lazy restaurants

Mick Murdock

Curry Addict wrote: »

anytime i eat in a thai restaurant i'm interested to see if they use a bought paste or not. so I do try to look for the drums of paste on the shelves of the kitchen if i can get a peep in
I have noticed that a lot of restaurants do use the bought in pastes and particularly the Mae Ploy. Im not a big fan of the Mae Ploy, if you look on the label you will see its 12.5% salt!!! that's a turn off for me.

One big advantage of making your own paste is the 0% salt, so you can use more fish sauce in the seasoning of the curry and hence get a nice flavour advantage over the lazy restaurants

I'd imagine that 12.5% is part of the reason a lot of them use Mae Ploy.

+1 on making your own! Other than a trip to the Asian store, it takes a few mins with a blender.

Mr Magnolia

Try making your own paste. I normally double this recipe then portion it off and freeze it:

Paste
10 black peppercorns
2 tsp cumin seeds
2 tsp coriander seeds
10 green chillies, roughly chopped
5 shallots, roughly chopped
2 clove garlic
2cm knob ginger
6 stalks of lemongrass, roughly chopped
12 lime leaves
pinch of cinnamon
½ tsp turmeric
1 tsp salt
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp chilli oil
1 tbsp palm sugar

Don't over cook the paste. Basil leaves, fish sauce and lemon grass as mentioned above are all a must with the lemon grass and coconut milk in the curry.