THAI GREEN CHICKEN CURRY

Introduction & method

Until 20-30 years ago, Thai cuisine was almost unknown in the UK. Now, it's everywhere, and Thai green chicken curry is especially popular.

If you are using shop-bought Thai green curry paste, you can skip this step. But if you don't like over-salted and over-chillied sauce, you can make your own.

Thai green curry paste

The quantity of chillies to use depends entirely on you own personal taste. I personally don't enjoy food that makes me scream, howl, break out in a sweat and feel like I'm dying, so I only use one and a half of the little blighters.

Pound the cumin, pepper and coriander seeds to a powder in a spice mill or mortar and pestle. Peel the onion, garlic and ginger. Chop all the vegetables and place in a blender (purists would say you should only use a mortar and pestle for this, and you can if you want. Me, I want my dinner today) and whizz to a smooth paste with the powdered seeds, oil and fish sauce.

You will end up with more curry paste than you need, but the remainder will keep in a jar in the fridge for 2-3 weeks.

Thai green chicken curry

You can use any protein you like for this: chicken, pork, seafood, even tofu.

Chop your chicken (or other protein) into cubes. Pour the coconut milk into a saucepan and bring it to the boil. Add the chicken stock and two tablespoons of Thai green curry paste and cook for a few minutes. Add the chicken breast and cook for 10 minutes. Chop the red bell pepper into small pieces, about 1cm (half an inch) square and add it to the pan. Finely chop the basil and lime leaves and add them to the curry (lime leaves can be a bit tough to cut, but if you roll them up into a cylinder, it's easy to slice them into thin strips). Let it all cook for a few more minutes.

Serve with steamed jasmine rice. Delicious!

The video above is from the Keef Cooks YouTube channel. Click here to see the video recipe of Thai Green Chicken Curry on YouTube.

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Ingredients & Info

CURRY PASTE
•  10 coriander (cilantro) stems or roots
•  10 lime leaves
•  1 medium onion
•  2 cloves garlic, crushed
•  5 cms fresh ginger
•  2 stems lemon grass
•  2-6 green chillies
•  1 tsp cumin seeds
•  1 tsp black peppercorns
•  2 tsp coriander (cilantro) seeds
•  3 tbsp olive oil
•  2 tsp fish sauce
•   CURRY
•  1 chicken breast
•  5 lime leaves
•  1 handful basil leaves
•  1 red bell pepper
•  100 ml chicken stock
•  2 tbsp Thai green curry paste
•  200 ml coconut milk
•  1 tsp palm sugar or jaggery
•  1 tsp fish sauce

Serves 2
Prep time: 20 minutes.
Cooking time: 30 minutes.
Total time: 50 minutes.

Watch the video on YouTube