Easy Thai chicken curry
This Thai Green Chicken Curry recipe is from my bestselling cookbook, Everyday Delicious. You’ll impress the pants off yourself (and your diners) with this knockout – and I’ve created the recipe using ingredients that are easy to find. The main thing with Thai food is getting a nice balance of hot (chillies), salty (fish sauce), sweet (sugar) and sour (lime juice). I’ve put measurements in there for those things to use as a guide, but it’s up to you how much of each you put in; have a play until you’re happy with the way it tastes because there are no hard and fast rules. Also, I never use lite coconut cream, it makes the curry thin and sad – I use Kara or Ayam coconut cream.
Serves 4
Prep time – 20 minutes
Cooking time – 30 minutes
Ingredients
Curry paste
2 tbsp Thai green curry paste
3 cloves garlic
2 shallots (or ½ a large onion), roughly chopped
1 bunch fresh coriander (including stalks and roots), washed
1 tbsp lemongrass paste (optional)
3 tsp ground cumin
3 big green chillies*
Curry
1 tbsp peanut oil (or grape seed)
800g boneless chicken thighs (free-range is good)
400ml coconut cream (not light)
500ml chicken stock (reduced salt – choose a gluten-free brand if necessary)
1 kaffir lime leaf (or use the zest of 2 limes)
Vegetables of your choice – green beans, cherry tomatoes, snow peas, baby corn, tinned bamboo, spinach, mushrooms
1 tbsp palm or brown sugar
1 tbsp lime juice
1 tbsp fish sauce
Big handful basil leaves (Thai or regular)
Cooked rice, to serve
Coriander leaves, chopped peanuts, chopped red or green chillies, to garnish
Method
In a processor, mortar & pestle or stick wand blender, mix the curry paste, coriander, garlic, shallots, lemongrass, cumin and chillies with ½ cup of the coconut cream to make smooth thick paste. If you don’t have a mortar & pestle or food processor, just to chop/mince the ingredients until as ‘mushy’ as possible.
Heat the oil a large frying pan over medium heat. Add the curry paste mixture and cook for 4-5 minutes to release the aromas, stirring continuously (you should see little beads of oil come to the top by the end). Add stock, kaffir lime leaf or zest, the remaining coconut cream and simmer gently for around 10 minutes. Add the chicken and simmer for another 15 minutes until just cooked through and the sauce has reduced and thickened.
Add the vegetables and simmer for a few more minutes until just tender. Add the brown sugar, lime juice and fish sauce. Stir to combine and taste it – then, add more sour, sweet or salty to taste. If you like it hot, you can throw in some chilli flakes or chopped red chillies. Lastly stir through the basil leaves.
Serve with rice and pile up with loads of coriander, peanuts and chillies.
Tips
- Big green chillies are usually milder than red chillies. Watch out for small red chillies – they can really pack a wallop and may blow your head off. If you hate spicy food, just use one green chilli (and you can scrape out the seeds/membrane out as well for less heat).
- If you can find lemongrass sticks, finely mince one instead of using paste.
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