After much craving, I made a really delish Thai green curry for lunch today. Although my favourite Asian cuisine is Japanese, Thai comes in at a close second. I am obsessed with the taste fish sauce brings to their dishes (much like Korean cuisine) and as a self-proclaimed chilli addict, there is nothing that feeds my soul (belly) like the kick of heat provided in their cuisine in general.
I used Bill Granger’s recipe for the green curry paste and it came out awesomely. By the way, Bill Granger is a seriously cool guy. Seriously cool like the cool light blue he rocks in his TV shows. Somehow I always look to his or Kylie Kwong’s recipes when I am in need of Asian food advice on the internet. You should check out their websites here and here respectively.
Here’s the recipe:
For the paste:
- 1 tsp coriander seeds
- 1 tsp cumin seeds
- 1 tsp white peppercorns
- 1 tsp ground tumeric
- 1 tsp sea salt
- 2 tbsp chopped coriander root and stems
- 6 cloves of garlic, chopped
- 3cm ginger root, cleaned and chopped
- 4 green chillies (deseed them if you want less heat)
- 1 small onion
- 1 stalk lemon grass
- 2 tbsp sunflower oil
For the dish:
- 500g chicken breasts, cut into chunks
- the green curry paste
- 150 ml water
- 350ml coconut milk
- 1 tbsp lime juice
- 3 strips lime peel
- 2 tbsp fish sauce
- veggies of choice – I used green and red pepper, string beans and mushrooms
Method:
Toast the cumin, coriander and white peppercorns in a dry pan for a few minutes until fragrant then prepare all the paste ingredients and pop into a blender and blend until it forms paste.
In a wok (or wide saucepan), add a little oil and fry your paste on a high heat for about 3 minutes. Turn the heat to medium and add in your water, coconut milk and lime peel and simmer for about 5 minutes. Toss in your chicken and simmer for another 5 minutes.
The chicken should be pretty much cooked in those 5 minutes so when that’s done, add in your veggies, fish sauce and lime juice and simmer for 5 more minutes and it’s all done!
Garnish with chopped spring onion, red chilli and coriander, and serve with steamed rice.
Please try it and let me know how it went guys!
PS: I forgot to say - a great way to get your steamed rice extra fragrant once it’s cooked is to add mint, lime zest and a squeeze of lime juice to it, and it will take plain old steamed rice to another level.
May
xo
