Green curry with coconut milk is one of my favorite winter dishes - sweet, warm, and rich. But making good curry seems a daunting prospect for a weekday evening, especially in the middle of the holiday season.
So when a Thai friend gave me this easy recipe I was delighted. This is a dish you can put on the table in just about half an hour, thanks to a good brand of green curry paste, and it turns out a silky smooth curry sauce with tender chicken, green zucchini, and glowing heat to warm you through.
For the curry paste I use the Mae Sri brand, found in a little green can at your local Asian grocery. Good quality coconut milk is important, too; I use Chaokoh.
Also, this recipe is easily adaptable to vegetarians - just use the zucchini and leave out the meat and fish, or add some fried tofu squares at the end.
Thai Green Curry
serves 4
2 medium zucchini
1 pound boneless chicken breast or thighs
1 package frozen cuttlefish balls (optional)
Oil
1 can Mae Sri green curry paste
2 cans good quality coconut milk
Fish sauce
Sugar
Soy sauce
Chop the zucchini into large half moons and set them aside. Cut the chicken into even, bite-sized chunks and set aside. Run warm water over the package of fish balls to soften them.
Open the cans of coconut milk and set them to the side. Heat a little oil in a large Dutch oven or heavy saucepan, and add the curry paste. (If you have a low tolerance for heat, use just half the can.) Fry it, stirring a little. This will be quite pungent, so turn on the fan! Scoop the thickened coconut solids out of one can of coconut milk, leaving the watery milk below. Fry this for a few moments with the curry paste too, until the oil starts to separate out. Add the chicken pieces and fry them a bit with this.
Add the rest of the coconut milk plus a little water, if the liquid does not cover the chicken. Add the fish balls, if you're using them. Reduce the heat to medium low and simmer until the chicken is cooked through and the fish balls are warm - about 6 to 10 minutes.
When the chicken is done, add the zucchini and simmer just until they're tender. Taste and adjust seasonings with fish sauce, sugar, and soy sauce until it is balanced enough for your tastes. Serve with rice or rice noodles.
This keeps well, freezes well, and does great made the night before and heated up the next day.
think i could swap red curry and it would be just as yummy? i'm having serious cravings for thai food...
I took a cooking class in Thailand recently and the technique for the cooking was slightly different...
1. Pour coconut cream into large pan. Place over medium heat and continue to stir until the coconut cream comes to a boil. Stop stirring for at least 20 seconds until oil separates. (But because it's all white you won't be able to see the oil)
2. Stir in green curry paste until it is throughly blended. Stop stirring and wait until a film of green oil appears on the surface.
Then you add the rest of the ingredients as described in the post.
The chef.instructor seemed pretty insistent that this was *the* way to do curry. So I'm just sharing FWIW...
Alexia - yes you can do with red curry paste. I also follow it the way the JenPDX listed.
For red curry, I use Thai Kitchen.
skip the sugar - you don't need it
Don't forgot the fish oil!
Add whatever veggies/tofu you like
Fresh basil chopped up into small pieces will make this dish shine.
Cook your rice after you have finished adding all ingredients to the curry. By the time the rice is cooked the curry will be ready.
Can i use lamb instead of Chicken?
There are multiple ways to make curry in Thailand- the method that JenPDX describes is the one you will most often see in Thai cookbooks as most cookbooks are influenced by the Central Thai cooking style (i.e. Bangkok); but for instance in the South, land of the coconut and the best seafood in Thailand, the curry paste is added directly the the just boiling coconut milk stirred and then the meat and vegetables are added and cooked through and fresh herbs added just before the heat is turned off. Therefore many cooks do not do the step of 'cracking the coconut milk' (boiling the milk until the oil separates out, which for Western tastes can result in a curry that is too oily and thick). So you can definitely vary these recipes as that is what any good Thai cook would do, using green or red curry paste, and using lamb instead of chicken etc. as Samina asks. You can buy the best curry pastes imported from Thailand here: Curry Paste and read a lot more about the different curries of Thailand here: What is Thai Curry?. Enjoy!!
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