How to Make Thai Green Curry

Thai Green Curry (Gaeng Kieow Waan) is perhaps the most popular of all Thai dishes with foreigners, certainly after sixteen years living in Thailand it is still one of my favorites. Indeed at various times Thai Green Curry has been voted the number one fast food in the United Kingdom. Actually, to refer to Thai Green Curry a fast food is in fact rather misleading as any meal made from fresh, healthy ingredients such as go into a Thai Green Curry is a long way removed from the junk foods that I would consider as fast foods - have you tried it?

Traditionally, green curry is a pale, creamy green curry and contains chicken, lemongrass, coriander, lime and eggplant. This combination makes for a wonderful fusion of flavours, textures and colours.

Here I describe, with the help of my wife, the ingredients and how to cook the meal: in fact, a recipe for Thai Green Curry.

_{Photo by Takeaway.}

With Thai food growing in popularity it is now relatively easy to find the basic ingredients for any Thai dish in most western countries. When I first took my wife (she's from Bangkok) into a supermarket in Britain she was quite shocked (and very pleased) to find Thai staples such as Fish Sauce, Coconut Milk, Chilies, Lemongrass and Jasmine Rice all stocked.

So, get down to the shops and buy the following to make your own delicious Thai Green Curry; even I can do it and I once cooked a pie in its plastic wrapper!

• 1-2 tablespoons of vegetable oil
• 1 tablespoon of soft dark brown sugar
• 2 lemongrass stalks
• 500g/1lb boneless chicken
• 6-8 kaffir lime leaves
• 1 eggplant
• 400ml/14fl oz coconut milk
• Thai fish sauce (as much as you need to make a sensible amount of sauce)
• Coriander
• 0.5-1 lime
• 2 tablespoons of green curry paste - for those that are concerned about not getting an authentic taste, don't worry, most Thais buy theirs from the market or a shop!

How are you going to chop all the Thai Green Curry ingredients?

One problem about Thai cooking, and Asian cuisine in general, is the amount of preparation needed before cooking, particularly chopping. I have always found it a good idea to chop everything up before starting any cooking; as I am loath to cook, the task of chopping is the one which my wife has allotted to me, so now I am something of an expert.

After chopping each set of ingredients (meat, spices etc) I put each into its own small bowl and they can be put into the wok easily when it is time for each one to join the cooking process.

In the past I have been tempted to chop the ingredients as I need them. This has resulted in some ingredients being in the wok far too long and ruining the meal. Don't be lazy, do all your chopping first!

Ok, time to start cooking the food, it's easy.

Heat the oil in a wok or large frying pan and then add the green curry paste as well as the sugar while cooking over a fairly high heat for about a minute, stirring with the lemongrass, if using.

Reduce the heat slightly and then stir in the chicken pieces and lime leaves or zest until coated in the paste.

Add the coconut milk, fish sauce or soy sauce and bring to a simmer, cooking for 25-30 minutes until the sauce begins to thicken slightly.

Stir in the coriander and lime juice.Check for seasoning, adding more fish sauce or soy sauce if needed.The curry is now best left to sit for a few minutes so the sauce becomes creamier; you will taste the true flavours of the curry paste ingredients when it's slightly cooler.

Serve the finished meal with lots of fragrant Thai jasmine rice (steamed for best texture and flavour).

It's as simple as that!

Although Thai green curry usually comes with chicken it is a dish that lends itself to adaptation. In Thailand green curry often comes with pork or shrimp as a substitute and the meat can be replaced completely with vegetables or tofu for vegetarians.

Green curry sauce is often used to flavor fried rice too, something that is cropping up on many menus in Thailand these days, and it is frequently used in fusion cooking too with green curry spaghetti becoming a popular dish.

The following feeds constantly update and often have unusual suggestions for adaptations to Thai green curry as well as more standard recipes.

If the recipe is not simple enough for you then here is a video to watch. It is a slightly different recipe but close enough.

This famous Thai dish is really easy to cook, even I have managed it on one occasion when my wife insisted that I try it. However, if you feel you need a little more tuition these video clips all provide demonstrations on cooking the meal and will provide you with some ideas on how the dish can vary a little - like most dishes you do not need to stick exactly to the recipe.

The flavors of Thai food lend themselves perfectly to being accompanied by cold beer (I am not making this up). Typically, in Thailand, people drink locally produced Thai lager with Thai Green Curry.

In Thailand Singha Beer is the biggest selling lager and most commonly consumed with food. However, there are other Thai beers including Beer Chang and Leo Beer. Singha and Chang beers are now becoming internationally-known brands but if you can't obtain these your local lager will be a perfectly good substitute.