Thai Green Curry

Okay, okay. I know it is a total cliché to say that jarred sauce/paste/spice mixes cannot hold a candle to what you make yourself with fresh ingredients, but in this case, it is totally true. Making this paste is barely more effort than opening a jar – in fact the trickiest part was sourcing the ingredients. I managed to get most of mine in the supermarket, and the tricky bits (fresh lemongrass, lime leaves) in the local Asian grocery shop.

Now, you may balk at the number of chillies in the recipe, but removing the majority of the seeds and the nature of the cooking means that the end product really isn’t spicy at all. In fact, if you wanted it to be spicier you could either leave more seeds in, or add another chilli.

This recipe is simple, quick and absolutely bursting with flavour. It has become a firm favourite in my household. You could easily double the quantities of paste ingredients and store the extra paste in the fridge for a week or so, making the next curry even easier to make!

Serves 2 easily, with leftovers

Ingredients for the paste

• 3 green chillies, 2 of them deseeded
• 1 strand of lemongrass, core only (remove all the outer leaves)
• 3 lime leaves
• 3 cloves of garlic
• 1 thumb of ginger
• 1 small shallot
• Stems from 1 small bunch of fresh coriander
• 1 tsp cumin seeds
• A dash of nam pla (fish sauce)
• 1 tbsp vegetable oil

Ingredients for the curry

• 1 tsp oil
• 2 garlic cloves, diced
• 2-3 chicken breasts, chopped
• 3/4 carton coconut cream
• 1/4 can coconut milk
• 1 tbsp soy sauce
• Boiled rice, to serve 

Method

Roughly chop the chillies, lemongrass, lime leaves, garlic, ginger, shallot and coriander stems.

Add all of them, plus the rest of the ingredients into a food processor and blend until you have a coarse paste.

Then, use in a curry the way you would a jarred curry paste. For me, I start by heating some oil in a pan and adding in 2 chopped garlic cloves and the curry paste I've just made. Cook for 5 minutes, stirring frequently.

Then, add in the chicken breasts and fry together until golden on the outside. At this point, pour in the coconut cream and coconut milk, and bring to a low simmer. Turn the heat down so it doesn't bubble too strongly, and stir through a dash of soy sauce, for seasoning. Allow to simmer for 15-20 minutes. Serve with rice.