Easy Thai green curry
- Prepare
- less than 30 mins
- Cook
- 30 mins to 1 hour
- Serve
- Serves 4
Blend authentic ingredients into a quick homemade paste or use shop bought for a Thai green curry easy enough to pull together on weeknights. Jo uses chicken in her Thai curry, but prawns and extra firm tofu also work.
By Jo Pratt
Ingredients
- 1 tbsp vegetable oil
2 tbsp Thai green curry paste (according to taste)
- 1 tbsp soft dark brown sugar
- 1–2 thick stalks lemongrass, fat ends bashed with a rolling pin (optional)
- 750g/1½lb skinless, boneless chicken chicken breast, cut into chunks
- 6–8 makrut lime leaves, torn into pieces (if unavailable, use the grated zest of 1 lime)
- 400ml tin coconut milk
- good shake of Thai fish sauce or light soy sauce
- large handful of coriander, roughly chopped
- ½–1 lime, juice only
Method
Heat the oil in a wok or large frying pan. Add the green curry paste and sugar and cook over a fairly high heat for about a minute, stirring with the lemongrass, if using.
Reduce the heat slightly and 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 thickened 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 also taste the true flavours of the curry paste ingredients when it's slightly cooler. Serve with lots of fragrant Thai jasmine rice.
Recipe tips
Buy the best quality Thai paste you can as it will make a big difference to how the finished curry tastes. Follow the link in the ingredients if you want to make your own.
Chicken thighs work just as well as chicken breast, so pick whichever you prefer.
When shopping for coconut milk, a rich full-fat version will give you a lovely creamy curry, but reduced-fat coconut milk cuts the total calories significantly and still tastes great. Don't worry if your coconut milk has separated in the tin, it's completely natural and a quick stir will bring it back together.
When your curry is cooked, if you think it is too spicy, add a little more sugar; if it isn't spicy enough, fry a little more curry paste in some oil for a minute or two and stir into the sauce. This is particularly useful if you are using shop bought curry paste, as they do vary considerably in spiciness.
Jasmine rice is an aromatic long-grain rice favoured in Thai and Vietnamese cooking. It’s also known as fragrant rice and is quite similar to Indian basmati, but is slightly stickier.
