After attempting tomyum soup, I attempted another Thai dish: green curry chicken. There is lots of instant green curry paste sold commercially. I happen to have most of the ingredients available except coriander leaves and green chilli so I decided to make it from scratch.
I was planning to cook green curry paste end of the week but the coriander leaves would not be able to keep that long so I made the fresh ingredients part of the curry paste and freeze it. Then I added belacan (fermented shrimp paste) and the toasted spices in during the cooking process.
I bought 3 green chilli and left it at room temperature (31C). The following day, 2 green chilli had started turning orange. So I ended up substituting it with chilli padi (small chilli).
Green Curry Paste
Ingredients
(a) Spices
1 tsp coriander
1 tsp cumin
(b) Pantry ingredient
1 tsp belacan (fermented shrimp paste)
(c) Fresh ingredients
3 shallots
1 tbs galangal
3 green chilis
2 lemon grass
1 bunch coriander
1 bunch thai basil
1 bunch chilli leaf
1 kaffir lime peel
Method
1. Toast coriander, cumin and pepper on pan until fragrant or slightly browned and leave to cool. Mill all ingredients to powder.
2. Toast (b) on pan and leave aside to cool.
3. Blend (c) into paste and add in powdered form of (a) and (b) into blender to mix into paste.
Green Curry Chicken
Ingredients
Cooking oil
200ml coconut cream
500g chicken (bone in)
1 red chilli
9 kaffir lime leaves
Some Thai Basil
Salt to taste
Method
1. Fry green curry paste
2. Add in kaffir lime leaves, chicken, red chilli and coconut cream.
3. Cook it for 20 minutes then add salt to taste.
4. Stir in Thai Basil before serving.
How was it?
It tasted okay. I was a bit worried after tasting the ‘fresh ingredients’or green paste from the green curry paste as it was slightly spicy and bitter. I think the coconut milk helps to sweeten it and I did not have to add extra sugar into it. It was not spicy. There was a balance between the fragrance from the spices & aromatics (lemon grass, thai basil, coriander, kaffir lime), sourness, saltiness and sweetness.
Next time I can try adding some vegetables into it. Maybe some Thai green egg plant?