Thai Green Curry

This is the boy’s favourite – although sometimes when it's very hot we spend  ages in a restaurant as he has to eat it very slowly. We once had to ask for an extra portion of rice, but never has he not eaten all of it. Not much else shuts him up so effectively. You have to make the paste first so I suggest this is a weekend dish when you have time on your hands.  Some of the measurements are American (cups) but these are so easy once you have a set of measures.

Green Curry Paste

1 tbsp coriander seed

1 tbsp cumin seed

5 black peppercorns
3 stalks lemongrass

½ cup chopped coriander, roots and all

1 tbsp fresh galangal or ginger if you can’t find it

1 tsp grated lime peel

4 garlic cloves, chopped

1 shallot, chopped

½ cup Thai chillies, chopped

1 tsp salt

1 tsp Nam Pla (fish sauce)

Grating lime peel is really easy if you have a zester. If you can’t see Thai chillies where you shop, look for the small birds eye chillies. This paste uses a lot. Reduce to suit your threshold, but don’t take out too many if you want it to remain authentic. Trim the green grassy bit of the lemongrass, so you end up with about 5-6cm of bulbous stalk. Cut off the hard bit at the white (root) end.

Roast the coriander and cumin seed in a dry frying pan. If the boy was home I would do as you’re meant to do and bash all the ingredients together (adding each, one by one), in a pestle & mortar. As I’m on my own, I’m putting them in the mini processor. Either way, you end up with Green Curry Paste.

Thai Green Curry

6 boneless chicken thighs, cubed

1 can coconut milk

¼ to ½ cup Green Curry Paste, depending on your taste for heat

1 small pack of baby sweet corn (about 10)

½ cup Thai Pea Aubergine*

1 tbsp brown sugar (ideally palm sugar)

½ tsp salt

!/2 cup Thai Basil leaves (or regular basil)

¼ lime squeezed.

I can’t find pea aubergines without travelling to Chinatown so I’m just using green beans chopped into 1 cm pieces. You could also use regular aubergine diced, though I think the texture is nothing like the crunch of pea aubergines. I’m not convinced the boy likes pea aubergines anyway; they are quite bitter.

So, assume you need about ½ cup of the curry paste though add a bit more if you like it hot. The boy is cautious of heat but as this is tempered by coconut, and served with lots of jasmine rice, you can go for it.

You should have 400g or so of meat. Thai diners vastly prefer thigh meat to breast due to the flavour, but many western restaurants use breast so you must make your own mind up – especially if you have to skin and fillet your thighs.

Warm the curry paste in a wok, for a few minutes. The boy comes in and can smell what he’s sure is Green Curry. (Well done him to have missed out on all the grinding!). “Mister Dudwey!!” he shouts, doing his best impression of Ting Tong Macadangdang from Little Britain.  Add the chicken, stirring to coat, and cook for a few minutes.

Increase the heat and add the pea aubergines (or substitutes) and any other veg, along with all the other ingredients.

Cook for 10 minutes or so. Taste to adjust for anything, including the green curry paste if it needs it.

Serve with Jasmine rice – easy if you have a rice cooker.  I’ve never seen Green Curry served with anything but rice, but we’re having a tablespoon of lime pickle served on top of some of the rice – just to cut through the creaminess of the coconut.

The boy is in heaven – as you hoped. We’re having this in wide bowls with loads of torn coriander as garnish. We’re watching TV together which is a rare pleasure. This is a dish for spoons and slurping.