Thai Green Curry Paste Recipe

Food & Drink, Events and Entertainment
1
For anyone who is interested, here is my recipe. I cooked on a yacht in a Andaman Isles and made this paste once a week in copious quantities to feed hungry foreigners who couldn't get enough of it. We usually served it with freshly filleted fish. The recipe came from a Thai woman called Ping Ping...I 'Westernised' by measurement only. This recipe makes enough paste for 2 hungry people for a dinner feast. I recommend making 10 x the recipe and then divide paste into 'lozenges/portions', wrap in cling film and freeze. You can go old school and bang in a large, granite pestle & mortar or use a stick blender or food processor that can blend to a fine paste. The paste resembles very fine, very damp lawn clippings and although shrimp paste stinks...it makes it authentic and tasty. If you can't get fresh kaffir lime leaves you can use dried or more lime zest. Thai markets sell a lot of fresh ingredients these days and you can freeze lime leaves, lemon grass and galangal if you need to.

Thai Green Curry Paste

1 t coriander seeds, toasted


1 t cumin seeds, toasted


2 T fresh coriander leaf juice (blitzed with a bit of water then sieved)


1 medium-sized green chilli, diced (seeds + albumen makes paste hotter)

3 birds eye green chillies, diced
 (seeds + albumen makes paste hotter)

1 thumb-sized piece of galangal, peeled and diced


1 lemon grass, peeled and diced
 (dried stuff is useless, use fresh)

1 clove garlic, diced


1 small shallot, diced


1 t shrimp paste


1 lime, zest
 only (keep juice and squeeze over finished curry)

1 t salt

1 t white pepper

1 t star anise powder (or put in 2 whole stars, break into petals)

1 t cinnamon (or put in thumb sized whole cinnamon quill)

Bang the whole list of ingredients in pestle & mortar that is at least 7" across or blitz the above and then move onto stage 2.

Finishing the Curry:

Start cooking rice/noodles of your choice in a separate pan

2 chicken breasts (prawns or fish or pheasant/quail)--meat cut into strips

2-4 tablespoons of your green curry paste
 or all of it

1 t sugar


3 t fish sauce


4 kaffir lime leaves (tear leaves up and remove stalks)

1 can of tinned coconut milk (or use the cream/solid)

20g Thai basil or fresh tarragon


Chicken stock to loosen to the sauce or soupy-texture you want

Veggies of your choice: mange tout, baby corn, mushrooms etc

Fresh coriander to garnish

Lime juice to garnish

More lime zest to garnish

Cooking the Curry

1 Heat wok (or large frying pan) without oil

2 Spin a mixture of veg oil and sesame oil onto hot wok

3 Lay in the chicken in a clockwise formation, along first peice to caramelise and seal then starting turning other pieces

**Note: chicken pieces that tear from the sides of the pan means the chicken hasn't carmelised enough, be patient, carmelisation adds flavour and seals in juices...but you can always deglaze the pan later until you get the hang of it

4 Once chicken is cooked you need to 'dry fry' your paste--it sweetens and cooks it out--for 1-2minutes

5 Throw in the remaining ingredients and do not over cook the veg, keep them colourful and 'al dente'

6 Spoon into bowls and garnish with coriander leaves and squeeze of lime

'Chilli in Oil' for drizzling on top as a final, wow factor garnish:

5 large red chillies fried lightly in sesame/veg oil mix, fry until tender and set aside in a small serving dish

'Garlic in Oil' for drizzling on top as a final, wow factor garnish:

5 gloves of diced garlic fried in sesame/veg oil mix, fry until golden and set aside in a small serving dish

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Wow, I thought I had a good recipe for fresh thai green curry, but this looks fantastic - thank you for sharing!!

3
Thanks very much, what a useful post

4
I'm going to give this a go.

5
Wonderful!! Can't wait to try it!

6
If you use chicken instead of fish I'm very willing to give my opinion for you

7
What is new/different about mine/Ping Ping's?

8
I lived in Northern Thailand for a short while and most people there just bought the curry paste from the local market by weight. I usually buy it here in those large plastic pots. It keeps very well.

I did a few days' cooking clases while there and one trick was to take a tin of coconut milk and leave it still overnight. The thick creamy stuff floats to the top. Then spoon this (about a third to half a tin) in your wok on as high a heat as possible, which separates out the coconut oil.

No other oil needed. Add the curry paste (not spread over the meat as above) and fry it until your eyes are running and the entire kitchen smells of spices and coconut. Then add the rest of the stuff, using palm sugar to take the edge off if it's too hot.