This is the recipe for the very popular Thai green curry that was on our menu at the restaurant. Feel free to substitute ingredients where necessary – we don’t want you popping out to the shops unless for necessities during lockdown! For vegetarian or vegan versions, just add more vegetables and use salt instead of fish sauce.
Serves 4-6 people
Ingredients:
40ml green curry paste (50ml if you prefer extra heat)
1 tin coconut cream
2 tins coconut milk
2 stalks lemongrass – bashed and cut into a couple pieces
1 thumb ginger – peeled and cut roughly
1 pkt palm sugar – cut up 50g
2 limes – juiced
Fish sauce – to taste (salt can be used if you don’t have fish sauce)
6 skinless chicken breast fillets – cut into cubes
100g shitake mushrooms – cut into quarters
1 tin water chestnuts – cut in halves
300g tenderstem broccoli – cut in 3 pieces
1 pkt bean sprouts
1 tub fresh coriander
2 cups jasmine rice
THE METHOD:
- THE CURRY SAUCE
- Put the coconut cream in your sauce pot and let it cook on high. This will “crack” the coconut cream, which is a traditional Thai method in making this sauce. (What is does is boil the cream to the point it splits and becomes very oily)
- While doing this stir at regular intervals with a wooden spoon, scraping the bottom of the pot to make sure it does not burn, and few brown pieces are expected.
- Now normal oil can be used if you don’t have coconut cream, but these small steps are going to make the difference and result in a restaurant grade dish.
- Once the cream is split and oily you add the curry paste and fry it in the oil, you want to keep stirring and scraping with the wooden spoon now to ensure it doesn’t burn. You want to fry it out well, release all those flavours and aromatics in the paste.
- Next add the coconut milk, lemongrass, ginger and return to the boil. Once boiling reduce the heat to a medium simmer and cook for about 30 minutes.
- The next step is to start adjusting your sauce balance with sweet, sour and salt.
- Cut up about 50g of the palm sugar, add half the lime juice, and a few good dashes of the fish sauce, cook for a minute and then taste.
- You will rely on your palate now to decide if you want for palm sugar, lime juice and fish sauce.
- Once the sauce is balanced strain it through a fine strainer and put on the side.
- THE RICE
- Place the rice in a pot with a 1:2 ratio to water. So 2 cups of rice and 4 cups of water.
- Bring the rice to the boil while stirring every now and then, place a lid on the pot and reduce the heat to its lowest. Cook for about 15min like this
- Check if all the water in the pot is gone then turn off the heat and keep the lid on to steam the rice for a further 5min, then tip into a colander and rinse with cold water, put into a microwave dish to heat when serving.
- THE FINISH
- Add a bit of oil and start with the chicken breasts and some salt to season, cooking them to golden brown on the outside, then add the broccoli and cook further for a couple of minutes, then add the mushrooms and chestnuts last, still cooking for another few minutes.
- Once the ingredients are half cooked pour the curry sauce into the pot and bring to a good simmer for 5min, and you are done.
- Garnish with bean sprouts and fresh coriander.
- THE WINE
- Neethlingshof Gewurztraminer
