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Dr F33lG00d's Authentic Thai Green Curry Recipe
Hi all,
I've been asked by a couple of members for my Thai Curry recipes - Green, Red, Massaman,Penang and a couple of soups, Tom Yum and Tom Ka.
To give you a little background, I learnt to cook Thai through some good friends I met whilst they were studying in Portsmouth and I helped my mate run his Thai Cafe. I expanded my knowledge during a trip to Thailand in 2009, visiting Bangkok, the islands (Krabi, Koh PhiPhi) and up to Chang Mai.
The first thing you need to know about Thai food is that each recipe is different - families cook their own way and that knowledge is shared. Some cook quickly, on the hob, others take their time and allow things to heat for hours in the oven... Ingredients vary, depending on what's in season and available, but the important thing is freshness.
We're lucky in the UK in that veg, meat, etc is relatively inexpensive. I cooked a green curry in Vancouver and the chicken thighs cost 5 times what the do here! I also couldn't find palm sugar, despite the huge Asian population there!
I have a local Thai food market that sells popular Asian brands of cupboard essentials, Curry Paste, Soup bases, palm sugar and Nam Pla (fish sauce) - which is used in place of salt. If you don't have an Asian food store nearby, your local Asda should have most of what you need in the World Foods section (the aisle with the large sacks of chapati flour and Polish imports).
Avoid the regular Curry/Pasta/Texican section as the ingredients will be a lot dearer. To give you an idea of the difference, the tins of Coconut Milk shown below are 89p, from Asda's World Foods aisle, the Kingfisher brand of coconut milk in the regular Curry/Pasta/Texican is £1.47 a can!
In the fruit & veg section at Asda, you can pick up a Thai curry pack, which includes Galangal (looks like ginger), a couple of chillis, garlic, tiny shallots (I don't bother with them) and lemongrass.
You'll notice I wash everything - this is due to hearing some horror stories, both in the UK and Thailand... I rinse the tops of tins too - call it OCD, but since my kids eat my cooking too, I'd rather be safe than sorry...
Here's my recipe for Gaeng Keowan (Lit. Green Curry).
The following amounts comfortably serve 4, (but my wife and I love it = 2 bat ******* portions, with a portion left over!)
You can change the recipe about, mix up the veg, leave bits out or add more - if something's essential or there's a method that doesn't make sense, I'll try to explain why I do it that way.
I use chicken thigh fillets as I find the meat stays moist when cooking in the oven. You can substitute breast meat, particularly if you only use the hob, but I'd sizzle and seal the meat first. Or replace the chicken for turkey (leaner alternative), beef or pork (again, seal or it'll be very dry), or king prawns (I'd throw them in for the last 5 minutes of cooking, defrosted, of course) or leave the meat out all together...
You will need:
All of this
These are fine to stay in the fridge/cupboard for next time
3 cans of Coconut Milk (avoid the light stuff, it's too watery! Buy an extra can if you want Coconut Rice)
5-600g Boneless Chicken Thighs (or similar amount of other meat)
2 med Onions
2 Green Peppers
3-5 Birdseye Chillis (get red ones, you'll find out why!)
A handful of Kaffir Lime Leaves
A sprinkle of Thai Basil (dried or fresh, either is fine)
Small lump of Galangal, cut into slices (about the size of a 10p piece)
2 cloves of Garlic
1 large tbsp green curry paste (or more/less depending on your tolerence)
2 tbsp Ground nut oil (or regular vegetable/sunflower oil)
2 tbsp Nam Pla (more/less to taste)
1 teasp Palm Sugar (or regular cane sugar, to taste)
(Optional)
Pack of Mange Tout & Baby Corn (or Asparagus, or other small, not too flavoursome veg)
120g Shi-take Mushrooms - washed thoroughly! (or regular button mushrooms will do)
Tin of Water Chestnuts (rinsed thoroughly and quartered)
Method:
In your biggest, oven-safe curry pot, on a medium hob, heat the oil and then add the curry paste:
Yes, it looks like baby poo!
Mix/stir and sizzle, making sure it doesn't burn. It will start to split, this is fine:
In the meantime, wash ALL the packaged ingredients under cold water, particularly the mushrooms, lemongrass, galangal and peppers...
Shake the cans of Coconut Milk well, then open, paying attention to the cream inside the lid:
Take the curry pot off the heat and pour in the 2 cans of Coconut Milk, making sure you scrape the cream off the lids and stir into the paste:
Mix well and the pierce the Birdseye chillis (carefully - you may want to wear disposable gloves!) and throw them in, making sure to note how many there are (you'll be removing them before serving):
Remove any loose leaves/strands from the lemongrass, then use the butt of your knife (not your best ceramic one!) to lightly bash and bruise the stalks. You want them to only just split, otherwise they'll disintegrate during cooking and you'll be fishing out dozens of inedible leaves. Add those and a few good Kaffir Lime Leaves to the pot:
Add a generous splash of Nam Pla (the fish sauce) - yes it reeks, it's vile, but it's an essential part of Thai cooking and the curry will suffer without it!
Discard any rubbish Lime Leaves
Peel and half your garlic cloves - removing the green core (this is what gives you "Garlic Breath") and finely chop and add to the pot:
Then you want add a few slices of Galangal - no need to peel, just make sure it's washed. Remember how many you add (same for chillis and Lime Leaves) as you'll fish them out before serving. Some recipes tell you to grate the Galangal and you can also find tubs of pre-grated (much like the Easy Ginger/Chilli/Garlic), if that's all that is available then fine, but I tend not to bother:
Let everything simmer, on med-low heat and add a scattering of Thai Basil:
Add a quarter teaspoon of palm sugar and stir...
After 5-10 minutes (depending on how long your hob takes to get up to temp), give the Milk a little taste:
Add more Nam Pla, or a half-teaspoon of palm sugar, whatever you think is needed. Go careful, it's easy to over-season. You will also be tasting once the meat has cooked and again after the veg...
Needs more sweet!
Whilst that's bubbling away, put on the lid and prep your meat (fnar-fnar!). If using thigh fillets, you want to trim any tough bits and check for bone shards. Don't be tempted to trim all the fat, this is essential for the flavour! Cut into reasonable pieces, spoon-sized, but be aware that most of the thighs will dissolve. If you're cooking for a few, breast is easier as you can better portion-control:
(Now is also a good time to turn the oven on - you want it at 150C (Fan Oven) or about Gas Mark 4...)
Stir in the meat, making sure it's all covered with the milk (pour in more if needed) and replace the lid. Allow to simmer (keep checking the hob temperature, you don't want it to burn) - a gentle bubble is fine:
Whilst that's simmering, prep your veg:
Halve the corn, or it will take forever to soften!
You want spoon-sized veggies, it's a curry, after all!
After rinsing, quarter the water chestnuts, not only will they go further, someone will end up scalding their mouth, as they retain heat like a wossname!
Add the harder veg first, whilst they're simmering, prepare the Mange-Tout and Shi-take Mushrooms:
Remove any manky ones and slice the Mange Tout, remove any soggy bits or nasty bits of mushroom and slice evenly:
Simmering away nicely!
Whilst that's bubbling away happily, you want to clear your sides and load the dishwasher/sink...
Before you put the pot in the oven, double check you have enough Coconut Milk covering everything (add more if needed, but don't be tempted to add more curry paste!) Be sure to leave a couple of tbsps of milk in the tin!
Your kitchen should now look like this:
You can let this cook all day (if all day, Gas Mark 3 / 140C Fan is fine, just whack the heat up 20 mins before serving!) , an hour or just 20 minutes - all you're doing is allowing the meat to soak up flavours and the veg to soften. If it's less than 30 minutes, I'd leave it on the hob to simmer.
Once you're nearly ready to serve, cook your rice. If you feel like it, replace half the water with coconut milk and a half-teasp of palm sugar - it's seriously tasty!
Once the rice is done, carefully remove the curry pot from the oven and remove the lid - bet you can't stop yourself from salivating!
It'll look like this:
If you're worried about fat, feel free to spoon this off, but I assure you, even though this is a pretty fatty dish, it is still very healthy!
Give it a stir and start to carefully remove the chillis, lemongrass, lime leaves and galangal (this is why it's important to remember how many you added!)
A slatted spoodle is handy for this!
"I know what you're thinking; did he use 3 Birdseye Chillis, or 4?"
Dish up the rice and make a well for the curry:
The slatted spoon makes dishing up easier - you want loads of the veg and a bit of meat!
Use a ladle for the sauce, the more the merrier - drown that rice!
:
Drizzle some of the remaining Coconut Milk over the whole dish, not essential but looks pretty!
Should end up like:
Start with a tbsp of paste to 2 cans of coconut milk (my recipe above has 1 tbsp per can, but I like the depth and fire!) and keep tasting as you're cooking - Some basic principles are:
Not enough depth = a touch more paste
Too spicy = add more milk
Not spicy enough = pierce and add another chilli
Too sweet = add a splash of fish sauce
Too salty = add a squeeze of lime
When adjusting for flavour, I'd use teaspoon amounts and stir well, allow to come back to the simmer then check again - you're cooking to your taste, after all, not the tastebuds of the recipe owner!
Ultimately, experiment and enjoy!
Bon Appetit!
Hi all,
I've been asked by a couple of members for my Thai Curry recipes - Green, Red, Massaman,Penang and a couple of soups, Tom Yum and Tom Ka.
To give you a little background, I learnt to cook Thai through some good friends I met whilst they were studying in Portsmouth and I helped my mate run his Thai Cafe. I expanded my knowledge during a trip to Thailand in 2009, visiting Bangkok, the islands (Krabi, Koh PhiPhi) and up to Chang Mai.
The first thing you need to know about Thai food is that each recipe is different - families cook their own way and that knowledge is shared. Some cook quickly, on the hob, others take their time and allow things to heat for hours in the oven... Ingredients vary, depending on what's in season and available, but the important thing is freshness.
We're lucky in the UK in that veg, meat, etc is relatively inexpensive. I cooked a green curry in Vancouver and the chicken thighs cost 5 times what the do here! I also couldn't find palm sugar, despite the huge Asian population there!
I have a local Thai food market that sells popular Asian brands of cupboard essentials, Curry Paste, Soup bases, palm sugar and Nam Pla (fish sauce) - which is used in place of salt. If you don't have an Asian food store nearby, your local Asda should have most of what you need in the World Foods section (the aisle with the large sacks of chapati flour and Polish imports).
Avoid the regular Curry/Pasta/Texican section as the ingredients will be a lot dearer. To give you an idea of the difference, the tins of Coconut Milk shown below are 89p, from Asda's World Foods aisle, the Kingfisher brand of coconut milk in the regular Curry/Pasta/Texican is £1.47 a can!
In the fruit & veg section at Asda, you can pick up a Thai curry pack, which includes Galangal (looks like ginger), a couple of chillis, garlic, tiny shallots (I don't bother with them) and lemongrass.
You'll notice I wash everything - this is due to hearing some horror stories, both in the UK and Thailand... I rinse the tops of tins too - call it OCD, but since my kids eat my cooking too, I'd rather be safe than sorry...
Here's my recipe for Gaeng Keowan (Lit. Green Curry).
The following amounts comfortably serve 4, (but my wife and I love it = 2 bat ******* portions, with a portion left over!)
You can change the recipe about, mix up the veg, leave bits out or add more - if something's essential or there's a method that doesn't make sense, I'll try to explain why I do it that way.
I use chicken thigh fillets as I find the meat stays moist when cooking in the oven. You can substitute breast meat, particularly if you only use the hob, but I'd sizzle and seal the meat first. Or replace the chicken for turkey (leaner alternative), beef or pork (again, seal or it'll be very dry), or king prawns (I'd throw them in for the last 5 minutes of cooking, defrosted, of course) or leave the meat out all together...
You will need:
All of this
These are fine to stay in the fridge/cupboard for next time
3 cans of Coconut Milk (avoid the light stuff, it's too watery! Buy an extra can if you want Coconut Rice)
5-600g Boneless Chicken Thighs (or similar amount of other meat)
2 med Onions
2 Green Peppers
3-5 Birdseye Chillis (get red ones, you'll find out why!)
A handful of Kaffir Lime Leaves
A sprinkle of Thai Basil (dried or fresh, either is fine)
Small lump of Galangal, cut into slices (about the size of a 10p piece)
2 cloves of Garlic
1 large tbsp green curry paste (or more/less depending on your tolerence)
2 tbsp Ground nut oil (or regular vegetable/sunflower oil)
2 tbsp Nam Pla (more/less to taste)
1 teasp Palm Sugar (or regular cane sugar, to taste)
(Optional)
Pack of Mange Tout & Baby Corn (or Asparagus, or other small, not too flavoursome veg)
120g Shi-take Mushrooms - washed thoroughly! (or regular button mushrooms will do)
Tin of Water Chestnuts (rinsed thoroughly and quartered)
Method:
In your biggest, oven-safe curry pot, on a medium hob, heat the oil and then add the curry paste:
Yes, it looks like baby poo!
Mix/stir and sizzle, making sure it doesn't burn. It will start to split, this is fine:
In the meantime, wash ALL the packaged ingredients under cold water, particularly the mushrooms, lemongrass, galangal and peppers...
Shake the cans of Coconut Milk well, then open, paying attention to the cream inside the lid:
Take the curry pot off the heat and pour in the 2 cans of Coconut Milk, making sure you scrape the cream off the lids and stir into the paste:
Mix well and the pierce the Birdseye chillis (carefully - you may want to wear disposable gloves!) and throw them in, making sure to note how many there are (you'll be removing them before serving):
Remove any loose leaves/strands from the lemongrass, then use the butt of your knife (not your best ceramic one!) to lightly bash and bruise the stalks. You want them to only just split, otherwise they'll disintegrate during cooking and you'll be fishing out dozens of inedible leaves. Add those and a few good Kaffir Lime Leaves to the pot:
Add a generous splash of Nam Pla (the fish sauce) - yes it reeks, it's vile, but it's an essential part of Thai cooking and the curry will suffer without it!
Discard any rubbish Lime Leaves
Peel and half your garlic cloves - removing the green core (this is what gives you "Garlic Breath") and finely chop and add to the pot:
Then you want add a few slices of Galangal - no need to peel, just make sure it's washed. Remember how many you add (same for chillis and Lime Leaves) as you'll fish them out before serving. Some recipes tell you to grate the Galangal and you can also find tubs of pre-grated (much like the Easy Ginger/Chilli/Garlic), if that's all that is available then fine, but I tend not to bother:
Let everything simmer, on med-low heat and add a scattering of Thai Basil:
Add a quarter teaspoon of palm sugar and stir...
After 5-10 minutes (depending on how long your hob takes to get up to temp), give the Milk a little taste:
Add more Nam Pla, or a half-teaspoon of palm sugar, whatever you think is needed. Go careful, it's easy to over-season. You will also be tasting once the meat has cooked and again after the veg...
Needs more sweet!
Whilst that's bubbling away, put on the lid and prep your meat (fnar-fnar!). If using thigh fillets, you want to trim any tough bits and check for bone shards. Don't be tempted to trim all the fat, this is essential for the flavour! Cut into reasonable pieces, spoon-sized, but be aware that most of the thighs will dissolve. If you're cooking for a few, breast is easier as you can better portion-control:
(Now is also a good time to turn the oven on - you want it at 150C (Fan Oven) or about Gas Mark 4...)
Stir in the meat, making sure it's all covered with the milk (pour in more if needed) and replace the lid. Allow to simmer (keep checking the hob temperature, you don't want it to burn) - a gentle bubble is fine:
Whilst that's simmering, prep your veg:
Halve the corn, or it will take forever to soften!
You want spoon-sized veggies, it's a curry, after all!
After rinsing, quarter the water chestnuts, not only will they go further, someone will end up scalding their mouth, as they retain heat like a wossname!
Add the harder veg first, whilst they're simmering, prepare the Mange-Tout and Shi-take Mushrooms:
Remove any manky ones and slice the Mange Tout, remove any soggy bits or nasty bits of mushroom and slice evenly:
Simmering away nicely!
Whilst that's bubbling away happily, you want to clear your sides and load the dishwasher/sink...
Before you put the pot in the oven, double check you have enough Coconut Milk covering everything (add more if needed, but don't be tempted to add more curry paste!) Be sure to leave a couple of tbsps of milk in the tin!
Your kitchen should now look like this:
You can let this cook all day (if all day, Gas Mark 3 / 140C Fan is fine, just whack the heat up 20 mins before serving!) , an hour or just 20 minutes - all you're doing is allowing the meat to soak up flavours and the veg to soften. If it's less than 30 minutes, I'd leave it on the hob to simmer.
Once you're nearly ready to serve, cook your rice. If you feel like it, replace half the water with coconut milk and a half-teasp of palm sugar - it's seriously tasty!
Once the rice is done, carefully remove the curry pot from the oven and remove the lid - bet you can't stop yourself from salivating!
It'll look like this:
If you're worried about fat, feel free to spoon this off, but I assure you, even though this is a pretty fatty dish, it is still very healthy!
Give it a stir and start to carefully remove the chillis, lemongrass, lime leaves and galangal (this is why it's important to remember how many you added!)
A slatted spoodle is handy for this!
"I know what you're thinking; did he use 3 Birdseye Chillis, or 4?"
Dish up the rice and make a well for the curry:
The slatted spoon makes dishing up easier - you want loads of the veg and a bit of meat!
Use a ladle for the sauce, the more the merrier - drown that rice!
:
Drizzle some of the remaining Coconut Milk over the whole dish, not essential but looks pretty!
Should end up like:
Start with a tbsp of paste to 2 cans of coconut milk (my recipe above has 1 tbsp per can, but I like the depth and fire!) and keep tasting as you're cooking - Some basic principles are:
Not enough depth = a touch more paste
Too spicy = add more milk
Not spicy enough = pierce and add another chilli
Too sweet = add a splash of fish sauce
Too salty = add a squeeze of lime
When adjusting for flavour, I'd use teaspoon amounts and stir well, allow to come back to the simmer then check again - you're cooking to your taste, after all, not the tastebuds of the recipe owner!
Ultimately, experiment and enjoy!
Bon Appetit!
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