Thai Green Curry
A bright, fragrant coconut curry built on a fresh green chilli paste fried until it splits — with chicken, aubergine, basil and kaffir lime.
- Prep
- 20 min
- Cook
- 25 min
- Serves
- 4 bowls
- Level
- Medium
By Maya Chen
Method
- 01
Spoon the thick cream from the top of the unshaken coconut milk into a wide pan and heat over medium until it begins to bubble and the oil glistens at the edges.
- 02
Add the green curry paste and fry, stirring, for 3–4 minutes until it darkens, splits from the oil and smells intensely fragrant. This step blooms the paste and is the heart of the dish.
- 03
Add the sliced chicken and stir to coat in the paste, cooking until the surface turns opaque.
- 04
Pour in the remaining coconut milk and enough stock or water to make a loose, pourable sauce. Bring to a gentle simmer.
- 05
Add the aubergines and torn kaffir lime leaves and simmer for 10–12 minutes until the aubergine is tender and the chicken is cooked through.
- 06
Season with fish sauce and palm sugar, then taste and adjust — it should be balanced between salty, slightly sweet and gently hot.
- 07
Stir through the Thai basil and sliced red chilli, let them wilt for a few seconds, and serve over jasmine rice.
Green curry is the brightest and most herbaceous of the Thai curries, taking its colour and fragrance from fresh green chillies, coriander root and lemongrass rather than dried red chillies. It is also one of the quickest to make at home, provided you treat the curry paste properly.
The split is the secret
Everything good about this curry comes from blooming the paste. Spoon the thick cream off the top of an unshaken can of coconut milk, heat it until the oil glistens, then fry the paste in it until it darkens and visibly splits from the fat. That few minutes of frying transforms a raw, harsh paste into something deep and rounded. Skip it — by tipping all the coconut milk and paste in together — and the curry tastes flat no matter how long you simmer it.
Loosen, season, finish with herbs
Authentic Thai curry is a loose, soupy sauce meant to be spooned over rice, not a thick gravy. Thin it with stock or water to a pourable consistency, then season at the end with fish sauce and palm sugar, tasting as you go. The torn kaffir lime leaves go in to simmer, but the Thai basil and sliced chilli are stirred through right at the finish so they keep their fragrance and colour.
