I was lucky enough to travel around Thailand a few years ago, and as I LOVE Thai food I decided to visit a cookery school. There they taught us how to make authentic Thai curry pastes and curries and we got to pick out all of our fresh ingredients from the local markets, it was a such and amazing experience.

This was one of the recipes, it seriously is one of the best green curries I have eaten. It is so fresh in taste. As some Thai ingredients are not readily available to us I have adapted the recipe using spices that you may be more likely to get hold of.

Ingredients

Paste

1 tsp coriander seeds

½ tsp cumin seeds

3 shallots

2 large cloves of garlic

2” chunk of fresh galangal (use ginger if you can’t find this)

3 large green chillies or 6 small birds eye

20g anchovies

1 lemongrass stalk; lower third only

20g coriander; stalks only

½ tsp grated nutmeg

½ tsp turmeric powder

zest of a lime

juice of half a lime

1 tsp black peppercorns

Curry

400g tin of coconut milk

2 shallots; sliced

1 lemongrass stalk

2 slices of fresh galangal

optional red chilli

chicken breast 1 small piece per person; sliced into strips

1 tsp sugar

2 tbsp. desiccated coconut

1 tsp fish sauce

2 tsp light soy sauce

150g bamboo shoots, I like to slice them into thinner strips

2/3 dried lime leaves

30g fresh coriander; chopped

Method

To make the paste, dry fry the cumin and coriander seeds then crush into a powder with a pestle and mortar then pop these and the rest of the ingredients into a hand blender and blitz up to be a paste.

Open the tin of coconut milk, what you want is the watery liquid part for now, save the cream for later. It may help to pop the tin in the fridge before opening. Pour this liquid into a wok or deep frying pan, on a high heat reduce this until it becomes an oil. It will happen so stick with it.

Once it forms an oil add the shallots and cook for a few minutes until they soften.

Add the lemongrass, galangal, whole red chilli, cook for 2 minutes more then add 2 tablespoons of the paste.

Fry this for a few more minutes then add you chicken. Coat the chicken in all of the paste, and once the outside of the chicken turns white add the rest of the tin of coconut milk, the sugar and the desiccated coconut. Stir well add a little water if it is too thick. Add the fish sauce and the soy, taste and add a little salt if needed. At this point you can add more chilli if you would prefer it hotter.

Add the bamboo shoots and the lime leaves.

Cook this until the chicken is cooked, then stir in the fresh coriander.

Serve with rice and an extra sprinkle of coriander and desiccated coconut.

Enjoy xxx

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