This recipe includes directions for making your own Thai green curry paste but you can of course go ahead and use store bought curry paste.
Since I started making my own though, I haven’t looked back. Yes, it takes a little time to prepare your own paste but trust me it is well worth it as you will get a much fresher and flavorful end result with a fraction of the salt and other preservatives usually found in the ready made varieties.
The recipe presented below makes about two cups of finished curry paste and since only a few tablespoons are needed to prepare a meal for 2 your paste will go a long way. Freeze it in ice cube trays to have handy portion sizes readily available.
Thai Vegetable Green Curry
Homemade curry pastes make the best curries.
Ingredients
- 4-5 large green chilies
- 10-12 green Bird’s Eye chilies Or other equally hot variety
- 3-4 small to medium red onions
- 8-10 garlic clove
- 3 tbsp galangal chopped
- 3-5 fresh coriander (cilantro) roots cleaned
- 1/4 cup fresh coriander (cilantro) leaves and stalks
- 2 tsp shrimp paste (omit if on a vegan/vegetarian diet)
- 5 fresh kaffir lime leaves
- 4 lemongrass stalks roughly chopped
- Rind from 1 kaffir lime grated (use regular lime if kaffir lime is not available)
- 1/2 tbsp ground white pepper
- 1-2 tbsp vegetable oil
- 1 tsp salt
Ingredients for the Green Curry.
- 3-4 tbsp curry paste
- 300 ml coconut milk
- 4 kaffir lime leaves torn
- 4 slices fresh galangal peeled
- 1 tsp ground turmeric
- 1/2 tsp ground cumin
- 1/2 tsp palm sugar
- 2 tsp fish sauce (replace with soy sauce if on a vegan/vegetarian diet)
- Fresh Thai basil to serve, optional
- Veggies of your choice Classical additions usually include two types of Thai aubergines, The Pea Aubergine which is a very small, round, green, and quite hard variety (thrown in whole) and the Thai Aubergine which is a golf ball sized round green variety (usually quartered), as well as fresh green peppercorns (also added whole). I like to use sautéed tofu, shiitake mushrooms, baby corn, broccoli and/or green beans as well as the above mentioned aubergines and peppercorn when I can find them.
- Optional Prawns or chicken
Instructions
For the Curry Paste
- Blend everything well until very finely chopped. I use a food processor to get everything roughly chopped but I find that my food processor can’t get the paste fine enough so I use a hand blender to finish it off and make it nice a smooth. The idea is to get it nicely uniform so you won’t all of a sudden bite into larger chunks of individual ingredients. Use or store in an airtight container in the fridge for up to a week or freeze for up to 6 months.
To put the Green Curry together.
- Heat a bit of the coconut milk in a medium sized pot and sauté the curry paste for a minute until fragrant.
- Add the rest of the coconut milk along with the lime leaves, galangal, turmeric, cumin, ground coriander, palm sugar, and fish (or soy) sauce. Bring it to a very gentle boil, be careful it doesn’t boil over as this can happen really quickly if the curry gets too hot too fast, and simmer at low heat for about 10 minutes.
- Taste and adjust seasoning before adding your meat/seafood and/or vegetables. If the curry gets too dry add a bit more coconut milk or water and adjust your seasoning. Simmer until your veggies (or the chicken or prawns) are done. Check the taste one final time and serve with Thai basil if you like.
