Simple Gluten Free Kitchen

Thai Green Chicken Curry

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All through her summer break, my daughter bugged me to make thai chicken curry and when I made it she was not impressed. She said, it looked unappetizing. I was a little disappointed, as she is my best food critic and I value her opinion. She evidently wanted a curry that resembles Indian curry but has thai flavor. Don’t know when and what moment I assumed she was asking for thai green curry. Eventually, when she had the curry for dinner her verdict changed. She said that, except for the color, the curry tastes pretty good and fragrant, and the combination of chicken with broccoli and cashews was superb.

I couldn’t help saying to her to never ever judge a food without tasting.

 

 

Thai dishes are hard to make if you don’t have access to a good Asian market that carries all fresh ingredients necessary for that particular Thai flavor. I live in a city where 60% of population is of Asian descent and its very convenient to shop for Asian grocery. However, when I went looking for thai basil, galangal and kaffir lime leaves, even the big Asian supermarket like T&T and China world did not have it. I called almost every  Asian market in Richmond,  but could only find galangal and lemon grass. Somehow, after searching on internet for ethnic grocery, I located Hen long market in surrey and found everything I needed. 

Now, I had all the ingredients to make thai green paste from scratch. I followed the recipe from this video with a slight change. I doubled the amount of chillies and toasted the cumin and coriander seeds before grinding. I have to say this was my first time making green curry paste and loved the flavor each ingredient brings, to the paste.

 

 

After the green curry  paste was ready, it was time to use it in chicken curry. One of the most important ingredient for the thai cuisine is coconut milk and a good quality milk makes a difference. Several brands of canned coconut milk contain preservatives and dyes with only 20-30% of coconut extract. They taste like cardboard. When I was shopping at the store, I asked a thai lady to help me choose the coconut milk which she uses for cooking. She picked two cans from her cart and gave it to me, I was confused as one said, coconut milk and the other said coconut cream. I asked her, what was the difference and which one was good? She said they both were good in curries and the difference was in the concentration and consistency. A thick, rich and coconutty curry should have  60-70% coconut extract, and that’s what  it said on both the cans.

 

 

     

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Thai Green Chicken Curry

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 12 minutes

Total Time: 22 minutes

Yield: 4 servings

There's nothing quite like a fragrant Thai green chicken curry made from scratch.

Ingredients

  • 2 chicken breast, (535 g) cut into 2" pieces
  • 1 head broccoli, broken into florets
  • 10-12 mushrooms, cut into half
  • 400 ml coconut cream ( I used Savoy brand)
  • handful of cashews
  • 3.5 tbsp green curry paste
  • 4 kaffir lime leaves, cut into fine strips
  • 4 thai basil leaves, chopped
  • 1/2 tsp white pepper powder
  • 1 tbsp tamari (soy sauce)
  • 2-3 tsp fish sauce
  • salt if required

Instructions

  1. Heat a pan on medium. Pour coconut cream/ milk, bring it to boil. Cook, stirring for 1 minute.
  2. Add green curry paste and mix well to blend it in.
  3. Add the chicken pieces to the bubbling curry along with fish and soy sauce. Let it cook for about 6 minutes.
  4. Add broccoli, mushroom, white peeper, cashews, thai basil and the kaffir lime leaf strips.
  5. Simmer the curry for 4-5 minutes or until everything is cooked.
  6. Season with salt if needed.
  7. Serve hot with rice.
https://www.simpleglutenfreekitchen.com/2013/09/thai-green-chicken-curry.html

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Reader Interactions

Comments

  4. I don’t see anything wrong with the color Bal. Maybe one or two red chilies would have infused a vibrant shade. Other than that, its perfect Thai dish. We just love Thai food and the flavors that comes with it. I grew most of the Asian herbs in my garden because our weather is perfect fit. I will certainly try this dish for the next weekend. Its certainly an explosion of Asian flavors.

    Reply

    • I know there is nothing wrong with the color, my daughter is just picky.She hates milk and all things that looks whitish. I added broccoli so that she see some color and also added cashews and mushrooms because she loves these ingredients in curries. But she did not see any of these until she ate. The chicken curry is definitely beaming with thai flavors and, I got everything that was required.

      Reply

  6. I don’t think that I can get galangal, thai basil and kaffir lime here. I heard thai basil comes close to the green tulsi. Any idea if that is true? We have discovered that we enjoy thai cuisine in our house, so I would love to make your recipe. =)

    Reply

    • Helene, I am pretty sure you can get galangal in Goa. This is often used in south indian curries. For thai basil you can sub cilantro, but not tulsi. The flavor is different. If you and your family loves thai, then you can try shopping online. Would love to hear if you try this recipe 🙂

      Reply

  7. Your green curry paste looks beautiful! I’m a huge fan of Thai food and enjoy the green curry, despite I can’t handle too spicy. When I say that people get confused how I can eat it knowing it’s spicy… but it’s so tasty that I sacrifice and eat. 😀 This makes me so hungry and your chicken curry looks fantastic!

    Reply

    • Thank you Nami for all the appreciation. This curry paste is not at all spicy, I additionally added white pepper power to spice up the curry. I am sure you will love this curry.

      Reply

  10. I love Thai curries and there is Toni g wrong with yours! Looks great. I have yet to make my own curry paste because until now, it was hard for me to find all the ingredients. I know have a well stocked Asian market next to me so it’s all about just finding the time to do it now!

    Thanks for the inspiration Bal!

    Nazneen

    Reply

  15. That’s exactly what I am saying to my son too! I always say to him: “Put it in your mouth and if you don’t like it spit it out. But at least you will know how it tastes.” Your green curry looks amazing and I bet the coconut flavor must have been quite dominant!

    Reply

    • I really felt bad when my daughter used the word unappetizing, after all we try to make the food look appealing and tasty, However our kids don’t even think for a second before speaking up. Yes, the coconut and also the kaffir lime leaves flavor was dominant in the curry.

      Reply

  18. I don’t believe this..last time it was the blueberry muffins and now the Asian curry’s. We are thinking on the same lines lately:-) I totally agree with you on the Asian ingredients…they are difficult to procure unless you have access to Asian markets. We are fortunate to have a few suburbs which are predominantly asian so I managed to get all except one. Belacan…that literally sent me on a hunt and then when I started cooking with it I hated it. I will share the detailed experience when I post the curry. Your Thai Green Curry looks perfect and mouthwatering. The colour varies each time I eat it at a different restaurant but honestly its about the flavours.

    Reply

    • The green color of the gravy varies depending on what other sauces you add to it. Like if you add Belacan it will get a peachy color, I did buy Belacan for this gravy but the stinky strong smell totally put me off. Will be watching for your new post.

      Reply

  21. Bal , I’ve made my first Thai curry paste from scratch last time , though my paste didn’t quiet look as good as yours but it did taste gorgeous 😀 Will try to cook it again and post it . For sure , your Thai curry looks delectable ! What brand did that nice Thai lady recommended then ?!

    Reply

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