Vegetable Thai Green Curry

Vegetable Thai Green Curry – แกงเขียวหวาน– hot, aromatic and creamy, this Thai Curry recipe is authentic in flavour and vibrant in taste. In Thai, this green coloured curry is called kaeng khaio wan which literally translates as ‘Sweet Green Curry’. The colour comes from the paste, made from pounded green chillies. I highly recommend to do as the Thai would by making your own paste; it allows you to add what you want and the pounding of the ingredients in a pestle and mortar is so satisfying. When homemade, the paste will make for a tastier, fresher tasting curry. Thailand was one of the places I visited on a two month visit across South East Asia. I was already interested in the food, but my interest grew over the time I spent in Thailand, leading me to cook other Thai dishes such as Seabass with Thai Coconut Broth , Thai Chicken with Cashew Nuts and Pad Thai (ผัดไทย). Authentic Thai ingredients are important to achieve the best flavour. I have offered substitutes, but try and get the proper Thai ingredients from your local Asian supermarket (every city has one) or from online stores such as https://www.thai-food-online.co.uk.

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Recipe for Vegetable Thai Green Curry

Serves 4

Difficulty Level: Home Cook

Ingredients:

For the Thai Green Curry paste:

• 4 green Thai birds eye chillies, finely chopped
• 2 Thai shallots, finely chopped
• 3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
• 2-3 sticks of lemongrass, finely chopped (I love the flavour of lemongrass, but use less if it’s not for you)
• 1 thumb sized piece of galangal (or ginger)
• 1 teaspoon white pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon each of cumin and coriander
• Heaped teaspoon palm sugar (or brown sugar)
• 1/2 teaspoon shrimp paste (to make Vegan, swap with miso paste)
• 3 kaffir lime leaves (this is an ingredient that cannot be substituted- if you get one Thai ingredient, buy these. They can be found frozen in Asian supermarkets)
• Pinch of salt

For the Vegetable Thai Green Curry

• 5 Thai round aubergines, quartered (or use 1 aubergine, cubed)
• 1 red pepper, cut into chunky chunks
• 300g chestnut mushrooms, quartered
• 1 small courgette, cubed
• Half a bag of baby spinach
• Fish sauce (Nam Pla – to make Vegan, use Vegan Fish Sauce)
• Palm sugar
• 3 tablespoons coconut cream
• 1 tin coconut milk
• Any other vegetables you like (I recommend baby sweet corn, broccoli or green beans)
• Coconut oil

To garnish:

• Thai red birds eye chillies, finely sliced
• Thai Sweet Basil (this variety has a much more pungent aniseed flavour than the much loved Mediterranean herb)
• Cooked jasmine rice

Method

1. First make the paste. Pound all the ingredients in a pestle and mortar until paste like. The more you pound it, the better, but don’t worry if it is quite chunky. Alternatively you could make the paste in a food processor. However, proper Thai method using the pestle and mortar allows the oils to come out of all the ingredients and arguably makes for a better result.
2. Melt a teaspoon of coconut oil in a large pan over a medium heat. Add a couple tablespoons of the paste (the more you add, the stronger and hotter the curry) fry for a couple of minutes before adding all the vegetables and stir frying for a few minutes..
3. Stir in the coconut cream and allow to coat the vegetables. Add the tin of coconut milk, a tablespoon of fish sauce, a tablespoon of palm sugar and a handful of Thai sweet basil leaves. Stir and simmer for a couple of minutes until the vegetables are soft.
4. Serve the Vegetable Thai Green Curry topped with sliced red chilli, Thai sweet basil and jasmine rice on the side.
5. Enjoy!