Authentic Green Curry Chicken
Tasty, creamy, and slightly spicy Green Curry Chicken is a well-known curry in Thai cuisine. With creamy coconut milk mixed in with fragrant Thai Green Curry Paste and succulent pieces of chicken, it’s perfect with fluffy, white rice.
Green Curry Chicken Recipe
Ingredients
The most crucial ingredient in any green curry is the Green Curry Paste. It is responsible for the majority of the intricate tastes and fragrances. It can be bought at Asian grocery stores, or made from scratch.
The next ingredient needed is concentrated coconut milk. The fresher it is, the better. This results in a very creamy, thick and rich gravy. The other ingredients consist of fish sauce and kaffir leaves which contributes to the fragrance of the green curry, apart from the usual salt and sugar seasonings.
As for the meat, I’ve used fresh chicken meat, but any other white meat works as well.
For vegetables, my personal favourite is round eggplants that soak up the curry flavour as they cook. Otherwise, long beans or four-angled beans work well too. For leafy greens, basil leaves are a must for green curry. To turn the spiciness up a notch and to make the colours pop, red bird’s eye chilli is added too.
Cooking Green Curry Chicken
Marinate the chicken meat with salt as evenly as possible. I find that marinating half the amount of salt at a time helps to make sure the salt is distributed well. Then, set the chicken aside.
Cooking Green Curry Chicken
Heat the pan over medium heat. Add in the coconut milk and kaffir leaves, stirring for about 1 minute. When it comes to a rolling boil, add in the green curry paste and stir until well combined.
Once the coconut milk and green curry paste are homogenous, add in the marinated chicken. Stir and turn the chicken to evenly coat them with the gravy.
Reduce the heat to medium-low and cover the pan to braise the chicken for 10 minutes. This slowly cooks the chicken, while encouraging its juices to seep into the curry for better flavour later. Make sure to stir occasionally to prevent burning at the bottom of the pan.
While we wait for the chicken to cook, cut the eggplants in half. It’s important to wait until the very last minute before cutting them, to preserve the appearance of these delicate eggplants. They oxidise and turn dark very easily, so prepare a basin of water to submerge them once they have been cut.
Rinse the round eggplants. With a sharp knife, cut them into half, or quarters if the pieces are too big. Drop them in the water-filled basin to slow down their oxidation rate to preserve their white flesh.
After 10 minutes, open the lid and check on the chicken. They should still be cooking, and they are not soft yet. However, a good amount of gravy has been released by the chicken. Add in 350ml of water to add on to the gravy. Raise the heat to medium. Cover the pan and let it simmer to fully cook and become soft for another 8 minutes. Be sure to occasionally stir the green curry.
After 8 minutes, the green curry should be boiling vigorously now. Open the lid and add in all the eggplants, discarding the water used to soak them.
Add in the fish sauce and sugar as well. Give it a good stir to mix, before closing the lid and cooking for another 8 minutes. This should be enough to cook the eggplants and allow the chicken to be soft and tender.
Once the 8 minutes timer is done, check on the green curry. The chicken and eggplants should be soft and ready. The gravy has also reduced a little to become more concentrated. Taste and adjust if preferred.
Lastly, sprinkle in the cut red chilli for spiciness and colour and basil leaves to infuse its fragrance and for texture. Lightly stir in these ingredients before switching off the heat.
Serve the Green Curry Chicken with some fluffy white rice!
Bon appetit!
The Green Curry Chicken is fragrant and appetizing. It’s full of flavour, with a lovely balance of rich coconut notes and a smooth blend of Thai herbs. Delicious as a main dish served with rice and Mango Sticky Rice as dessert. Just yum! Enjoy!
Storage Instructions
Green Curry is one of the dishes that matures and tastes better the next day. Although it can be consumed on the day it is cooked, allowing it to rest and deepen its flavour makes it all the more delightful to enjoy.
Store in a clean, airtight container in the fridge for up to 3 days. If freezing, it can last for up to 2-3 months.
Thai Green Curry Chicken
Equipment
- Frying Pan
- Silicone Spatula
Ingredients
- 650 g whole leg chicken, cut to serving size
- 500 g eggplants, washed, cleaned
- 200 ml coconut milk, concentrated
- 6 pieces kaffir lime leaves, washed
- 1 red chilli, sliced slantingly
- 180 g green curry paste, homemade
- 1 tbsp fish sauce
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tbsp sugar
- 40 g basil leaves, washed
- 200 ml water
Instructions
Marinating Chicken
- Sprinkle half the salt on the chicken and rub. Sprinkle the balance of the salt to complete marinating the chicken. Leave aside.
Cooking Green Curry Chicken
- Cook the coconut milk and kaffir lime leaves over medium heat in the pan, until they come to a gentle boil. It take roughly 1.5 minutes.
- Add in green curry paste. Stir and mix until well-combined and smooth.
- Add in the marinated chicken. Stir until well-coated with the gravy.
- Reduce the heat to medium-low. Cover the pan. Allow it to simmer for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- Cut the eggplants into halves and quarters, then submerge them in water. Leave aside.
- Open the pan and give the chicken a stir. Add in 350ml of water. Raise the heat to medium. Cover the pan and allow it to simmer for 8 minutes, or until boiling vigorously.
- Once boiling vigorously, add in the eggplants. Stir and mix well.
- Add in fish sauce and sugar. Mix until well-combined. Cover the pan and cook for 8 minutes, or until eggplants are soft.
- Taste and adjust as preferred. Add in cut chillies and basil leaves. Give it a few turns. Switch off the heat.
- Serve with white rice.
Video
Notes
- Best served with white rice.
- Can be kept in the fridge for up to 2 days.
- Tastes better the next day after it has a chance to mature.