Thai Green Curry ala Nikki

Thai Green Curry ala Nikki.....yummmm....served with rice or rice noodles.

My mother Nicole is a Siamese cat, therefore I'm half Siamese. (Does that explain the blue eyes?) Anyway, being Siamese also means I'm partial to Thai food.

You must know that Thai cuisine is more than just Tom Yum or Patprik. There's also the curries - red, green, panang and massaman. My favourite is green curry with loads of lime leaves. I just love the balance of hot, sour, salty and sweet of it. The aroma of kaffir lime leaves and lime juice just give it that extra "kick". You can make the curry with meat, fish or seafood. My favourite is chicken - just the thigh fillet....*drool*

We made this for lunch yesterday. The aroma just enveloped the whole house and made my tummy growl non-stop until lunch time. We also grilled some mackerel....but that's another story.
Here's the recipe we used. It's the classic green curry recipe but of course tweaked here and there to suit my palate.

First, gather all the ingredients. It's a long list of exotic Asian stuff but just pay a visit to Chinatown or Vietnamese shops in your area. They should have most of the ingredients.

We made the paste from scratch using the ingredients. Slice them up and then plonk them in the food processor or blender, grind until fine. In the old days, the chefs would use stone mortar to make this paste:

4 cloves garlic (we used smoked garlic)

1 red onion

1 cup fresh coriander - root, stem and leaves

12 kaffir lime leaves - deveined

1 thumb (human thumb not my paw) sized galangal

10 Thai bird chili (this gives about the right degree of spiciness, you can lessen or add)

2 stalks lemongrass

1 teaspoonful shrimp paste

All (almost) of the ingredients for the dish.....the small green round stuff at the top are pea eggplants.

This is how galangal looks like. Also available bottled in brine or dried. We use the fresh one, of course.

Next step, prepare rest of ingredients:

2 cloves garlic - sliced finely

4 kaffir lime leaves - deveined and sliced finely

1 cup pea eggplants - separate stem from fruit

1 cup coconut milk - we used powdered with 1 cup water

2 tablespoonful fish sauce (nampla)

1 pound boneless chicken thigh fillet cut into bite-sized pieces

2 tablespoonful cooking oil

2 tablespoonful lime juice - freshly squeezed from three limes

1 teaspoonful brown or palm sugar - or to taste

2 cups basil leaves - any kinds, Thai, sweet, Italian, as long as not the red ones

I just looove the fragrance of kaffir lime leaves.....hmmmm.....

Aaah...the smell of garlic in hot oil.....the tummy goes rumble rumble...

Now, start cooking. Use a medium-sized pot or wok. We used an aluminium pot.

1. Heat oil in pot. Stir fry garlic until fragrant.

2. Next, pour in green curry paste. Lower the heat so it didn't get burnt.

3. Mix in fish sauce and stir. Let simmer.

Green curry paste happily simmering in pot.

4. Now, add in the chicken pieces, stir to let paste coat the chicken. Let simmer until chicken is cooked.

The chicken happily simmering with paste in pot. Ahh...what a merry combination.

5. Throw in pea eggplants, let simmer until soft. This is optional as it's not widely available. You can substitute with any eggplant (diced) or even snake beans. I've eaten green curry using both pea eggplants and snake beans.

Freshly squeezed lime is the best. Or you can also use the commercial bottled ones. Never ever substitute with lemon.

6. Mix in lime juice and coconut milk. Also sugar. Adjust according to your taste.

Useful tip: Don't wash blender after using it to make the paste. Instead, pour in coconut milk powder and water in there. Blend and it will mix with the paste left over. No waste.

7. Last but not least, separate basil leaves from stems, wash and add into curry. Remove from heat and serve with rice or rice noodles.

A pot of happiness on a Saturday afternoon.

Beautiful basil leaves....we used to plant this in Sydney as it was expensive.

Nikki's note: Burp!!!! meoww....Nikki