Thai Green or Red Chicken Curry

Green Thai chicken curry with coriander garnish

Thai green or red curry with chicken and vegetables

There is nothing like the aroma of Thai curry to activate your taste buds and I frequently get lots of comments and visitors for tasters on holiday when the smell wafts across the campsite. 

This is a very simple recipe to make and tastes amazing, it can be ready in 10 minutes if you grab a hot roast chicken from a supermarket, it will take longer using fresh chicken. 

I normally buy the Mae Ploy brand from the Chinese supermarket and it is a hotter version.

The Thai Taste is milder and available from most supermarkets.

If you like a hot curry (madras heat), then use a red Thai paste. For a milder curry, use green. This still depends on the brand though, some are hotter than others. We normally buy our paste from the local Chinese supermarket.

One of the best purchases we ever made was our Tefal rice cooker, it has simplified the cooking of rice, stopped us needing to add salt and guarantees perfectly cooked rice that keeps warm when it's finished cooking. My trick is to use 1/3 cup of rice per person. Wash the rice well and cook according to the instructions. I normally set the rice going as I start cooking the curry, it will be perfectly ready by the time the curry has finished cooking. It will be light a fluffy.

Ingredients (serves 4 people)

1 tablespoon coconut oil

1 onion, sliced
2 tablespoons Thai green curry paste or red curry paste
2 tablespoons Thai fish sauce
1 tin coconut milk 

6 fresh lime leaves (optional for the green curry)

1 stalk lemongrass (optional)
2 large chicken breasts (raw or ready cooked) cut into 1inch pieces - alternative a normal pack of chicken thighs/drumsticks

A selection of fresh vegetables, (3 of the following) Pak Choi, baby sweetcorn, mangetout, courgette. For a red curry you could add sliced red pepper.

1 cup of Thai fragrant rice or basmati rice
cold water to cover by half an inch

Method

Add rice to a saucepan and wash under the cold tap a couple of times. The water will turn cloudy, this is the starch in the rice which would make it sticky when cooked. Cover the rice with enough cold water to reach half an inch above the level of the rice. Bring to the boil, stir once, cover with a tight-fitting saucepan lid and turn heat to the lowest simmer possible. Don't be tempted to look at the rice, leave it for 10 minutes then turn off the heat. Leave rice until you are ready to serve the curry. Fluff the rice with a fork before serving.

In a wok or large frying pan, heat the oil of a medium heat, add the curry paste and fry for about 1 minute stirring continuously, be careful it does spit.

Add the coconut milk and fish sauce, stir and simmer for about 1 minute. Add the lime leaves and bash the lemongrass with the back of a large knife, then add to the sauce.

Add the chicken to the sauce and turn heat to a simmer. Stir occasionally. If raw cook for about 15 minutes, if using chicken pieces then about 30 minutes. If using ready-cooked, for about 5 minutes. 

Add the sliced vegetables, stir and cook for a further 5 minutes.

Serve

Tip

When you buy the traditional green or red pastes which come in plastic tubs, I normally add the paste to a small bowl and mix in some water to rehydrate the paste. Be warned, use only 2 teaspoons of this paste unless you love a vindaloo level of heat.