Authentic Thai Green Curry

I got this recipe from Mamma’s street food restaurant just off of Soi Sam, Banglamphu, Bangkok. Mamma is a robust no nonsense Thai lady who cooks in a fiery wok on a busy street corner surrounded by at least 599 different ingredients. She makes the best Thai food for pennies and is a diva on the karaoke machine!

I learnt that it’s not only the ingredients that make a good green curry it’s the way you cook it.

Authentic Thai Green Curry -Gaeng Keow Wan-

The ingredients for 4 persons:
1 tin of coconut cream – coconut milk will not give the same results
2 large chicken breasts cut into thin strips
1 tablespoon of Thai green curry paste. Can be replaced with Red or Yellow curry paste
2 tablespoons of Thai fish sauce
1 tablespoon of sugar. (Palm sugar available at many spice shops is best but ordinary sugar is fine)
Handful of sugar snap peas
Handful of baby corns cut in half lengthways
1 fresh kafir lime leaf (optional)
2 fresh red chillies sliced (optional)

The way you cook it:
This dish doesn’t take long to cook on a high heat and it’s best to stir fry with a fast hand. Plan ahead and prepare everything in advance so you can cook up a storm just like Mamma.

Firstly the tin of coconut cream needs to have been standing upright for a while so the thick coconut cream on top separates from the thin coconut milk below – do not shake the tin.

Prepare the chicken and veggies seperatly, set aside.

Mix the curry paste, sugar and fish sauce together and set aside.

Heat the wok on a medium to high heat. Open the coconut cream tin and spoon as much of the thick cream as you can into the hot wok and leave. After a few minutes you will notice that the oil from the cream starts to boil, separate and the cream starts to brown, wait until you have a lot more oil than cream.

Add the curry paste mix and quickly stir into the cream in the hot wok.

Then add the chicken and stir fry until the chicken turns white.

Add the rest of the contents from the coconut cream tin and the kafir lime leaf, bring to the boil.

Add the vegetables, cook for 2 – 3 mins or until the chicken is cooked and vegetables are tender but crunchy.

Garnish with the red chillies.

This curry is best served with plain boiled Thai fragrant rice what the Thai’s call “Kao Suai” or “Beautiful Rice”

This is as close to the authentic flavour of a Thai green curry as I’ve experienced at my dining table but let’s be honest, you really cannot beat the real thing.

Travel Light to Thailand and experience some of the best cuisine on the planet or even take a Thai cooking class as part of your holiday.

Some Travel Light Reading -
Lemongrass and Sweet Basil -Traditional Thai Cuisine

I chose this cook book because the recipes are traditional Thai and it is has been compiled by a Thai chef.
Easy-to-follow, modern approach to traditional Thai cuisine with stunning photos of the Thai way of life.