Aylarah’s Delicious Dishes: Thai Green Curry
Aylarah Scale
Last year, I tried haggis for the first time. My mother had raved for several months previously about how nice it was, so we decided to have it (as tradition dictates) on Burns’ night last year. Knowing exactly what haggis contained caused me to struggle with myself for quite some time before agreeing to try it, but with mashed potatoes and gravy it wasn’t that bad. I might even call it quite nice. My sister however, disagreed. She hated it from the moment it arrived on her plate, and even had to leave the room that we were eating in. Personally I think she never got over the mental struggle with eating something that wasn’t leg or wing.
A year later, and we arrive again at Burns’ night, and our very ‘traditional’ meal was a pre-made shop bought shepherds pie, all of us having forgotten it was Burn’s night, and my mother forgetting whatever little sense she had before buying it. After twenty or so minutes of us complaining about what we were eating, she suggested that we have haggis the next night, since we weren’t having it then. My sister cried out in alarm and instantly volunteered me to cook something else, despite the fact that I cook very rarely and only usually cakes and simple lunches.
If I was to cook the next night, it was to be on my terms. Dinner would be served when I said so, and it was going to be something that I liked and knew how to make. I ended up with two out of the three. We ate at 6:15pm as per my request, and I made Thai Green Curry, which I like. I didn’t, however, know how to make it. Until now. I read through the recipe I was given, decided it was simple enough and changed some of the ingredients (as I had never even heard of baby aubergines, let alone know where to buy them). What you are getting below is my version of the truth.
This is a very easy recipe to make, and takes less than half an hour in total to cook. It’s not very spicy, so those afraid of spicy curries can continue reading and possibly even attempt this, and the recipe I’m giving serves four people. There’s also pictures to make the page a bit more interesting, which will be better quality next time (it was my first go!). Oh, and just in case you were wondering, it was very yummy, and in my sister’s opinion, much better than eating haggis!
You will need:
* One wok or heavy based frying pan
* Two tablespoons of sunflower oil
* Two tablespoons of Thai green curry paste
* Two tablespoons of Thai fish sauce
* Two teaspoons of lemon grass in olive oil (I couldn’t get fresh lemon grass. Either works.)
* One aubergine
* 5 or so chicken breasts (I was told 400g, but ended up using 600g. Mind you, there was quite a lot of chicken in it. Use what looks right.)
* 225ml coconut milk
* Kaffir lime leaves
* Fresh basil
* Rice
For the rice, follow the instructions on the back of the packet. This might affect when you are to start cooking it in relation to everything else, so please check in advance what to do. The reason I’m not giving precise instructions for the rice is that every pack I’ve seen requires different cooking times and different preparation methods.
First of all you need to chop the chicken and the aubergine into smallish cubes, as well as chopping the lemon grass if you’re not using pre-chopped stuff in olive oil. I say cubes, but for the aubergines they should really be thinner than they are wide/long to allow them to cook thoroughly. I cut mine about two centimetres thick.
Next add the two tablespoons of sunflower oil into a pre-heated wok or frying pan. When the oil is hot, add two tablespoons of Thai green curry paste and stir-fry for a minute until the aromas are released. Then add the chicken, two lime leaves and the lemon grass and stir-fry for about 5 minutes, until the meat starts to colour.
Add the coconut milk and chopped aubergine and simmer for 8-10 minutes, until tender. I used another frying pan as a lid whilst the curry was simmering, so that the liquid condensed and drained back into the pan. If you let all the liquid evapourate, there is not much of a sauce to coat your rice with, so I suggest you also find a way to trap the liquid (the frying pan method works).
Finally, stir in the fish sauce and fresh basil (the recipe I had gave no exact measures of basil, so I used six or seven leaves). Serve immediately with the rice.
Et voila! A quick and easy Thai Green Curry.
