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Thai Green Curry with Chicken

What harmony is to music, the balance of five basic flavors is to Thai cuisine.

That’s sweet, salty, spicy, sour, and bitter.

Thai Food Complexity

Each dish on a Thai family’s table is a carefully-crafted flavor profile. And the combination of dishes, create a harmonious mealtime experience composed bite-by-bite.

Thailand does not have distinct food categories like the United States.

This means that every dish is welcome at any meal of the day and there are no restrictions on spices in the morning.

Rice accompanies pretty much every meal as a canvas on which the food can be artfully added.

Curries are the country’s specialty.

Comparing Curries

When most people think of the word “curry” they associate it with a spice, typically turmeric.

However, the word “curry” simply means “sauce”.

Thailand has a diverse array of curries, most identified by its color, for example, green, red, and yellow.

The coloring is courtesy of the herbs and chilies used as the foundation of the dish.

Thai curries typically include proteins like shrimp, fish, chicken, or tofu.

Vegetables round out the curry for a healthy, tastebud tantalizing meal.

Under Chinese inspiration, the wok was adopted into Thai cooking so most dishes are prepared in one pot. Read this as clean up is a cinch.

Weeknight Travel to Thailand and Harmony At The Table

Most of us won’t ever make it to Thailand to experience the flavorful expression of this beautiful culture. But you can travel there on a weeknight.

Try my Thai Green Curry with Chicken recipe. With Kaffir lime leaves and green chiles, it offers the cool color and warm spices that will heat you up and cool you off. It’s perfect no matter what the temperature is outside.

With the coconut milk that anchors this dish, you might just fool your tastebuds into thinking you’ve actually escaped away somewhere.

And the flavors of the coconut add a delightful balance to the heat of the green chiles.

Make the paste ahead of time and this dish can be on the table in no time on a weeknight.

Sit down to a beautiful meal and enjoy the harmony of conversation at the table.

Thai Green Curry Chicken

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• Prep Time: 0 hours
• Cook Time: 0 hours
• Total Time: 0 hours
• Yield: 6 1x
• Cuisine: Thai

Ingredients

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• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 cup homemade curry paste (recipe below)
• 1 13.5-oz can coconut cream
• 1 13.5-oz can coconut milk
• 1 1/2 lbs. boneless chicken thighs, cut into chunks
• 5 fresh kaffir lime leaves
• 10 small Thai eggplants, quartered or halved depending on the size
• 2 tablespoons fish sauce
• 1/2 cup Thai basil leaves, plus more for garnish

Curry Paste

• 1 stalk lemongrass, thinly sliced (see note below)
• 12 white peppercorns
• 1 1/2 tablespoon coriander seeds
• 1 teaspoon cumin seeds
• 1 1/2 oz ginger
• 1/4 cup cilantro leaves
• 1 tablespoon shrimp paste
• 2 teaspoons lime zest
• 9 cloves of garlic, roughly chopped
• 5 Thai green chiles, roughly chopped
• 4 shallots, roughly chopped
• 3 tablespoons olive oil

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Instructions

1. Heat a large skillet. Once hot add the olive oil and curry paste. Reduce heat and fry the paste until fragrant, 5-6 minutes. Add coconut cream and coconut milk, and bring to a boil. Add chicken and lime leaves. Reduce heat; simmer 20 minutes. Ten minutes into the simmer add the sliced eggplants for the remaining 10 minutes. Remove pan from heat and stir in fish sauce and basil leaves.

Curry Paste

1. Toast white peppercorns, coriander seeds and cumin seeds in a small skillet over low heat until fragrant. Remove from heat and allow to cool. Once cooled, transfer to a grinder and grind to a powder.
2. Add spices and the remaining curry paste ingredients to a food processor and blend until finely chopped. Add oil tablespoon by tablespoon to create a paste.
3. If paste is really thick, add additional oil as needed.

Nutrition

• Serving Size:
• Calories: 985.87 kcal
• Sugar: 37.68 g
• Sodium: 614.61 mg
• Fat: 68.04 g
• Saturated Fat: 14.6 g
• Trans Fat: 0 g
• Carbohydrates: 75.76 g
• Fiber: 31.8 g
• Protein: 34.42 g
• Cholesterol: 35.8 mg