A simple curry to throw together with ready made green curry paste, this Thai green chicken curry is an explosion of flavors, and ready in 20 minutes.
What is green curry?
The most popular Thai curry, green curry paste is made with coriander, kaffir lime, basil, green chilli and lemon grass, fish sauce, garlic, ginger, shallots, and spices. It gets dolloped into coconut milk and chicken broth to make that comforting green curry you’ve probably had at Thai restaurants before.
It is probably one of the most well known dishes in Thai cuisine. It’s spicy and fragrant, and exotic while remaining comforting.
Do I have to use chicken?
Nope, but chicken is probably the most widely used protein in making Thai green curry. You’ll find a lot of recipes calling for chicken thigh, but that’s something my husband and I avoid eating. We just prefer breast a lot more, even if it’s not as juicy. The way the chicken is cooked here, sort of poached in the simmering coconut milk ensures the chicken remains tender.
You can also use shrimp, which will need to cook for far less and will make for a delicious dish.
Vegetarian Thai Green Curry
This is easily adaptable into a vegetarian dish. Simply omit the chicken and add a lot more vegetables alongside the snow peas and bell peppers. I imagine chickpeas, sweet potato, broccoli, and mushrooms would be delicious in this. You could also go for a tofu version!
The ingredients in Thai Green Chicken Curry:
Thai Green Curry Paste: There are plenty of recipes online if you want to make a homemade version of curry paste, but I wanted to go the easier quicker route and jazzed up a store-bought version. You want one that’s thick and paste-y, not a more liquid version.
Minced Garlic and Grated Ginger: I use a microplane zester to grate the ginger and get the most flavor out of it. These two ingredients are added to the curry paste while you fry it out to embellish the paste.
Fish Sauce and Sugar: The fish sauce is extremely pungent and might smell off putting, but it’s an essential ingredient to get that briney, umami flavor of the curry. Feel free to add more sugar and/or fish sauce then the recipe calls for once you taste the final curry, if you feel it needs more of a kick.
Coconut Milk and Chicken Broth: One of the liquid bases of the curry consists of chicken broth. You can use homemade, a store-bought can/carton, or do what I do which is dissolve 1/2 a bouillon cube in 1 cup of hot water. I’ve even been known to throw the hot water and bouillon cube separately into the saucepan without pre-dissolving to save even more time. What happens is Maggi cube ends up melting into the mixture as it cooks. The coconut milk gives it that creamy richness that’s probably what you love most about Thai curries.
The mix-ins:
Chicken or any of the alternatives discussed above
Vegetables: I will use whatever I have on hand. In this case, it was snow peas and red bell pepper which I loved the combination of. I have previously added cooked eggplant cubes, mushrooms, sliced carrots. It’s all good! Just add whatever you feel like, and don’t overcook them so they have a little bite.
What to serve Thai Green Curry with:
Jasmine rice, rice noodles, basmati rice, or cauliflower rice as pictured!
Storing leftover Thai Green Curry:
Leftover curry will last in the fridge, tightly covered for 2 days. The coconut milk might separate which will make the curry looks range, but it’ll come right back together once heated.
I’d avoid freezing this as the coconut milk might turn grainy.
Leftover curry paste can be stored in the fridge for up to 6 weeks, or portion off 3 tablespoon each of curry paste and freeze for up to 3 months. This way you don’t need to defrost the whole jar whenever you make a curry recipe.
Thai Green Chicken Curry
Ingredients
- 1-2 tbsp vegetable oil
- 3 tablespoon storebought Thai green curry paste
- 2 garlic cloves, minced
- 2 teaspoon fresh ginger, grated
- 1 cup chicken broth, (or hot water + 1/2 maggi bouillon cube)
- 1 can coconut milk 400 g
- 1 teaspoon fish sauce
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- 4-6 kaffir lime leaves, torn or 3 wide strips lime peel
- 400 g chicken breast, bite sized slices
- 1.5 cups snow peas
- 1 red bell pepper, cut into strips
- 1/2 lemon or lime, juiced
Instructions
- Heat oil in medium saucepan over medium high heat. Add curry paste, garlic, and ginger, and stir while cooking for 1-2 minutes until curry paste dries out and is fragrant.
- Add chicken broth and coconut milk, stirring to dissolve the green curry paste into them.
- Add the fish sauce, sugar, and lime leaves and stir to combine and allow to come to a simmer.
- Add chicken, and reduce heat to medium or until bubbling gently. Cook for 8-10 minutes or until chicken flakes apart when you test it with a fork.
- Add the snow peas and red bell pepper and cook for a further 3 minutes. Stir in lime or lemon juice. The curry won't be very thick, and that's the way it should be!
- Serve with jasmine, basmati, or cauliflower rice.
Notes
Nutrition
If you liked. this recipe, you might like:
Persian Saffron Chicken with Barberry Rice
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Bushra Yar says
yum yum yum, green curry must be one of my fav dish to make! loooove adding those baby thai eggplants too (usually find them in lulu only) & a generous amount of coriander 🙂
Farah Abumaizar says
I love the idea of the baby eggplants!! Lulu trip on the horizon. Thanks for taking the time to comment Bushra :))❤️❤️