Thai Green Curry Paste in a Recipe

lines showing how to slice across the grain

Yesterday I finally got around to trying a recipe with my recently made (and frozen) Thai Green Curry Paste. I got chicken breasts to use for my recipe, though boneless chicken thighs or pork tenderloins would work well also. In order to slice meat thinly, it is best to start with it still partially frozen. For the chicken breast, or for any meat used, it is also good to slice it across the grain of the meat. When the meat is cooked in the dish with the cut across the grain, it allows very easy cutting and eating with a fork. 

julienned carrots

The vegetables for a Thai Green Curry recipe are usually things like green or red bell pepper and hot green chiles, more garlic and lemongrass (there is garlic and lemongrass in the Thai Green Curry Paste used in the recipe). I also used julienned carrot. Coconut milk is generally the liquid. My favorite brand of coconut milk is Thai Kitchen; it just tastes like fresh coconut, to me. I did not use extra hot chiles, as my husband would not tolerate them, but feel free to use as many as you can stand! 

My Dried Keffir Lime Leaves

Many recipes call for Keffir lime leaves (sometimes spelled Kaffir Lime). I have never yet had the fortune of having a real, fresh Keffir Lime. I hope someday to have that experience and really know the difference between those and Persian limes. Meanwhile, the best I could do with my Thai curry was to use dried Keffir lime leaves. The only place I found them (at the time I was looking, a couple of years back) was Savory Spice Shop, in Colorado. I am sure they are available elsewhere, but this was where I found mine. Keffir limes are indigenous to Southeast Asia and now grow in Hawaii as well. The leaves often have a double leaf, looking like two leaves growing end to end. The fruit's skin is extremely puckery; far moreso than a Persian Lime. Wikipedia has an excellent photo of both the fruit and the double leaves. 

Dried Shiitake Mushrooms

The recipe turned out very well, overall. The flavors were great and everything cooked just as I wanted, meaning nothing was too overcooked. I believe that Thai flavors are not really my preferred flavors. While the meal was truly delicious, had it been an Indian Curry, I would have loved it far more. I just love some of the warm Indian spices more than Thai flavors. Regardless, I may be in a great minority on that, so do not let that stop anyone from trying this dish. It really was wonderful. 

Thai Green Curried Chicken

Serves 4 to 6

2 pounds skinless, boneless chicken breast (about 4), partially frozen

Thai Green Curried Chicken

3 tablespoons soy sauce
4 dried Shiitake mushrooms
2 teaspoons coconut oil
1 onion, in wedges or cubes
4 - 8 tablespoons Thai Green Curry Paste
1 can coconut milk (not sweetened)
2 carrots, peeled, julienned
1 green or red bell pepper, cut in cubes
2 - 4 Thai chilies, optional
3 cloves garlic, minced finely
3 - 4 tablespoons fresh ginger, minced finely
2 Keffir lime leaves, or 1 - 2 teaspoons lime zest
fresh cilantro leaves, as garnish
roasted cashews for garnish

Slice the chicken across the grain of the meat, into thin slices. Set them into a bowl and toss with the soy sauce. Set the Shiitake mushrooms to soak in about 1 1/2 cups boiled water. Cover and allow them to reconstitute for at least 20 minutes. Heat the coconut oil in a very large skillet or wok and cook the chicken, about half the pieces at a time. They need only be partially cooked. Removed them to a plate when done. Add the onions to the skillet and saute them for about 3 to 4 minutes. Add in the Thai Green Curry Paste and stir until fragrant, about 1 to 2 minutes. Add in the coconut milk and stir to combine. Add in the vegetables, garlic and ginger with the lime leaves and return the chicken to the skillet. Stir together carefully and allow to simmer for 15 to 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. Garnish with cilantro leaves and cashews. Best served over white rice.

My passion is teaching people how to create a harmony of flavors with their cooking, and passing along my love and joy of food, both simple or exotic, plain or fancy. I continue my journey in ethnic and domestic cuisines, continuing my journey to explore diverse culinary experiences and hopefully to start you on a journey of your own. Join me also at A Harmony of Flavors on Facebook, and Pinterest.

Making Thai Green Curry Paste; a Midwest Adventure

To start, I must first admit to knowing very little of Thai cuisine. Along with that, while I haven't made it a quest to find good Thai restaurants, I have been unimpressed with those I have tried. To date, the one time I ate at a Thai restaurant and enjoyed a soup (one of the Tom Yum, with chicken), it was at some little hole-in-the-wall place in the middle of nowhere, California, while on a trip. Admittedly, if it wasn't for my daughter in law, Julia, who is a true Thai food fan, I would never have eaten at that Thai place, or any other!

Ever since, I have been curious. Though, as I said, I have been unimpressed with any places I have tried since. When I read recipes, they do not inspire me. They just do not jump out as interesting. I know Thai food is supposed to be quite healthy; generally simple ingredients. Maybe that is part of the problem. I tend to love anything that has a multitude of ingredients going on. Indian cuisine just so completely engulfs my imagination and my palate. A list of 20 ingredients, with 15 of them spices - that is something I love.

Thai Green Curry Paste

Somewhere I saw a recipe for Thai Green Curry Paste and thought the ingredients sounded good together. I sat down to create what I thought would be good ingredients for a recipe of my own. In general, some things seem to be ubiquitous in any TGCP  recipe: cilantro, green chiles, lemongrass, fresh galangal (preferred) or ginger, garlic, Keffir Lime (preferred) or regular lime, coriander, cumin, pepper and some kind of oil and a fish sauce. Other possible additions are things like shallot, Thai Basil, shrimp paste, coriander roots, turmeric, soy sauce. 

I read one person's blog, very obviously a Thai person, who emphatically stated that Keffir limes are not to be substituted with Keffir lime leaves. They stated that this would be like saying if you didn't have an orange, you could use orange leaves instead. There is no resemblance. This makes sense. I have dried Keffir lime leaves in my spice cabinet, but no way to get the actual Keffir limes. I realize that Keffir and Persian limes also have no resemblance, but the regular Persian limes were all I had. Likewise, I had fresh ginger, but no way to get fresh galangal (a cousin to ginger, but with much stronger, more pungent flavor, said to help reduce fishy flavors). Where I live, I cannot get fresh lemongrass, though there are those tubes (Gourmet Garden brand, Lemongrass) in the grocery, stating Lemongrass Paste on the front, though the ingredient list contains other things to "stabilize" the ingredients or whatever. Still, it was the best I could do. Such times as I have been able to acquire fresh lemongrass, I have never been able to make the inner white parts smooth. Unless I slice exceptionally thinly across the lower stem, there are just fibrous bits in there.

Thai Green Chilies are also not available everywhere here. Generally Serrano and Jalapeno are the most accessible. Since my husband would not tolerate too much heat anyway, and if I want him to taste-test my experiments, I used seeded jalapenos, definitely at the lower end of the heat spectrum. If you want more heat, keep the seeds, of whichever chili is preferred. Fish sauce or shrimp paste? Nope. I could probably get one of those items, but if it tasted fishy, again my husband would not touch it. I have been able to sneak a little anchovy paste into a Caesar's Salad occasionally, but I would never use a fish sauce for anything else, so it would be a waste to keep. 

Okay, with all this in mind, it is obvious that my "Thai" Green Curry Paste is a very Americanized, upper-midwest-grainbelt sort of interpretation. Still, the flavors turned out an interesting mix; bright, clean, not-too-hot, a little bitter and very green. One recipe I saw said to use whole limes, skin and all. This captured my taste-imagination, so I did that. I am sure that is where the bitter notes came in. Had I used Keffir Lime peel and galangal, I would likely have some pungent bitter notes as well. Most authentic recipes call for pounding all the ingredients in a mortar and pestle. I have many mortars and pestles; none large enough to accommodate this many ingredients. Instead I used my Vita-Mix Blender, which comes with a plunger that allows one to push down the ingredients and keep blending. Using a regular blender might require stopping and starting numerous times, including starting out with some ingredients cut very small, or pre-ground. So, this is what I did:

Thai Green Curry Paste

This makes about 2 cups.

1 large bunch fresh coriander, stems and all
6 green jalapeno chilies, stemmed and seeded
2 shallots
5 Tablespoons Gourmet Garden Lemongrass Paste
4 large cloves garlic
1 chunk fresh ginger, about golf ball size, skin left on, cut in smaller chunks
2 whole limes, washed and cut in chunks
1 teaspoon coriander seeds
1 teaspoon cumin seeds
1 teaspoon peppercorns (white, if available)
3 - 4 tablespoons oil (I used olive; all I had on hand - not very "Thai", I know)
1 tablespoon soy sauce

In a dry skillet over high heat, toast the coriander, cumin and pepper for a few minutes until fragrant. Place into the blender, along with all the rest of the ingredients. Blend, stopping as necessary to stir down ingredients, until the paste is as smooth as possible.

A good measure is 1½ to 2 tablespoons per person for a Thai Curry. Freeze it in portions to have on hand. I made 4 tablespoon (¼ cup) portions, since there are two of us in the house. I use the little old-fashioned sandwich baggies with a flap, put the paste into one corner, tie a little knot in top and freeze these little portions of anything (Red Curry Paste, leftover tomato paste, etc.) 

For use, in general, heat some oil in a pan and add in the Curry Paste to release flavors, add in coconut milk, vegetables (peppers, zucchini, carrots, peas and/or chicken or shrimp) and cook to desired doneness. Additions might be chicken stock, Thai basil, a pinch of sugar. I will be trying this out in the very near future. The paste also tasted wonderful raw, so it could also make something in a RAW food diet taste marvelous.



My passion is teaching people how to create a harmony of flavors with their cooking, and passing along my love and joy of food, both simple or exotic, plain or fancy. I continue my journey in ethnic and domestic cuisines, continuing my journey to explore diverse culinary experiences and hopefully to start you on a journey of your own. Join me also at A Harmony of Flavors on Facebook, and Pinterest.