One of the wonderful foods I have discovered since i came to live in the UK is (somewhat
ironically) Thai green curry. From time to time I get together with a Thai friend and some of our mutual pals and cook up enough Thai green curry to feed an army! We've all developed our own little twists to our Thai friend's "old school" recipe.
My twist is to make the curry less hot and a little sweeter - a little more like a Japanese curry, you might say. That's not to say the original isn't great but I have to confess, I prefer my curries a little on the milder side. So what is the secret to a fragrant Thai curry? What's the thing that sets it apart? In my opinion, it's grachai (also known as finger root, krachai, chinese ginger or galangal). Apart from the health benefits of this little wonder root, grachai imparts what I think everyone can identify as the unique taste of a Thai curry.
You can find grachai in health food stores and asian supermarkets. You can also find it online. When i make Thai curry, I like to pair it with some Thai black rice or a mix of black & brown rice. Of course, fresh steamed Thai rice will be equally good - I just like the texture and nutty taste of black rice paired with Thai curry.
If you'd like to try out my recipe, you can find the youtube tutorial by clicking Thai Green curry or scroll to the bottom of the page. The written recipe is just below.
Happy cooking! Kurumi XXXX.
For a Thai dish that's a little different, why not try my Thai spicy Minced pork recipe.
Thai Green curry
ingredients:
(makes 4 servings)
400g chicken breast
120g green beans
1 sweet pointed pepper
50g thai grachai/krachai* (optional), rinsed
120g bamboo shoots (tinned, rinsed a few times then soaked in water)
1 tin coconut milk
1-1.5 tbsp green curry paste
2 tsp vegetable oil
2 tbsp fish sauce
1.5 tbsp brown sugar**
15g basil leaves
*krachai/ grachai is a thai root vegetable with a very distinct, piquant flavour (it’s a member of the ginger family.) you can buy it from chinese and other asian supermarkets
**if you have palm sugar, this is a better choice than brown sugar
how to:
halve the chicken breast in lengthways, then slice into bite sized pieces
scrape the grachai to remove the skin, rinse again & slice thinly
trim off the ends of the green beans & halve
cut the pepper in half lengthways, deseed & slice thinly
put the vegetable oil, green curry paste & 2 tbsp of the coconut cream from the top of the tin in a saucepan, stir over medium high heat until fragrant & darkened (this takes about 1-2 mins)
add & fry the chicken until nearly cooked, then add the fish sauce & grachai and stir fry for 2-3 mins
add the coconut milk, beans, red pepper & bamboo shoots and stir, then add the sugar and mix & cook for 5-7 mins
add & stir the basil and serve with a rice variety of your choice