Known in Thai as "Gaeng Keaow Wan" (Sweet green curry), this is probably the most famous of all Thai dishes and can be made as spicy or as sweet as you like to suit all palates. Here we have used ingredients that you should be able to find in most Western supermarkets:
- 150g chicken breast (sliced or cubed depending on your taste)
- 2 tbsp cooking oil (Soya Bean is best if you can find it)
- 1-2 tbsp Thai green curry paste (This is what makes it spicy)
- ½ cup coconut cream (either fresh or canned, again depending on what you can find)
- 1 cup coconut milk
- 1 cup pea eggplant (if you can find it - otherwise regular eggplant cut into small pieces will do)
- 5 kaffir leaves with the stems removed and ripped up into small pieces
- Thai fish sauce (this is the ingredient that gives it that authentic Thai flavour)
- 1 tsp sugar
- A handful of sweet basil leaves
- 1-2 long red chillies diagonally sliced (red bell pepper will do but of course it lacks the heat of real chillies)
Heat the oil in a sauce pan over medium heat until it is hot enough to sizzle when splashed with water. Add the curry paste and keep stirring it to prevent the paste from burning. Cook for just half a minute until then add the coconut cream and the chicken. Cook until you can see no more pink on the chicken (add a little extra cooking time if you use large cubes of chicken, to make sure it's cooked through at the end). By now you will have a thick sauce. Turn the heat down so that you have a low boil and then add the eggplant, kaffir lime leaves, a dash of fish sauce, the sugar and finally the coconut milk. Keep it at a low boil for a few more minutes to blend all the flavours and ensure the chicken is cooked through. During these last few minutes you can check the flavour and add more fish sauce / salt / sugar / etc to get the taste you want. To regulate the level of spice you can add more curry paste or chillies to make it hotter or more coconut milk or cream to cool it down. Once you're happy and everything is cooked then remove it from the stove and transfer into serving bowl. Garnish with sweet basil leaves and serve with rice.
Source: EzineArticles
