Veg Thai Green Curry
Veg Thai Green Curry is a robust and flavourful curry from Thailand which is made using Thai Green Curry Paste, coconut milk and assorted veggies. Thai green curry gets it green colour from the Green Chillies used in the curry paste. There are other variations like the Thai Red Curry and Thai Yellow Curry too. This curry is one of the most popular dish in the Thai cuisine and is relished across the globe.
Thai Curry is traditionally served with Jasmine Rice and tastes really comforting and homely when had piping out. In terms of the taste and flavour, it is not that alienated from our Indian palette as most of the ingredients used in the curry like coconut milk, coriander seeds, cumin, shallots, coriander, lime etc. are also quite commonly in our Indian cuisine.
Thai Green Curry is traditionally a non-vegetarian dish, however the vegetarian version is quite easily available these days in most restaurants. It is important to note that the Thai Green Paste also traditionally contains shrimp paste and sometimes fish sauce, so even if you order a veg version, make sure to check that the curry paste does not contain these ingredients if you are a vegetarian.
I was so excited to taste this dish during my visit to Thailand as it is one of my favourite curries, but alas most of the restaurants that we enquired either had shrimp paste in their curry paste or could not answer me back in English, hence did not want to take a chance! It was really a shame to not have tasted this wonderful dish in my 10 days of trip in Thailand! Nevertheless, over the years now, I have practiced and almost perfected this dish at home and really make it very often (at least once in two weeks).
The heart and soul of a good Thai Green Curry is in the Green Curry paste used in the dish. This curry paste is the only spice blend used in the curry, hence your Thai Curry tastes only as good as the curry paste. Though there are numerous ready to use Thai Green Curry paste available in the market, nothing matches the freshness and the taste of a freshly made curry paste. I always make my own curry paste and will be giving you all the tips and tricks for making a lip-smacking paste.
Thai Green Curry paste demands some peculiar ingredients and trust me using these authentic ingredients makes miles of difference in the taste of flavour, so try procuring as many as these Thai ingredients for the best results. Of all the ingredients, there are 3 ingredients which I feel are a must for the best taste – Galangal, Lemon Grass and Thai Basil. However, for many it might be a challenge to source these ingredients in the place you might be staying, so I am providing some of the closer alternatives for some of these ingredients (if not all):
Thai Green Chillies – Normally, the green version of Thai Bird’s eye chilli is used in the green curry paste. You could use our regular Indian green chillies especially the small dark green chillies instead.
Kaffir Lime – The skin of Kaffir lime is traditionally used in the curry paste, but if you are not able to find this, you can use the skin of a large lime and would not make much of a difference.
Kaffir Lime Leaves – This ingredient is not used in the curry paste, however added while cooking the curry for the extra citrusy flavour. If you cannot source this, just add some lime juice instead.
Shallots – If shallots are not available, Madras small onions work well as a replacement
Galangal – Though Galangal looks quite similar to Ginger but has quite a different taste and flavour. It is really a core ingredient and suggest not to replace it, however if you are unable to find this, you can use regular ginger.
Thai Basil – Thai Basil is different from Italian basil and has a sharper flavour which works best for the flavour of the curry, however if you are not able to find this, you can use Italian basil. Thai basil has longer and slightly thinner leaves as compared to Italian basil.
Lemon Grass – This ingredient is an absolute must in the curry paste and I cannot think of a substitute. It is easily available in India these days and is used in making tea in many households.
Lastly, here are few tips for making a perfect Thai Green Curry:
Pestle & Mortar: The Thai curry paste is traditionally made by pounding all the ingredients in a stone pestle and mortar and if you have one, I highly recommend to use this method to the paste as it slowly releases the oil and flavours by pounding as compared to using a mixer. Though this method would take longer, but worth all the effort and time spent!
Veggies: It is important to keep the veggies crunchy in the Thai curry. So I prefer blanching some of the veggies like broccoli, baby corn, carrots etc. rather than cooking in the curry completely. Similarly, I flash fry the other veggies like bell peppers, zucchini, mushrooms and add finally in the curry to retain the crunch and colour.
Thai Basil: I like to add a few basil leaves in the curry paste to enhance the colour and flavour (though the main colour comes from green chillies). However, the main flavour of Thai Basil comes from the final addition to the curry once it is cooked by just tearing few leaves and tossing it in.
Coconut Milk: Use only the first extract coconut milk for this gravy, else the gravy could turn out thin and does not blend well while having with the rice.
Serving Suggestion
Veg Thai Green Curry tastes best when served piping hot with fragrant Jasmine rice. If you do not have Jasmine rice, Basmati rice works great too. A Raw Papaya Som Tam salad on the side would be refreshing too.
Veg Thai Green Curry
Equipment
- 1 Stone Pestle & Mortar
- 1 Wok
- Measuring Cups & Spoons
Ingredients
For Thai Green Curry Paste
- 5 Green Chillies
- 1½ inch Galangal
- 3 Lemon Grass
- 8-10 Shallots or Small Madras Onion
- 7-8 Garlic Cloves
- 10-12 Thai Basil Leaves
- 1 Kaffir Lime or Large Indian Lime
- 1 tbsp Coriander Seeds
- 1 tsp Cumin Seeds or Jeera
- 1 tsp White or Black Peppercorn
- 3-4 Coriander root with stem and some leaves
For Curry
- 2 cups First Extract Coconut Milk (roughly 500 ml)
- 2 Carrots
- 10 Baby Corn
- 1 small Broccoli
- 1 Yellow Zucchini
- 1 Red Capsicum
- 200 grams Mushroom
- 10 Thai Basil Leaves
- 2 Kaffir Lime Leaves
- 1 Thick Fresh Red Chilli
- 1½ tbsp Brown Sugar
- 1 tsp Soya Sauce
- 4-5 tbsp Oil
- Salt to taste
Instructions
- Remove the outer layer of the Lemon grass till you get the tender stalk inside. Chop them in small pieces.
- Carefully peel the outer thin layer of the Kaffir Lime or regular Indian lime. Make sure not to get upto the thick white layer inside as it would be bitter. You could also grate the lemon skin to get lemon rind.
- Dry roast the coriander seeds and cumin till they are aromatic.
- For making the Thai Green Curry paste, assemble all the ingredients as shown in the image.
- Take a pestle and mortar and add the roasted coriander seeds, cumin and peppercorn and grind to a fine powder.
- Keep this spice powder aside.
- Now add the shallots, garlic, galangal, green chillies and some salt and pound well to make a coarse paste. Keep this aside.
- Now add all the remaining ingredients – lemon grass, basil leaves, chopped coriander roots, stem & leaves, basil leaves and pound all together. This step shall take a while till you get a smooth paste.
- Now add the previously pound onion, garlic, galangal and chillies paste to the pestle and mortar, and also add the ground spice mix and pound together well till it becomes a homogeneous paste.
- Add juice of half a lime to this mix and keep aside. Thai Green Curry Paste is ready.
- Dice the veggies as shown.
- Cook the baby corn and carrots in boiling water with salt for 6 to7 minutes. Drain the veggies from water and keep aside.
- In the same water, add the broccoli florets and cook for 3 to 4 minutes. Transfer it immediately into cold water to retain the fresh green colour.
- Heat a wok, and add some oil and flash fry the diced zucchini on high flame with some salt for 4 to 5 minutes till they are just cooked. Keep aside.
- Now flash fry the red capsicum cubes on high flame and keep aside.
- Finally fry the mushrooms on high flame till they are golden in colour and keep aside.
- In the same wok, heat 2 tablespoons of oil and add the Thai green curry paste. Cook for 3 to 4 minutes on medium flame while stirring in between. Add a splash of water to prevent it from sticking to the wok.
- Now add 1 cup of coconut milk and while mixing it well, bring to boil on a medium flame.
- Add brown sugar and soya sauce and little vegetable stock as required and mix well. If you have Kaffir lime leaves you could tear the leaves into two and add at this stage.
- Now add the cooked baby corn and carrots and bring to a gentle boil.
- Add the remaining coconut milk and stir well. Continue to cook on medium flame while stirring continuously. Add salt as required.
- Now add the cooked broccoli and zucchini and give it a quick stir. Cook for one minute.
- Finally add the roasted red capsicum and fresh Thai basil leaves roughly torn using hands. Give it a quick stir and turn off the flame.
- You can optionally garnish with some chopped fresh red chillies (less spicy version) to make it more appealing and also add some heat to the dish.
Notes
- Using the pestle and mortar for pounding the Thai Green Curry paste ingredients gives the best flavour and taste. It is a time consuming process involving hard work but worth the effort. You could also use mixer grinder if you want to avoid the pounding process. A Cheat trick if you want to take the mid-way is to initially pound the ingredients for few minutes so that the essential oils come out and then you could blitz in the mixer.
- I have used 5 green chillies in this recipe which are fairly hot. You could adjust the amount of green chillies as per the heat level that you want.
- Make sure to clean the coriander roots well to get rid of any grit. Addition of basil leaves and some coriander leaves in addition to the root and stem of coriander gives a good colour and flavour to the curry paste.
- You can also cook the Thai Curry Paste by reducing the coconut milk first and then adding the Thai Curry paste. This method works best if your coconut milk is somewhat thin.
- You could use any veggies of your choice in this recipe, however the ones that I have used are my personal favourite and pairs well in this curry. You could also include Tofu, Cauliflower, beans etc.
- You could also cook the veggies like carrots, broccoli etc. in the curry itself but you have to be careful to keep mixing so that the coconut milk does get split in the process of cooking. Either be the way of cooking, make sure to keep the veggies crunchy and not overcook or discolour them.
- Adding brown sugar or regular sugar is important to bring out some additional sweetness to the dish (coconut milk also sweetens the curry) and balance the spice and citrus notes.
- Make sure to add fresh Thai Basil leaves right at the end as garnishing and it’s flavours would be best retained.
