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Veg Thai Green Curry

Veg Thai Green Curry

Kannan
Veg Thai Green Curry is a robust and flavourful curry from Thailand made using green chillies based Green curry paste, coconut milk and assorted veggies
Prep Time 20 minutes
Cook Time 40 minutes
Total Time 1 hour
Course Main Course
Cuisine Thai
Servings 4 people

Equipment

  • 1 Stone Pestle & Mortar
  • 1 Wok
  • Measuring Cups & Spoons

Ingredients
  

For Thai Green Curry Paste

  • 5 Green Chillies
  • 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
  • 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.
Keyword Assorted Veggies, Coconut milk, Curry, Green Curry, Green Curry Paste, South Asian, Thai Green Curry, Thailand