Thai green chicken curry

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 150g/5½oz green curry paste and a pinch of salt
• 500ml/17fl oz coconut milk
• 2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut horizontally through the middle, then cut into 5mm/¼in thick slices
• 30g/1oz pea aubergines
• 2 Thai aubergines, each cut into 4 wedges
• ½–1 Thai red chilli, sliced diagonally, to taste
• ½–1 Thai green chilli, sliced diagonally, to taste
• 5 kaffir lime leaves
• 2 tablespoons fish sauce
• 30g/1oz palm sugar or light soft brown sugar
• 8 Thai basil leaves or regular basil leaves

Method

A typical Thai green curry has a distinctive consistency – most obviously, it is much thinner than East Asian curries. The main ingredients of the curry paste are fresh aromatic Thai herbs and spicy fresh chillies.

1. Heat a large wok or heavy-based saucepan over a medium heat. Add the oil and stir in the green curry paste and salt. Cook, stirring, for 2 minutes, then add half of the coconut milk and simmer for 5 minutes, until the oil floats to the top and the sauce turns green in colour.

2. Add the chicken, pea aubergines, Thai aubergines, both types of chilli and the kaffir lime leaves and cook for 1 minute, stirring regularly. Stir in the remaining coconut milk and 4 tablespoons of water. Bring to the boil, then reduce the heat and stir in the fish sauce and sugar and simmer for 15 minutes, until the chicken is cooked.

3. Remove the curry from the heat and add the basil. Serve in individual portions, or in one or two large serving bowls for everyone to help themselves, with jasmine rice on the side.

Extracted from Bangkok Thai: The Busaba Cookbook (Sphere, £25) Photography by © Ape Inc. 2018. 

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