I know, I know. The title is extremely long. Allow me to explain.
This post comes from an ultimatum given to me by my one true blog reader, (who hasn’t missed a single post of mine) to post this recipe within 3 business days. Lady Owlette came into my life some 6 years ago, all of 17 years old, and she used to write to me, actually cook from the recipes I’ve posted here, while also juggling with her applications for Fashion school. She is a great cook, a wonderful artist and more than that, a beautiful person. Who knew that I would end up having a little sister from this platform?! All I can say is that I am extremely blessed and grateful. Lady Owlette, if you’re reading this, please consider this as my ultimatum to you for cooking this curry within a week!
I know, I still haven’t explained the title- but as you may have guessed, this is my version of the Thai Green Curry. I was watching The Chef Show on Netflix, some time last year, when I first saw the beauty of this recipe. The recipe belongs to the very famous Jazz Singsanong from Jitlada in Los Angeles. The very process of this recipe in the show was so beautifully shot, I could actually smell the fragrance of the goodness being streamed on my screen. I just HAD to make it. I had no recipe, but I knew the process. I improvised to the best of my ability, and made a trial batch. I tasted a spoonful to check the seasoning, and everything came to a standstill. I guess this is what food harmony feels like. I took some over to my special someone’s house and it was polished off within minutes. It was so good that I couldn’t even click a proper picture of it. It was so good that I had to make it all over again, the following day, for 12 people!
Recently, we were in Thailand for an unplanned vacation, and had some truly disappointing dining experiences. On the top of the disappointing list was the Michelin Star winning Jay Fai in Bangkok, whom we had also discovered through Netflix. It seemed like something that was a MUST DO in Bangkok, but was a total rip-off, with respect to time and money both. The experience was so tiring that it left us exhausted to the point of only trying food that we were extremely comfortable with. I’m talking lots of sticky rice with Mango, fresh fruit overload and Coconut waters aplenty. I was bummed about not getting to have Thai curry, but I guess we’ll have to wait until the next visit. The least that I could do was to make this Thai Curry again, and this time I did manage to click some pictures. If you’re a seasoned cook, maybe you could watch the episode on Netflix and try making this curry as per your perception, but for the uninitiated, here we go!
Thai Green Curry
inspired by Jazz Singsanong on The Chef Show (Netflix)
Serves 4
Easy
Ingredients
For the paste:
3 medium Onions
1 Green Pepper
3 stalks of Lemongrass, finely sliced
An inch of Galangal
10 cloves of Garlic
Kaffir Lime zest (optional)
2 Jalapeños
1 cup Coriander leaves (and stalk/roots), cleaned
A handful of Thai Basil
1 packet of Thai Curry Paste
Salt, to taste
Black Pepper, to taste
For the Curry:
200 gm Chicken, cleaned and portioned into bite sized pieces as per your wish
200 gm Prawns, de-veined
400 ml canned Coconut Cream
Vegetables of choice – You can use Bell Peppers, Baby Corn, Zucchini, Mushrooms, Thai Eggplant, Bok Choy etc. Cut/portioned into even pieces.
8-10 Thai Bird’s Eye Chilies. I kept half of them as is, and half of them slightly bruised with a mallet.
Fish Sauce, to taste
Sugar (optional)
2 handfuls of Thai Basil leaves, washed
6 Jalapeños, finely sliced length wise.
Salt, to taste
Method:
Now, before we begin, I must warn you – This curry contains a lot of chilies! Feel free to add/subtract as per your liking. The cooking of this curry is also unconventional in many ways.
Roughly chop up all the ingredients for the curry paste, and blend along with some water to adjust the consistency. You’ll get a beautifully intense, green paste. Your eyes may water due to the chilies, so don’t be alarmed! Add some black pepper to this paste and leave it aside.
Heat up a wok on high heat. Once the wok is smoking hot, add in the canned Coconut Cream. I like to use Coconut Cream as opposed to Coconut milk for a creamier texture. Add in the Green Curry paste and stir. Cook this mixture thoroughly until it starts to reduce, and turns almost brown from the sides. This would take a good 10-15 minutes. Add in the Thai Bird’s Eye Chilies. Season with Fish Sauce/Salt. I also added the leftover stalks of Lemongrass and Kaffir Lime leaves to the mixture just to make it more fragrant.
In the meanwhile, on a separate stove, boil some water. Once the water comes to a boil, turn the heat down to simmer and begin steaming all the add-in’s, one by one. Miss Singsanong recommends steaming every vegetable and protein that goes inside the curry, separately. It makes for a much cleaner flavour profile. I started with steaming the chicken slices for approximately 4 minutes before I added them into the curry. I used a big strainer to make my life easier by placing the strainer in the pot of simmering water (something like a double boiler). I then steamed all the vegetables, one at a time for a minute each, and then added to the curry. The only ingredient I added directly to my curry was Prawns, only because they cook quickly.
Once you’ve added the Prawns, give the curry not more than 1 minute before you turn off the stove, and garnish with all that Holy Basil. There’s nothing like too much Basil here. Also add half of the sliced Jalapeños. Garnish with more Basil and sliced Jalapeños while serving. Best had with Steamed Jasmine Rice!
If you’ve watched the episode, you’ll hear Chef Roy Choi say when he serves up this dish, “Jitlada à la Favreau”. Now that I’ve added my own twist to this twisted, unapologetic, unconventional, lip-smacking version of a Thai Green Curry, I’m gonna call it Thai Green Curry à la Caramel Wings à la Jitlada à la Favreau! Enjoy!
Note:
– If the curry gets too spicy, you can adjust with more Coconut milk.
– I used the packaged Thai Curry Paste because I had no Shrimp Paste on hand.
– You can make this recipe completely Vegan by using Vegan curry paste, Salt instead of Fish Sauce and omitting the non vegetarian add-ins.
– Miss Singsanong left all the seeds intact on all the chilies, feel free to take the seeds out if you wish.
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