Thai Signature Dish
Thai green curry is without a doubt one of the most popular dishes to come out of Thailand. Only tom yum goong can rival green curry as the signature dish of Thailand. One of the reasons why Thai green curry is such a favorite in Thai restaurants is that it contains coconut milk that gives it a rich and delicious flavor.
Coconut milk
There are now several brands of coconut milk available in shops and online. Recommended is Thai Kitchen Pure Coconut milk. There are no preservatives added and the milk is made from the first pressing of coconuts. If you open a can of coconut milk and notice that some of the liquid is thicker and some thinner don’t be alarmed – the coconut milk has not gone off. Rather the thick and thin coconut milk has separated. This is not a bad thing as some dishes require the use of thick coconut milk, others thin coconut milk. For green curry both types are required.
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The hardest part about making Thai green curry is to make the curry paste. Below are the ingredients needed to make the paste. If you don’t have the patience then you can often buy the green curry paste already made.
Ingredients for Green Curry Paste:
4 small green chilies
1 onion/shallot, diced
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 thumb-size piece galangal or ginger, grated
1 stalk fresh minced lemongrass or 3 tsp. frozen or bottled lemongrass
1/2 tsp. ground coriander
1/2 tsp. ground cumin
3/4 to 1 tsp. shrimp paste
1 (loose) cup fresh cilantro leaves and stems, chopped
1/2 tsp. ground white pepper
3 tsp. fish sauce
1 tsp. brown sugar
2 tsp. lime juice
You can normally find cilantro, lemon grass and galangal from specialist shops. As with all dishes using fresh ingredients for flavor is best.
Instructions for making Thai Green Curry
1) Put the ingredients for the green curry paste into a food blender and blend into a paste. If the ingredients are too dry you can add a drop of water or coconut milk. Blend until all the ingredients make a thick pungent paste.
Ingredients for Thai green curry
About 0.7 kg boneless chicken thigh or breast, cut into chunks
1 can of coconut milk
4 kaffir lime leaves
1 red bell pepper, seeded and cut into chunks
1 zucchini or eggplant, sliced lengthwise several times, then cut into chunks
2 tsp. coconut oil
(For kaffir leaves it’s possible to use lime zest instead.)
Instructions for making Thai Green curry
1) Heat wok and add coconut oil. When the oil is hot add the green curry paste to the wok and cook for a few seconds to release the aroma of the paste.
2) Add coconut milk and chicken chunks. Reduce heat to simmer and cook until the chicken chunks are tender.
3) Add the zucchini (or eggplant) and red bell pepper and cook until the vegetables are soft.
4) Finally add sugar, salt and fish sauce (nam pla) to taste. You can add more coconut milk and sugar if the curry is too spicy.
Thai green curry combines spicy, sweet and sour tastes in a way that is uniquely Thai. Finding the right balance between these elements is one of the fundamentals of Thai cuisine.
Serve Thai green curry in a bowl with a plate of white rice to the side. You can easily substitute the chicken for tofu to make the dish suitable for vegetarians and vegans. Moreover, coconut milk is free of lactose and so is suitable for people who suffer from lactose intolerance.
Benefits of coconut milk and coconut oil
There is a battle going on in the media and academia about which fats are bad for humans. The orthodoxy is that polyunsaturated fats are healthy and saturated fats are unhealthy. Since the recognition of trans fats found in polyunsaturated fats people have begun to question the orthodox position. Such notable nutritionists as Mary Enig point out that it is to the length of the fatty acid chain in fats that we must look. Polyunsaturated fats such as soy, corn and sunflower contain mostly long chain fatty acids that the body finds it hard to break down into energy. In contrast the medium chain fatty acids in coconut oil are readily metabolized by the body and converted into energy not body fat.
Coconut oil is special in that it also contains significant amounts of lauric acid that is also found in breast milk. Lauric acid becomes monolaurin when digested that is an antimicrobial agent that protects the body from viral attacks.
Finally, coconut oil has been connected with thyroid activity. Coconut oil stimulates the thyroid gland that in turn improves the immunity system. Tests with rats fed coconut oil and corn oil and subjected to cancer inducing injections revealed that 32% of the corn fed rats developed cancer whereas only 3% of the rats fed on coconut oil developed cancer.