Thai green chicken curry with Jasmine rice

This fragrant Thai green chicken curry is so spicy and aromatic. You need surprisingly few ingredients to make this curry, but it packs a punch that Mohammed Ali himself would have been proud of. Add your own choice of vegetables and make this easy dish yourself in only 30 minutes.

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Thai green chicken curry

This Thai green chicken curry is an explosion of flavour. It’s fragrant and aromatic, yet spicy at the same time. It has sweetness from coconut milk and sourness from limes. It has bitterness from lemongrass, saltiness from fish sauce and heat from the Thai curry paste. This is a dish that will make you want to lick your plate clean.

It also contains lots of vegetables, so all you will need to turn this delicious Thai green chicken curry into a family feast is a dish of fragrant Jasmine white rice.

Yet in spite of all the flavours it is surprisingly easy to make, and needs only a few ingredients.

If you enjoy Thai food as much as I do, you are going to love this recipe. Why not try this other recipe for Pad Thai Noodles too.

What ingredients do you need?

You will need chicken. I like to use chicken breasts because the short cooking time in this recipe leaves them so moist and juicy, but you could use boneless chicken thighs instead if you prefer.

For flavouring you will need Thai green curry paste from a jar, but if you have extra time on your hands you could make your own homemade Thai green curry paste. I used approximately half of a 197g (7oz) bottle of paste – 1 tablespoon for the marinade and the rest for the curry sauce.

To enhance the flavours of the curry paste, add some lemongrass paste, garlic and ginger. Other flavourings that you will need are fish sauce, sugar and the juice and zest of one small lime.

For convenience, you can use bottled lemongrass paste but if you happen to have fresh lemongrass you can use that instead.

For the vegetables, you will need potatoes (optional), onions, pak choi and green beans. I’ve used red onions as that was all I had, but you could use white onions instead. You can actually use whatever vegetables you like in this dish. Broccoli and sugar snap peas, baby corn and courgettes, the choice is yours.

How to make Thai green chicken curry

Once the easy prep is done, this dish is ready in less than half an hour.

You can get the complete list of ingredients and full instructions on the printable recipe card at the end of this post.

The first step is to cut the chicken into bite-sized pieces and get it into a marinade. The marinade is simply made by mixing one tablespoon of Thai green curry paste with 2 tablespoons of cornflour and then coating the chicken. Leave the chicken in the marinade for a few minutes while you prepare the vegetables and then fry the chicken in a little sunflower oil until it starts to brown.

Fry it in batches over a high heat so that it browns nicely. A low heat will cause the chicken to lose moisture and will make it tough. Reserve any leftover marinade to add the the sauce.

Once browned remove the chicken from the pan and set aside. There is no need to cook the chicken through completely. It will finish cooking in the curry sauce.

Prepare the vegetables

While the chicken is marinating you can prepare the vegetables. Peel and chop 4 medium-sized potatoes (one per person), put them in a pan of cold salted water and bring to the boil. Let the potatoes boil for 4 minutes (no longer) then drain and set aside. I like to par-boil the potatoes as this gives them a head-start in the cooking process, and ensures that they will be fully cooked when the sauce is ready.

Cut the onions into approximately 1″ pieces, cut the beans into 2″ lengths and roughly chop the pak choi.

Zest the lime, taking care to take only the outermost green part. Then cut the lime in half and squeeze the juice into a cup.

Peel the ginger and garlic and chop very finely. Alternatively, you could use the equivalent amount of garlic and ginger from a jar.

Make the sauce

Fry the onions with the garlic and the curry pasts in the same pan that the chicken was fried (you may need an additional tablespoon of oil) until the onions turn translucent. Frying the curry past first allows the flavours to develop. Add the coconut milk, the lemongrass, the ginger, the fish sauce, the lime (juice and zest) and the sugar. If there is any leftover marinade, add this too. If you want a touch more sourness, add the squeezed lime halves and remove them just before serving.

Bring the sauce to a boil and taste for flavour. Adjust if necessary. Then add the chicken, the par-boiled potatoes, the green beans and the pak choi. Cover with a lid, turn down the heat and let it simmer for about 20 minutes until the chicken is cooked through and the vegetables are tender.

I haven’t included salt in this recipe as the fish sauce is quite salty. Taste and add salt if required.

If the sauce is too thin you can thicken it with a slurry of cornflour and water. Just drizzle it into the curry slowly, over a low heat, stirring all the while, until the sauce has thickened to your liking.

Garnish with chopped coriander and serve immediately with a side dish of jasmine rice.

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Can I freeze Thai Green Chicken Curry?

Yes, you can freeze any leftovers. Just allow them to cool and then pack them into a rigid plastic container. Freeze for up to 3 months.

Just bear in mind when freezing this curry that the texture of the vegetables may alter slightly on freezing and they may lose their crispness once defrosted and re-heated.

To reheat – defrost and then tip into a large saucepan. Heat gently until piping hot.

Any leftover rice can also be successfully frozen and reheated.

Can I make this dish in advance?

Yes, you can make this dish and store it, covered, in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.

Reheat in a saucepan on the stove or in the microwave.

The rice can also be stored in the refrigerator for the same length of time.

What can I use instead of chicken?

You can make this Thai green curry recipe with a variety of different proteins.

Any of these will work well

• raw shrimp or prawns – marinate as per the chicken, fry until they turn pink, but only add to the curry once the vegetables are softened, about 5 minutes before the end of the cooking time.
• firm white fish (such as cod or haddock) cut into cubes. Marinate as per the chicken and fry carefully until just cooked. Add the fish cubes to the curry once the vegetables are softened, about 5 minutes before the end of the cooking time. Take care not to stir in too vigorously or the fish make break into flakes.
• pork – use a cut of pork from the leg, or even the tenderloin, as this will require less cooking time than shoulder or belly pork. Slice the pork thinly, then follow the recipe, substituting the pork for chicken.
• beef – use any good cut of beef steak, or topside or sirloin, thinly sliced. Follow the recipe, substituting the beef for the chicken.

You may also like to try these other spicy recipes

• Easy chilli con carne
• Creole Jambalaya with chicken and shrimp
• Quick and easy beef trinchado
• Spicy fish and rice bake in tomato sauce

Additional resources

Don’t forget to check out my handy Cookery Conversion Calculator if you want to convert any of your recipe measurements from grams to cups, ounces, tablespoons or millilitres and vice versa. You can also use the calculator for converting oven temperatures between Fahrenheit, Celsius and Gas marks.

If you live at a high altitude you may find you need to adjust your baking recipes to compensate for this. You can read all about it in this post on baking at high altitudes.

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