The curry sure didn't look green while I was cooking it. It was more of a grey dull color but the green did show up eventually. Phew! When I first cooked this dish from Chef Wan's Simply Sedap, I was very diligent and pounded the spice paste by hand. But today, I am lazy and used my blender.
I am not certain if this is the same as Thai Green Curry but it tastes very similar. I had a green curry at a Thai restaurant in Taman Tun Dr Ismail a while back and it was very good. If I remember correctly, besides chicken, there were sweet potatoes and small brinjals in that curry.
The spice paste is very pungent and aromatic. It has a very robust flavor profile and may not suite everyone. One thing to keep in mind is to make sure your dry spices - coriander, fennel seeds and white peppercorns are fresh. Do check for any seeds that have gone bad or it will spoil your spice paste. I once realized that my peppercorns had already gone musty after I made the spice paste and sure enough, my curry smelled funny.
The vegetable in Chef Wan's recipe is brinjals, cut into small pieces and deep fried. I thought that was interesting and followed, except that I didn't cut all the brinjals into small pieces.
This curry goes really well white plain white rice. The aromatic gravy just makes you want to eat more and more. Not exactly something you would want if you are on a diet. If you love Thai Green Curry, then this curry is for you.
Green Curry Chicken (Opor Ayam Hijau)
Recipe source : Adapted from Chef Wan's Simply Sedap (page 108)
Ingredients :
- 4 chicken legs, cut into 4 pieces each
- 200ml coconut milk
- 100 ml water
- 5 small eggplants, cut into small pieces and deep fried
- A handful of Basil leaves (Daun Selasih)
Finely ground paste :
- 4 green chillies (I removed the seeds)
- 1 big onion
- 10 shallots
- 4 coriander root
- 1 inch ginger
- 2 stalks lemongrass
- 4 kafir lime leaves
- 1 teaspoon belacan (shrimp paste)
- 1.5 tablespoons coriander seeds, toasted
- 1.5 tablespoons fennel seeds, toasted
- 1/2 tablespoon white peppercorns, toasted
Method :
1. Heat oil and saute finely ground paste until fragrant.
2. Add the chicken pieces and stir to coat with spice paste.
3. Pour in the water and coconut milk and simmer until chicken is tender and gravy is thick.
4. Stir in the eggplants.
5. Season with salt and sugar.
6. Add basil leaves and remove from heat.
I am linking this post to the event, Little Thumbs Up organised by Zoe of Bake for Happy Kids and Doreen of My Little Favourite DIY and hosted by Ms B of Everybody Eats Well in Flanders.
This post is also linked to Cook-Your-Books #1 hosted by Joyce of Kitchen Flavours.
This post is also linked to Cook-Your-Books #1 hosted by Joyce of Kitchen Flavours.
This is simply delicious. I remember the first time i eat green curry was during a flight to KK with air asia.
ReplyDeleteHi Jozelyn! You can cook this green curry at home and adjust the ingredients to your taste. The curry tastes better the next day.
DeleteHi Phong Hong, delicious curry lah.... I want extra rice please. :) You want the green to look nice must use jalapeno or Thai green chillies. Our local green chilli the colour after cook look very dull.
ReplyDeleteAnyway as long as the taste is good, colour does not matter.
Have a nice weekend.
Hi Amelia, I also like a lot of rice with this curry. Must kacau the gravy with the rice then only very shiok! OK, next time I will look for the jalapeno or Thai chillis.
DeleteI have not try cooking green curry before though I tasted this many years back and it is good and delicious. Got to try cooking it at home one day
ReplyDeleteMel, I hope you try cooking this curry at home. Very worth the effort because it is very delicious.
DeleteYour green curry is lemak and looks yummy I have not cook this before but have eaten afew times in Thai restaurant must make a try one of these days
ReplyDeleteEE, thank you! You must cook this curry and make Thai kerabu to go with it.
DeleteKak Phong Hong,
ReplyDeleteI need extra rice for this.
Look so lemak and delish!
Try adding some coriander leaves when grounding the paste you will have greener green curry :D I did that too:p
mui
Hi Adek mui mui! Ya lah, why didn't I think of putting coriander leaves? After all, I bought the coriander for the root. Next time, I will remember!
DeleteHi Phong Hong,
ReplyDeleteYour curry looks so mouthwatering delicious! There goes the diet!! Haha! When you have such delicious looking dish in front of you, diet is furthest from the mind!
Thank you for linking to CYB!
Joyce, ya lah, there goes the diet and now feeling guilty. Hah! Hah!
DeleteI have never done home-made curry pasta, I must try someday as I often do Thai curry home
ReplyDeleteBlog about life and travelling
Blog about cooking
Ola, if you can get the fresh ingredients do make the paste at home. There is always a sense of achievement and satisfaction in making your own curry paste.
DeleteHi Phong Hong, preparing the paste takes time. I made this paste but didn't get to cook the curry. Why? My hubby took the paste to cook the curry at his senior citizens' club house. I got to try a little of the curry which tasted even better the next day. I need to prepare the paste again before I can cook this curry. The basil leaves make this curry really yummy.
ReplyDeleteKimmy, the senior citizens club members must have enjoyed the curry very much! It is worth the time to make the curry paste. I agree that the curry tastes a lot better the next day.
DeleteOoooo....so nice! My missus cooked that day using Knorr's packet green curry mix. Tasted good but colour all wrong - looked more like korma or rendang. :(
ReplyDeleteYah, when I was cooking the curry I saw the color was so ugly. But somehow later it did have a bit of greenish tinge.
DeleteSounds good PH, i love thai green curry, but maybe i'm picky, but most of the places i have eaten, the curry is usually too pungent and not sweet enough for my liking, unfortunately the ones i like are all in the original country! Guess there's no choice but to try making it myself,
ReplyDeleteEsther, this curry needs some tweaking to suit our taste. I find it a bit pungent too and will adjust the next time I cook it.
DeleteI am ok with green curry but not very fancy on it. I remembered I saw a recipe in Flavours mag but if I could recall it add wolfberry leaf, quite strange huh?
ReplyDeleteSonia, put wolfberry a bit funny lah but maybe to make it colourful :)
DeleteCurry looks good, very lemak! Just need to drown the rice with the gravy, sure sedap!
ReplyDeleteIt is quiet lemak and if eat with sourish kerabu, it might take away the creamy feeling.
DeleteYum! I've been trying to figure out what to do with this chicken I just bought. You are tempting me to make this!
ReplyDeleteCathleen, if you like Thai food, go for it!
Deletethanks for sharing this nice recipe. must eat more more rice with this.
ReplyDeleteHi Xing Hui, ya lah this curry need lots of rice. That's why if dieting, better don't eat hah! hah!
Deletewhat is opor? can imagine how aromatic the curry is..diet means no curry for me, you know.
ReplyDeleteLena, I think opor means curry. Curry definitely not diet food :)
Deletemmmm...yup....steaming white rice...just nice to go with the curry
ReplyDeleteYah, extra rice!
Deletelooks like very spicy :) love it..
ReplyDeleteThanks, PT!
DeletePass me a plate of rice dear....nice curry
ReplyDeleteGK, I'll pass you the whole pot :)
DeleteI also use my blender, when I'm feeling lazy, to grind my curry spices. But hey at least we are both making it from scratch;) Your curry sounds wonderful and one I need to try. I'm pinning it to my curry board so I don't forget.
ReplyDeleteHi Nancy! Glad that I am not the only "lazy" one hah! hah! It is a nice curry, very different flavours compared to Indian curries.
Deletethe word is SEDAPnye....hihihhi
ReplyDeleteThank you, Cik Wan!
DeletePhong Hong, this is really yummy.. I need extra rice liao :)
ReplyDeleteIvy, sure I will cook one big pot of rice :)
Deletework but definitely beats all those pre-made pastes out there!
ReplyDeleteI've nominated you an award at http://foodismylife.wordpress.com/2013/06/18/thank-you-liebster-and-versatile-blogger-award/
Hope you will like it!
Ahh the first few lines got cut off :/
DeleteI wanted to say your curry looks really delicious and that making the paste from scratch is hard work but definitely worth it!
Oops! :p
Thank you, Jasline for the compliments and the award! I am so happy!
DeleteI love Thai green curry and I wanted to say this looks very similar, when I first saw the photo :)
ReplyDeleteYen, this is very similar to the Thai version. I must look for the Thai recipe and compare.
DeleteI like thai curry and peranakan curry, the spicier the better, more shiok! But I always have to tone down the spiciness so that my son can take it. Yours look great with brinjals and fresh basil leaves! :)
ReplyDeleteThanks, Ms B! I have to tone down the spiciness to because other family members can't take the heat. And I agree with you that the spicier it is , the more shiok!
DeleteHi Phong Hong,
ReplyDeleteSorry for late visit for this post... Got a lot of catch up to do after my holidays. Totally agree with you that checking the freshness of spices are important! For this reason, I usually rely on the manufacturer's expiry or best before dates :p
Your green curry looks fantastic. This is one of dish I wish to cook :D
Zoe
Zoe, sometimes even when the expiry date is not over, I still find some bad spices. I reckon this could be due to poor storage at the supermarket. By the time we buy the goods, damage has already been done. This green curry has very strong flavours and you can tweak the recipe to suit your taste.
Delete