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Thai green curry (one from the vaults)

one from the vaults



Thai food has only kind of hit as far north as I live. Enough that I remember having Thai food for the first time when I was sixteen. It was when a friend of mine was coping, quite well really, with his parents separation we went to the next town over for some head space. By chance we found ourselves in a restaurant we had taken for Chinese. I remember being genuinely excited at a red curry and sweetcorn fritter (a dragon I am still chasing) with sweet chili sauce that wasn't yet commonplace as it is now it was just different enough. We went back several times a week and tasted everything on the menu. Now Thai curry is a major comfort food for me and I make it with some regularity.

The paste
Garlic, a whole head
Ginger, a plump thumbs worth (roughly chopped)
Galangal, a smaller thumb (if you can get it, roughly chopped)
Spring onion (the green bits)
Two limes (both zest and juice)
Lemongrass (chop this quite small before blending)
Kaffir lime leaf
A big bunch of coriander (it's best if you also have roots in it but that's not how it's typically sold and its not quite worth making a special trip)
Green chilies (I advise against the spicy Thai kind i choose more, milder chilies)
Light soy sauce (dark will ruin the colour)
White pepper (this is really transformational)


  1. Make these ingredients into as fine a paste as you can. I use a blender but this isn't the perfect solution because I have to add water to ease the action of the machine. There is also an order of operations blend lemongrass, kafir lime leaf, ginger and galangal with the soy and lime juice and enough water to ease the formation of a paste. After this add the rest of the softer ingredients. The exact balance of the ingredients is art rather than science but you can never go wrong with more coriander.

Vegetables


You have a lot of latitude here. You can stir fry whatever vegetables (or meat i suppose) then add the paste stir fry for a while before adding coconut milk

Or you could roast pumpkin, fry off the paste add some coconut milk then stir in the pumpkin.

Or chop some root vegetables saute them then add the paste and coconut and gently simmer the vegetables until tender.


Serve with rice. garnish with chopped coriander and sliced spring onion. These days I serve with some kind of pickle or salad. 

(We can get that food pretty easily these days, times have changed)


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