Quick Thai green curry
- 11 minutes ago
- 16 min read
You can pull this quick Thai green curry together in under 30 minutes. That doesn't make it any less authentic, quite the opposite. Whether the ever popular chicken version, seafood, tofu or a combination thereof, combined with vegetables and creamy coconut, it’s popular for many reasons. Just one of these is that it makes a perfect weeknight meal when you don’t want to spend too long in the kitchen.
Like the other two curries in the "traffic lights" Thai curry canon, Thai red curry and Thai yellow curry, I owe much of my knowledge of Thai cooking from his homeland to my friend Winnie. Through him and travels in Thailand, I think Thai green curry, perhaps the best known Thai dish around the world, is ironically the one that really taught me more important new understandings of Thai cooking that some of the lesser known dishes I learned to cook.
Quick not faux
You won’t find the recipe I was taught for making fresh Thai green curry paste on this page—though I might later add it simply for comprehensiveness. That’s because, when you don’t have time, do what Thai people do and buy it readymade.
"From blissed up audiences at raves to the local neighbourhood Thai restaurant, green curry was the champion..."
In cities and larger towns in Thailand with good food markets, it’s common to find specialist traders who sell nothing except freshly prepared curry pastes, and, many of these vendors are highly specialised, selling only green curry paste or red curry paste, developing a reputation for excellence for just that one thing. So, if you live in Thailand or other locations where this exists—I am told there is an excellent specialist vendor in a market in Melbourne—that would be a very good option.
If it's not, I suggest you buy a good quality Thai green curry paste from a reputable Thai brand, available in supermarkets, specialist Asian grocers or online in many parts of the world. After years of mastering making it fresh—pounding the pestle as it were—I took Winnie’s advice and started trying some of the reputable brands for comparison. In most cases, the only thing that was better about mine was the smug satisfaction that I’d made it myself. Having tried so many different versions, in the end I concluded that Mae Ploy Green Curry Paste was one of the best. A Thai heritage brand—it was around even before the first recipe for green curry was published in Thailand—you can readily find its products in many countries around the world. But, more about this paste later…
False greens
Thai green curry is arguably the most widely eaten Thai dish globally. Through a whole range of factors—returning Vietnam War vets, the growth in tourism and even the innovative Thai government culinary diplomacy programme (you can learn more about this here)—Thai food in the West and Antipodes went from practically unknown until the late 1960s to something to which mainstream supermarkets devoted entire shelves by the noughties.
For me, Thai green curry is something I will always associate with the 1990s when crazed acid house fans spoke of ecstasy-induced epiphanies at the Full Moon Parties on Haad Rin Beach on Koh Phangan. There, and at all the copycat locations, you’d find canny stallholders doing a roaring trade in green curry to fuel the all-night dancing. Not that long after, you’d be hard pressed to not find a Thai stall or food truck doing exactly that same roaring trade at every major outdoor summer music festival around the world. From blissed up audiences at raves to the local neighbourhood Thai restaurant, green curry was the champion Thai dish. There was no doubt about it.
But, the problem with its immense popularity is that a lot of falsehoods and misconceptions arose. For example, as we have seen with many other world cuisines, restaurants adapt their recipes to the palates of the societies into which they immigrate or, understandably, work with ingredients available, deploying what they can get their hands on when they have no access the real thing. A good example of this is that in the UK, up until the last 15 years or so, it was very difficult to source Thai aubergines, pea aubergines or other distinctive Thai vegetables and, when available, they were very expensive making it difficult for restaurant owners to make a profit in the “cheap-‘n-cheerful ethnic cuisine” market space they occupied. So, they started using other veggies—like carrots—as substitutes.
"...the particular contents of a green curry paste are likely to burn in hot oil..."
Similarly, Western brands, eager to capitalise on the new hunger for Thai food started developing products that would seem more familiar to their markets and changing the recommended cooking methods. A good example of this is that the recommended cooking instructions on a jar of Thai green curry paste typically starts with browning chicken in a little oil before adding the paste or sauce. This problem isn’t only limited to Western brands. Even authentic Thai brands—advised by Western marketing specialists—recommend similar things on their labelling in English, French, German and Spanish for key foreign markets. Just ignore them.
I never once saw anyone in Thailand to do this. And, in fact, Winnie and every other person who taught me about green curry on my travels concurred. There are two ways in which it is incorrect. Firstly, the particular contents of a green curry paste are likely to burn in hot oil and therefore the curry is always started using a little coconut milk, relying on the fats in the coconut milk itself—which is why it is important to use full-fat coconut milk—to fry down the paste. Secondly, this is one of the curries in which the proteins, whether chicken, tofu or prawns, are effectively simmered in the coconut milk towards the end of the cooking, never browned and stewed into the curry. This may seem odd within a Western cooking canon, but it has a rationale: chicken that is already sealed by browning is less capable of absorbing the flavours in the sauce and will become rather tough if cooked for the duration of simmering down the coconut milk when it should remain tender.
True greens
Even within Thai cooking, green curry has a singular cooking process shared with a handful of other Thai dishes. Part of this is because it is a relatively new invention with a cooking method that reflects its need for speed as a street food in the burgeoning cities of the 20th century. Though somewhat shaded in mystery and with predecessors that were clear broth-based dishes, historians of Thai cuisine largely agree that it came into being somewhere between 1908 and the mid-1920s. Their clarity about this is that it is not mentioned in any major Thai cook book preceding 1908 and doesn’t first appear as a named dish until a 1926 publication. These Thai publications with royal (and later governmental) endorsement were meant to be a kind of catalogue raisonné detailing all Thai cooking throughout the kingdom. Thus, it almost certainly sprung to life within this timeframe.
Whilst it originated in central Thailand—some historians are vehement that its arrival was directly linked to the growing need for street food as traditional agrarian workers took up urban jobs in an industrialising Bangkok—the recipe soon spread far and wide and today you can find it in almost any part of the country, not least of all driven by visitor expectations. This may also account for Western awareness of it since, being cooked in most places across the country from the 1930s onwards, statistically foreign visitors were more likely to encounter it than other dishes.
Some historians are also more lyrical in their understanding of why it arose during this period. The 1920s and 1930s were turbulent times as the country transitioned from an absolute monarchy to a constitutional monarchy. The green colour of the curry can be read as a symbol of rebirth and its Thai name kaeng khiao wan (แกงเขียวหวาน) translates as “sweet green curry”. This later led to another Western misconception where the word “sweet” was assumed to refer to its use of palm sugar in the cooking process but, in fact it refers to “sweet green”, the Thai descriptor for the pale shade of green of the curry.
One of the things I observed about Thai green curries when first travelling in Thailand, only having previously eaten them in the West and Australia, was that almost all the vegetables used were green (or yellow), save for the long mild red chillies. There wasn’t a piece of carrot in sight. When I asked Winnie about this, about whether it was a “rule”, he explained that it wasn’t so much prescriptive of the flavours but an aesthetic thing, celebrating the colour for which the dish is named and a certain “crunch” in the final serving. Thus, Thai aubergines, pea aubergines, snake beans, winged beans, bamboo shoots and baby sweetcorn were the preferred vegetables. However, many Thai people living elsewhere in the world would substitute these with carrots or celery where it wasn't easy to find fresh Thai vegetables.
Thai or die
One of the reasons I really urge using a curry paste by a respected Thai brand (Mae Ploy, Aroy-D or Namjai) is because what gets passed off as “Thai green curry paste” produced by many Western brands is actually more of a pesto or, worse still, a pre-cooked Thai green curry sauce. Unlike various other Thai (or Indian) dishes that use a “sauce first” approach, this is not one of them. It’s not a dish in which both the vegetables and proteins should be lobbed into a fully cooked sauce and heated. The vegetables that take longer to cook—such as pea aubergines, Thai aubergines or baby sweetcorn—are added while the sauce is still forming and the proteins and quicker cooking vegetables, such as mangetout or sugar snap peas, are added later in the process. This is to ensure all ingredients are cooked optimally, in the case of the vegetables, retaining the relevant amount of crunch for each.
There are other benefits to using a Thai brand curry paste. Most are pretty dry and thick, more like stock cubes in consistency. This is a good thing because it means that they store safely in the fridge for a lot longer, making them one of those things that you can rely upon for a last-minute weeknight supper when you want something tasty but don’t really want to cook—many Western brands got off within two weeks. The other benefit is that they necessarily use some of the important quality ingredients that bring flavour without which they would never be trusted by domestic Thai consumers that are often left out of Western products, I suspect mostly on cost-saving grounds. Ironically, Thai brands can also end up saving you money: there is no need to fall for the upsell of ingredients like fresh galangal, lemongrass or makrut limes—which usually end up going off in the fridge unless you cook a lot of Thai food—because they are already included in the paste, as they should be.
"...in purist terms, the Thai green curry paste should always all go in at the beginning of the recipe and not topped up during the later cooking process."
It’s important to remember that Thai green curry pastes—and indeed the curries themselves—are more of a category than a singular recipe—think “pasta” vs “linguine”; "stew" vs "cocido",etc. Thus, Western clichés about the spiciness or mildness of green curries are irrelevant. When trying out good Thai brands, you need to experiment to get a sense of how hot they are because the proportions of ingredients such as hot green chillies varies quite a lot. I would say that in general any Thai brand’s paste will be hotter compared with those produced by Western brands but that, even within the Thai landscape, some, such as the the Mae Ploy Green Curry Paste that I like, is “hotter” than various other Thai brands.
For example, for the quantities of green curry I am cooking here, Mae Ploy's labelling for Western consumers recommends using 50g of their paste, but I use approx. 70g because I want it on the spicy side but also to have some of those other rich flavours more prevalent. This is why it is important to test things out because in purist terms, the Thai green curry paste should always all go in at the beginning of the recipe and not topped up during the later cooking process.
The other thing that is worth noting is that just as the spiciness of green curry pastes vary, so too do the ratios of coconut milk to water. In the ratio for this recipe, I work to the simple yardstick of using a whole 400ml can of full-fat coconut milk and 400ml of hot water (poured into the empty can to mop up the lingering coconut milk) as the overall amount of liquid I expect to cook down in the sauce. But, many Thai food stalls would see this as "luxurious" and use about two thirds of the amount of coconut milk and make up the rest with water. If you're counting calories or aren't keen on a stronger sense of coconut, you can adjust your ratio accordingly.
To pineapple or not to pineapple?
Something else I found rather surprising in Thailand is that in certain regions—particularly in the South—it was common to use fruits in the dish, most notably pineapple. I think I had been biased by my father’s disdain for the use of pineapple in Cantonese sweet and sour dishes in the Chinese restaurants in the West; influenced by his tut-tutting that it was playing to the gallery of Western tastes and not really authentic, a bit like “Hawaiian pizza”. So, while I had assumed it was a Thai restaurant adaptation for palates in other parts of the world, it turns out it’s not in certain regions, especially since I'm talking about places more likely to have few backpackers than swathes of well-heeled tourists looking for a feast.
The good people of Bangkok—who consider green curry their signature dish—do not approve. While pineapple is used in a range of dishes such as duck red curries, pork dishes and, not unsurprisingly, pineapple curry, they consider it mismatching flavours. And, on the whole, I tend to agree. In fact, the only reason that I am doing a version with pineapple here is to remind myself exactly what it does to the flavour. But, to describe it as "not authentic Thai" is inaccurate and somewhat illogical given that many traditional dishes evolve or develop regional variations to suit local palates and available ingredients. Yep, just think of that Hawaiian pizza... or, indeed, green curry itself which some historians believe evolved from the fiery Thai jungle curry, the addition of coconut milk making it more palatable as street food in Bangkok where the residents tend to prefer spiced dishes on the milder side.
If you like sweet dishes or are cooking for kids, pineapple is a useful arrow to have in your quiver. It definitely pushes the overall dish in a sweet direction and I find that I have to add a little tamarind and extra fish sauce to make it more palatable to my personal tastes. However, in cooking it again, I have also remembered what a useful version it was when cooking for gaggles of fussy kids. It's not only because children often like sweet (and mercifully healthy) pineapple. What pineapple does is very much what the (palm) sugar does at the start of the dish. It balances out the more aggressive aspect of the fiery green chillies in the curry paste. So, if you use a smaller amount of curry paste (e.g. 50g of the brand I am using) and add pineapple towards the end of cooking, it's a doddle to keep tiny tots happy and not have to deal with tears at table.
Take Note
This recipe is for 2 to 3 diners, depending on appetite and any side dishes. But, you can easily scale it up for a larger or group.
While chicken Thai green curry is pretty much the default loved around the world, the earliest documented versions focussed on fish, fish balls, seafood or beef, and, bizarrely, fried potatoes. In the two versions I am doing here, I am going for a combination of chicken and king prawn and chicken and scallops, combinations I encountered in various places in Thailand. But, you can pretty much much choose what you want. One I particularly recommend is fish balls, a budget-friendly option that you can buy frozen from many Asian supermarkets. Green curry is largely a protein-agnostic dish. The only important thing is that you put your chosen proteins into the wok at the right time.
Please note that the images show my cooking this dish on two different occasions. While the ingredients are pretty similar, it gives an indication of the appearance with a milder version with less green curry paste than the hotter one that is usually my default.
Though not quite as much a rush as Chinese wok cooking, you're still advised to get most of your prep done in advance since this dish does cook pretty quickly and you'll be pressed to get it done on the fly.
This is a dish that freezes well (if you don't add pineapple). As long as the coconut milk has cooked for long enough, it won't split during defrosting. I often cook it in larger batches making it an even quicker Thai green curry if you remember to move it from the freezer to the fridge the night before or simply re-heat it from frozen in a microwave.
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Shopping list
for the quick Thai green curry
Approx. 200g skinless chicken breast cut into bite-sized pieces
Approx. 150g raw, shelled king prawns (or small raw scallops)
Approx. 100g pea aubergines
7 or 8 baby sweetcorn, cut into fairly large pieces
1 medium green bell pepper, sliced
2 handfuls of mangetout (or sugar snap peas)
Approx. 150g fresh pineapple; cubed (optional)
3 or 4, long mild red chillies; sliced into fairly large pieces
1 x 400ml tin of full-fat coconut milk
50g to 70g of good quality Thai green curry paste (see above for more information)
The juice and pulp of 1 fresh lime
1.5 tspns of demerara sugar (or palm sugar)
Approx. 2tbspns of Thai fish sauce
6 or 7 Thai basil leaves
Approx. 400ml of boiling water
sides and condiments
Thai green curry is most commonly served with Thai jasmine rice or Thai sticky rice, two options I'm going for in some of these images. But, in Thailand, it is just as often served with rice noodles and many restaurants and food stalls selling green curry in larger markets will offer the choice of rice or noodles. Your call.
I confess that I love this curry with Thai prawn crackers, krupuk (ข้าวเกรียบ) on the side with this dish whether with or without the usual sweet chilli dipping sauce.
Cooking Method
the Thai green curry
Before cooking, chop a large echalion shallot in a mini-chopper. Add your chosen amount of readymade Thai green curry paste and chop the two together. You can can also do this this by hand
Add 3 or 4tbspns of coconut milk to the a wok and heat on a medium-high heat. When hot, add the paste and shallot mix and break down with a spatula, gently frying. Once almost fully integrated, add the demerara sugar and stir in until it is fully dissolved. Almost immediately, add a generous dash of the coconut milk to prevent any sticking
Add the pea aubergines and baby sweetcorn and stir in. Allow to simmer fairly vigorously for a minute or two. Add the green bell pepper and stir in. Simmer in the reducing coconut milk for another 3mins of so. Then add all of the remaining coconut milk and stir in. A minute or so later, squeeze in the lime juice and pulp and cook for a further minute. Reduce the heat and gently simmer for about 5 or 6mins
During this time, the sauce is likely to have notably reduced. Fill the coconut milk tin with boiling water and add a generous dash, simmering down for another 5mins or so.
Add the chicken pieces, allowing it to initially simmer on the top of the sauce, then fold in, adding another generous dash of the hot water from the coconut milk tin. Simmer for another 5 to 7mins, stirring regularly so that the chicken cooks evenly. Add the mild red chillies halfway through this process
When the chicken is almost cooked, add the mangetout (or sugar snap peas) around the edges of the wok and the king prawns or scallops at the centre—the general "rule" is that they take as long to cook as each other. Stir regularly, adding dashes of the hot water from the coconut milk can too prevent the liquid cooking off too quickly—green curry should have a fairly thin almost soup-like sauce
As soon as the prawns (or scallops) are nearing being optimally cooked, add the Thai basil leaves. As soon as their aroma is released, start adding the Thai fish sauce. Remember that this additionally acts as the "salt" for the dish, so taste it regularly to check that the balance is correct
As soon as optimally cooked, remove from the heat, cover and allow to rest briefly
Plate and take to table with your preferred side dishes
Alternatives
This is a pescatarian curry even if you don't bring any chicken or beef anywhere near it and use tofu as the only protein: it uses Thai fish sauce and the Thai green curry I am recommending (and all good ones) includes shrimp paste. Most of its early iterations involved fish and seafood and you can mix-'n-match to your heart's content, always adding these towards the end of the cooking process.
The only time I used a commercially produced "vegan Thai green curry paste"I immediately threw in a lot of Thai fish sauce because, frankly, I thought it better suited to being a dressing for a salad. So, sadly, you'll need to work this out for yourselves. There are now vegan Thai green curry pastes on the market—and even vegan "fish" sauces—but I can't help you out with the ones that I have actually tried other than to point out how they fail to capture the true taste of green curry....
For carnivores, thin slivers of beef was used in one of the earliest versions of this curry published. It tastes great, but it's rarely one I cook simply because I prefer it with chicken and seafood. Basically you add very thin slivers of beef to this dish at roughly the place you put in the chicken in the recipe above.
Pairings
Thai green curries are some of the dishes I least often pair with alcohol. It's not a specific choice, but maybe subconsciously I just love to savour its flavours with the minimum of "interference". Thus, my go-to tipple with this one is iced sparkling water with a couple of bruised lime slices.
Like many spicy dishes, it works well with beer and my first choice will always be a cold Leo or Singha, though it works well with many lighter beers.
This doesn't mean that it doesn't work well with wines, and white wines or light rosés specifically, even when having the beef version. There is something about the flavour of a green curry that neither needs—nor benefits from—a red wine, in my opinion. And, surprising even myself, this is not a dish with which I would pair by go-to curry wines, those chenin blancs. Unlike other curries, there is a silky quality to Thai green curry that doesn't need "cutting through". If anything, the palate wants it to linger and I inevitably go for a fresher, lighter Pinot Grigio, Ribolla Gialla, Friulano or Orvieto.
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