Topic: Thai Green Curry (need help)

[chillihothot]

Ok guys this is causing me some stress. I have been making thai green curries for over a year now and just cannot nail it. Don't get me wrong they taste fine, but they just don't taste authentic.

I'm living in Wiltshire and there is not much Thai about the place anyways. Apparently Warminster did have a knockout Thai place, but when I went it was pretty poor. I guess its had a change of management or cooks.

So here's the scenario. I originally was buying off the supermarket, which was pretty useless in terms of ingredients so I have been switching to ordering online from thai supermarkets.

Now I have tended to buy more and more fresh ingredients from them. Its flown over from thailand and I suppose its technically still fresh, it arrives in a cooled box, slightly wilted but fresh, not frozen or dried.

So usually what I do is assemble the following:
Mae ploy curry paste (tried making my own but wasnt that good).
Fresh keffir leaf.
Fresh galangal.
20 birds eye.
Fresh Thai basil.
Fresh pea aubergine.
Lemongrass.
Palm sugar.
Shrimp paste.
Lime.
Chicken.
Tinned coconut milk. <-- prime suspect

I fry off the paste in oil then add the milk one spoon at a time for half a jar letting it reduce, then add the ingredients, then the rest of the jar a spoon at a time.

The coconut milk doesn't split like its supposed to. I am wondering whether to get fresh coconuts, smash them open extract the milk and pulp and use this in place of the tin.

My tasting notes are: It actually tastes ok. It tastes like a mediocre thai restaurant curry. Its no way near as fresh as it ought to taste. Its not as aromatic either.

If anyone has any thoughts on this I'd appreciate it. Recreating this is challenging and stressful as each order I make takes time to arrive, and ends in frustration.

[fried]

I''ve posted this recipe before I really believe it's worth the effort to make your own paste.

-I can give you some fairly general guidelines. I don't really measure my ingredients for this. It's similiar to many you can find on the net although probably a bit heavier on the shallots and coriander.

I use

20 shallots
Bunch of coriander
3 sticks of lemon grass
2 inches of Galangal
head of garlic
peel of 2 kaffir limes + juice
Green chillis (depends on your taste or in my case invitees tastes I'll often use larger, milder ones) though I prefer 20 small ones.
2 tsp - fresh ground and roasted corriander seeds
1 tsp - ditto white cumin
Fish sauce to taste
1 tsp - Shrimp paste

Roughly chop everything. Then blend it to a puree.

This will make enough for 2 curries (4 person).

Many recipes use white pepper, but I've never bothered.-

As for the cooking method I simply fry the paste in a little coconut milk, you can turn the tin upside-down to seperate the oil content, but I don't know if it makes that much difference. then add the whole jar, with no reduction. Add chicken (raw), the which ever vegetables you're using (I like pea aubergines, Slightly bigger aubergines, some fresh green peppercorns and Thai basil.)

I don't think it really matter, but getting the blend of lime/ fish sauce/ palm sugar at this stage makes a difference. I think a little extra palm sugar can really lift this dish.

I find this much easier to cook than 'Indian' curry. It seems fairly straightforward and always gives good results.

Just add extra coconut milk to get the consistancy you like. (I don't use lime leaves because I can't get them fresh)

It all looks very similiar to your recipe, what do you mean by authentic?

[chillihothot]

I''ve posted this recipe before I really believe it's worth the effort to make your own paste.

-I can give you some fairly general guidelines. I don't really measure my ingredients for this. It's similiar to many you can find on the net although probably a bit heavier on the shallots and coriander.

I use

20 shallots
Bunch of coriander
3 sticks of lemon grass
2 inches of Galangal
head of garlic
peel of 2 kaffir limes + juice
Green chillis (depends on your taste or in my case invitees tastes I'll often use larger, milder ones) though I prefer 20 small ones.
2 tsp - fresh ground and roasted corriander seeds
1 tsp - ditto white cumin
Fish sauce to taste
1 tsp - Shrimp paste

Roughly chop everything. Then blend it to a puree.

This will make enough for 2 curries (4 person).

Many recipes use white pepper, but I've never bothered.-

As for the cooking method I simply fry the paste in a little coconut milk, you can turn the tin upside-down to seperate the oil content, but I don't know if it makes that much difference. then add the whole jar, with no reduction. Add chicken (raw), the which ever vegetables you're using (I like pea aubergines, Slightly bigger aubergines, some fresh green peppercorns and Thai basil.)

I don't think it really matter, but getting the blend of lime/ fish sauce/ palm sugar at this stage makes a difference. I think a little extra palm sugar can really lift this dish.

I find this much easier to cook than 'Indian' curry. It seems fairly straightforward and always gives good results.

Just add extra coconut milk to get the consistancy you like. (I don't use lime leaves because I can't get them fresh)

It all looks very similiar to your recipe, what do you mean by authentic?

Good question. I'm looking for *that* taste which I can't really pin down but over the years I've been some several good thai places in the UK (Shrivenham springs to mind but that was years ago).

On holiday in Australia you would get these tins brand Valcom, which were pretty amazing for a tin Green curry.

Of course during a trip through thailand and cambodia generally the curries were good, I remember the milk being quite thin and fresh tasting as well of an abundance of thai basil. Loads.
The problem was they see your a foreigner so they would tone it done, so explaining to them that you want it authentic was didn't work for me.

I think the best one I had was in a hotel in Siem Reap, I asked the waiter if he could tell me how what was in it.
Although he didn't speak english well we figured out he was using a fair bit of lime leaf and these pea aubergines, really small and bitter with a licqourishy taste.
I think there were droplets of oil floating in the top, which I presume to be coconut oil. It tasted fresh, sharp and full of smells.

Of course these guys could go down to the market every morning and pick up the ingredients fresh which also makes a big difference. By the time it arrives in the UK its lost some of its punch and character.

I like the idea of using shallots. I'll try that.

[Whandsy]

Hi chillihothot

I remember watching a thai / american videoon how to make green curry and the cook mentioned you need to boil the coconut milk 1st to get the oil separation thats desired.

I found the website link and video here

http://hot-thai-kitchen.com/green-curry-1/

Hope this helps

W

[JerryM]

i still use the Delia Smith recipe (http://www.curry-recipes.co.uk/curry/index.php/topic,2266.msg19210.html#msg19210)

the 1 thing i've changed is i now chuck everything in at the start (except the meat) and cook on slow simmer for 2 hrs. ie i don't split the coconut milk.

i then taste it and adjust either or both: crumpled dry lime leaf; fish sauce. it's quite tricky to get the taste right

i then add the meat (uncooked chicken) and simmer for further 1 hr.

[chillihothot]

Hi chillihothot

I remember watching a thai / american videoon how to make green curry and the cook mentioned you need to boil the coconut milk 1st to get the oil separation thats desired.

I found the website link and video here

http://hot-thai-kitchen.com/green-curry-1/

Hope this helps

W

This is interesting an explains a lot. As mentioned I have suspected for some time the tinned coconut milk to be the offending party. I have acquired 2 coconuts and will create some fresh coconut milk and oil.

[Micky Tikka]

Ive made a few green curries over the years  :
And the most important bit for me is to season the curry properly at the end with fish sauce,Palm sugar and a good squeeze of lime at the end
Do make your own paste you cant beat it. The ingredients in the first post are fine to keep a vibrant green colour don't cook your paste for too long and if you can get hold of some fresh Tumeric that also adds great colour
Once you have cooked the paste and added coconut milk taste and you will be disappointed now add the fish sauce for saltiness then the sugar  You will need more sugar than you think to off set all those chillies keep tasting as you add
Once right add the fresh lime an taste again it is the only way to learn

[chillihothot]

Ok, happy to say that I cracked it last night, it was 90-95% as good as I've ever had.

There is an enormous difference using fresh coconuts instead of tinned. I'll never use tinned again.

Spent an hour grating two coconuts and extracting oil and milk. For next time I know one coconut serves two.

I also this time I didn't even use lime, it didn't need it, because using newly pressed milk allows the citrusy-ness of the kaffir leaves to come through.
I wound up adding a lot less of everything because I found I didn't have to over-compensate, the flavours aligned with little effort.

It can be difficult to acquire coconuts whole in this part of the country but I found it well worth the effort.
I think food processing them rather than grating it by hand will save a lot of time.
Extracting the meat can be tricky without the right tools but after a bit of experimenting I found that after cracking the nut open and scoring the flesh with a sharp knife
you can the prise out the chunks fairly easily and quickly with a sturdy butter knife (1-2 mins effort).

[Moodymare]

There is a very good Thai supermarket in Bath if that helps. I buy all my fresh lime leaves etc there.

[Les]

There is a very good Thai supermarket in Bath if that helps. I buy all my fresh lime leaves etc there.

Please, tell me more.