Thai Green Curry Recipe

The first thing I notice about this curry is how well the rich chicken thighs suit the sharp, herbal green curry paste. Using about 1½ pounds of boneless or bone-in thighs gives the sauce plenty of savory depth without drying out during the 25-minute simmer. The large Thai eggplant is important here, too: it softens into tender, creamy pieces while still holding its shape, adding a mild bitterness that keeps the coconut milk and palm sugar from tasting flat. Four kaffir lime leaves and Thai basil finish the curry with a fresh, unmistakably Thai aroma. For the best flavor, I start by spooning the thick cream from the top of the coconut milk into a wide saucepan and cooking the 2 tablespoons of green curry paste in it for a few minutes. When the paste darkens slightly and smells fragrant, I add the chicken and turn it to coat before pouring in the remaining coconut milk. This brief frying step makes a noticeable difference; simply stirring the paste into liquid produces a pleasant curry, but cooking it first gives the sauce more character. I add the sliced eggplant once the chicken is nearly cooked, then simmer with the lime leaves, 1 tablespoon fish sauce, and ½ cup palm sugar until the eggplant is tender and the sauce has thickened slightly. Palm sugar can arrive as a hard block, so I chop or grate it before adding it to the pan. Taste near the end and adjust carefully: the finished curry should be sweet, salty, creamy, and fragrant, with enough green-chili heat to keep it lively. If your curry paste is particularly hot or salty, you may need a little less of either the sugar or fish sauce, so avoid adding everything at once. Also, keep the simmer gentle rather than boiling hard; aggressive heat can make the coconut milk look grainy and can toughen the chicken before the eggplant is ready. This makes a generous lunch for four, especially with steamed jasmine rice to soak up the sauce. I like serving it with a crisp cucumber salad dressed with lime juice, a little sugar, and sliced shallot, which adds coolness and crunch beside the soft eggplant and chicken. Scatter the 2 tablespoons of chopped Thai basil over each serving just before eating rather than cooking it for long, so its anise-like fragrance stays bright. The dish is naturally gluten-free when the curry paste and fish sauce are checked for gluten-containing additives.