Gok Wan's Thai Green Curry

Gok writes...

I am always disappointed when I flick through recipe books to see Thai curries that lazily list shop-bought pastes. Sure, there are some brilliant pastes available that are a shortcut to a quick meal, but they already have a recipe on the side of the pot! So, here’s my recipe for Thai Green Curry.

I’ve conjured up the flavour with readily available ingredients, so it may not be 100 per cent authentic, but it is absolutely 100 per cent delicious.

Thai Green Curry

Serves four

You will need:

6 shallots, peeled and roughly chopped

10 green bird’s eye chillies (reduce the number of chillies if you don’t like it too hot)

50g fresh coriander, stems and all, roughly chopped

20g fresh basil, stems and all, roughly chopped

2 stalks of lemon grass, trimmed and roughly chopped

4cm fresh galangal, peeled and roughly chopped, or 2 heaped tsp from a jar

2 tinned anchovy fillets, drained and roughly chopped

5 cloves of garlic, peeled and roughly chopped

Juice and zest of 1 lime

3 tbsp fish sauce

150g coconut cream

400g skinless chicken breast, chopped into bite-sized chunks

300g aubergine, trimmed and chopped into bite-sized chunks

250ml hot chicken or vegetable stock

500g steamed jasmine rice, to serve

1/4fresh red chilli, to serve


Blitz the shallots, chillies, coriander, basil, lemon grass, galangal, anchovies, garlic, lime zest and 2 tablespoons of the fish sauce in a small food processor until you achieve a fairly smooth paste. (You can also do this with a pestle and mortar.)

Spoon the coconut cream into a wok and heat over a medium to high heat for a couple of minutes; it will melt, boil and then begin to split. When it has split, stir in the curry paste. Cook for 2 minutes, stirring frequently.

Add the chicken and aubergine and stir gently for 2 minutes, by which time they should be well coated in the sauce.

Pour in the hot stock and simmer for about 10 minutes, or until the chicken is cooked through and the aubergine is soft, while still holding its shape.

Serve the curry with freshly steamed jasmine rice sprinkled with chopped red chilli.

Gok's Wok by Gok Wan is published by Ebury Press