To start, note the curious SHAPE OF THE MAKRUD, OR THAI LIME, LEAVES. In the larger cities, these can be found fresh or dried in Asian supermarkets, but if you struggle to find them, you can always substitute standard lime or lemon leaves. Next, note that ready-made green curry paste is readily available on supermarket shelves. But rather impress your friends and make your own from scratch using this recipe, because fresh and homemade is always better.
Start with the paste: bring a dry frying pan up to medium heat. Toss in the cumin and coriander seeds and toast them until lightly browned and pleasingly fragrant. Remove from the heat and put in a food processor with all the other ingredients. Reduce to a paste and store in the fridge until needed. Next, go on to the main dish. Cut the chicken fillets into large pieces. Dress the beans and cut them into 30mm sections. Finely chop the onion. Collect the zest from the limes using a grater or zest-removing tool.
Using a heavy-bottomed stainless steel frying pan, pour in two tablespoons of sunflower or canola oil and bring up to medium heat. Stirfry the finely chopped onion combined with three tablespoons of your freshly-made green curry paste for 90 to 20 seconds. Add half a cup of water plus the entire can of coconut milk, stir vigorously and bring to the boil.
Lower the heat and simmer. Then add the chicken pieces, the makrud or Thai lime leaves and the sectioned green beans. Give it a really good stir, then let it simmer for 20 minutes. Inspect and stir from time to time to prevent the curry from burning or sticking to the bottom of the pan. Towards the end, add the lime zest, lime juice, fish sauce and brown sugar. Stir and serve immediately on freshly made boiled rice. A couple of washed coriander leaves complete the garnish, while a few rosa tomatoes give the dish additional
To make a classic Thai green curry
for six diners, you will need:
For the green curry paste:
• 2 tablespoons sunflower oil
• zest of two limes
• 5 makrud (Thai lime) leaves
• 4 stems of lemon grass, chopped
• 50mm galangal or fresh ginger
• 1 cup chopped dhania (coriander)
• 1 cup chopped spring onions
• 1 teaspoon black peppercorns
• 1 teaspoon coriander (dhania)
• 1 teaspoon cumin (jeera) seeds
• 10 cloves of garlic peeled and
• 6 to 10 green chillies, chopped
And for the Thai green curry:
• 7 makrud (Thai lime) leaves
• 800g chicken breast fillets
• 1 can coconut milk
• 200g of fresh beans
• 1 tablespoon fish sauce
• zest and juice of two limes
• 3 teaspoons brown sugar
• 1 onion, chopped
• coriander (dhania) leaves to
• 3 tablespoons of your own freshly made green curry paste
Thai Green Chicken Curry with Makrud lime leaves
Over the years, Thai food has become a runaway success worldwide. The complex flavours and enticing aromas of Thai-influenced cooking pack diners into restaurants. Inevitably the question arises: can I cook this amazing stuff at home? The answer is yes, of course you can. And to get you moving into that direction, here’s an all-time Thai classic: green chicken curry. Serve this at your next dinner party and your friends will be amazed by how your cookery skills have advanced.
