Thai Green Curry with Chicken

By Sprig Originals ✓ · cooked up in Sprig

A weeknight green curry that tastes like the takeout version you keep reordering — but better balanced. Jarred curry paste gets fried in coconut cream until the oil separates and the aroma blooms, then the sauce is tuned with fish sauce, palm sugar and lime until it's salty, sweet and fragrant all at once. Thai basil goes in off the heat so it stays perfumed instead of turning muddy.

Ingredients

• 2 14 oz cans full-fat coconut milk (not light, not shaken)
• 3 tbsp Thai green curry paste (Maesri, Mae Ploy or similar)
• 1 tbsp neutral oil, if needed
• 4 makrut lime leaves, torn in half
• 1 lemongrass stalk, bruised and cut into 3-inch lengths (optional)

• 1 1/4 lb boneless skinless chicken thighs, sliced 1/4-inch thick
• 1 small Japanese eggplant, cut into 1-inch chunks (or 1 cup halved baby eggplant)
• 1 red bell pepper, sliced
• 1 cup bamboo shoot strips, drained and rinsed
• 1 Thai chile, sliced (optional, for heat)

• 2 1/2 tbsp fish sauce, plus more to taste
• 1 tbsp palm sugar, shaved (or light brown sugar)
• 1 tsp lime juice, plus lime wedges to serve
• 1 1/2 cups loosely packed Thai basil leaves
• 4 cups cooked jasmine rice, for serving

Instructions

1. Open one can of coconut milk without shaking it and spoon the thick cream from the top into a wide Dutch oven or deep skillet — you want about 1/2 cup of cream. Reserve the thin liquid underneath. Set the second can aside unopened.
2. Set the pan over medium heat and simmer the coconut cream, stirring, for 4–6 minutes until it thickens, sputters, and you see clear oil pooling at the edges. If your brand refuses to split, add the tablespoon of neutral oil.
3. Add the green curry paste to the hot cream and fry it, stirring constantly, for 2–3 minutes. It should darken slightly, cling to the spoon, and smell sharply of lime leaf and chile. This step is where jarred paste stops tasting jarred — don't rush it.
4. Add the sliced chicken and stir to coat every piece in the paste. Cook 2 minutes, just until the outsides turn opaque.
5. Pour in the reserved thin coconut liquid plus the entire second can of coconut milk. Add the torn lime leaves and lemongrass. Bring to a gentle simmer — never a hard boil, which breaks the sauce — and cook 5 minutes.
6. Add the eggplant and simmer 6–8 minutes until a knife slides into it easily. Add the bell pepper, bamboo shoots and Thai chile and simmer 3 minutes more, until the chicken is cooked through (165°F) and the peppers are tender-crisp.
7. Now balance the curry. Stir in 2 1/2 tablespoons fish sauce and the palm sugar and let it dissolve, about 1 minute. Taste on a spoon with a grain of rice: it should be clearly salty, then round and slightly sweet behind the heat. Flat? Add fish sauce 1 teaspoon at a time. Too salty or aggressive? Add sugar 1 teaspoon at a time. Finish with the lime juice.
8. Turn off the heat completely. Fish out the lemongrass, then stir in the Thai basil and let it wilt in the residual heat for 1 minute — off the burner, the leaves stay glossy and perfumed instead of stewing into bitterness.
9. Ladle over jasmine rice in shallow bowls, spooning some of the fragrant green oil over the top, and serve with lime wedges.

Chef's tips

Nutrition (per serving, estimated)

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