It’s been a while since I’ve posted a recipe. Now that I’m staying alone in this 2-room apartment, I can start experimenting with food and whip up dishes in my kitchen. But these days, I like to cook dishes which are healthy, fast and easy to prepare due to my busy lifestyle. It is also more cost-effective to prepare simple dishes which require fewer ingredients since I’m leaving alone and I can’t fill up my whole fridge with too many ingredients which will go bad after weeks.
Cooking Thai Green Curry
Last week, I decided to make some Thai Green Curry because my mum gave me a packet of coconut cream as she hardly cooks these days. I decided to purchase a ready-made Green Curry Paste from FairPrice because making the paste from scratch is too time-consuming. Besides, I’ve limited cooking appliances at home thus buying such ready-made curry paste is my best bet.
Which brand of instant green curry paste to buy?
It isn’t easy at all to choose the best brand of green curry paste when there are many other brands of curry paste to choose from. I eventually went for FairPrice’s Green Curry Paste after eavesdropping to this conversation between a Chinese lady and Malay lady. Both started off as strangers and they eventually started a conversation after hanging out long at the spice booth. I love to watch this kind of spontaneous interactions between Singaporeans of all ethnic groups on how we are so willing to share and extend help.
FairPrice’s Green Curry Paste turned out to be really good. For $2 per pack, I think it is super worth the deal. Each packet of paste can cook about 4 to 5o portions of curry. But I might want to try other brands of curry paste to see if FairPrice’s Green Curry paste is really the best.
What other ingredients do you need?
For this recipe, I did not measure out the exact quantities of each ingredient used. I actually eyeballed how much coconut milk, green curry paste, sugar and fish sauce to add. But if you’re really clueless about how much ingredients to add, here’s a rough guide.
Ingredients (for 1 serving)
Green Curry Paste (1 tablespoon)
Coconut cream (2 tablespoons)
Fish sauce (1 tablespoon)
Palm sugar (1 teaspoon)
Chopped red bell pepper
Sliced Tofu
Chopped Oyster Mushrooms
Chopped Coriander
How to go about cooking the Thai Green Curry?
Step 1: Prepare all the dry ingredients first
This is a vegan or vegetarian version of Thai Green curry as I did not add any meat or dairy products in it. Instead of eating meat, I’ve been eating either tofu or eggs for protein. It’s easier to cook and prepare.
But if you’re keen in adding some meat into your curry, you can add in chunks of chicken breast or maybe some fish.
Don’t forget to add some coriander for taste as well as mushroom. I like to use oyster mushrooms in this dish because it has a more neutral taste and it soaks up the curry flavor really well.
Step 2: Stir-fry the vegetables, tofu and mushrooms then add in the green paste and coconut cream
I did not add any garlic or onions as I find the green curry paste fragrant enough. Unlike other online recipes, I also did not add chicken soup stock to the curry. All I did was to dilute the curry with some filtered water. It still tastes great!
Step 3: Add a dash of fish sauce and sugar to balance out the flavours.
The secret to a delicious savory Thai Green Curry is to add some fish sauce into it and then balance out the savoriness with a spoonful of sugar. I used palm sugar as it has that toasty notes which will enhance the flavor of the curry.
Step 4: Top it up with some chopped coriander.
The last touch of this dish is to throw in some chopped coriander that make this dish even more fragrant. Adding this herb really makes a difference to the overall taste of the curry.
Step 5: Serve the green curry with a bowl of rice
In Thailand, they will usually serve green curry with a bowl of white rice. To me, white rice goes better with the curry because cooked white rice is fluffier and softer so it absorbs all the richness of the curry.
However, I only have brown rice at home that day so I had so make do with what I have.
The Taste Test
I have to say that the taste of my version of this Thai dish isn’t too far off from the original Thai green curry I had in Thailand. It is only not as creamy and thick as the ones served in Thailand because over there, they probably use fresh coconut cream and fresh green curry paste which is made from scratch.
Nonetheless, it is still quite a feat to be making such a complex dish at home, all thanks to the ready-made curry paste which are available at my nearest supermarket. The best part is the ingredients used for this dish costs less than $5 in total.
