Green Curry with Chicken and Noodles
This curry dish is adapted from a recipe by "The King of Curry" in his recommended book, Pat Chapman’s Noodle Book. In it he says that "green curry is probably Thailand’s most popular dish, both inside and outside the country. Cooked correctly it is a delicate bland of fragrance and flavor, of subtle color laced together with creamy coconut milk. In fact the sauce is not and should not be green; it, and the chicken, is a buff-white color. It is the accompanying herbs -- basil and cilantro-- and, traditionally, pea aubergines, and huge numbers of tiny green Thai chiles that give the dish its greenness." Since pea aubergines (tiny eggplants) are somewhat bitter and difficult to find, they have been eliminated in this recipe.

Ingredients


  • 9 ounces dried or 1 pound fresh egg noodles

  • 1 boneless and skinless chicken breast, sliced

  • 3 tablespoons vegetable oil

  • 2 to 3 cloves garlic, chopped

  • 1 2-inch piece galangal or ginger, chopped

  • 1 to 3 teaspoons Thai green curry paste

  • 1 14-ounce can coconut milk

  • 2 or 3 stalks lemon grass

  • 2 to 3 Kaffir lime leaves, shredded, omit if unavailable

  • 5 to 6 green Thai chiles, stems and seeds removed, chopped

  • 1 to 2 teaspoon fish sauce (nam pla)

  • 2 tablespoons chopped fresh basil

  • 2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro



Instructions


Heat a large pot of water to a boil, add the noodles and cook until "al dente." Drain the noodles and keep warm.

Trim the stalks of lemon grass to about 3-inches in length. Trim away any hard portions, discard the outer leaves, and coarsely chop.

Heat a wok, add the oil and when hot, add the garlic, ginger, and green curry paste, and stir-fry for about one minute. Add the coconut milk, lemon grass, lime leaves, and simmer for 5 minutes stirring occasionally to allow the milk until thickened. It may look as though it is curdling, but it cannot do this so don’t worry.

Add the chicken and simmer for 10 minutes, stirring from time to time.

Add the chiles, fish sauce, basil and cilantro and continue to cook for 5 more minutes. Cut a piece of chicken to check to see that it’s done.

Immediately add the noodles, stir, and simmer until the noodles are hot.

Servings
4
Servings
4