← Nouns Cooking · Thai

Ingredients

• 2 tbsp Vegetable oil
• 3 tbsp Thai red curry paste
• 400 g boneless chicken thighs, thinly sliced
• 750 ml Water
• 30 g fingerroot (krachai), or a little ginger, cut into thin matchsticks (optional)
• 5 Makrut (kaffir) lime leaves, torn, stems removed
• 200 g Thai or slim aubergines, cut into bite-size pieces
• 150 g snake beans or green beans, cut into 4 cm lengths
• 100 g Bamboo shoots, drained and sliced (optional)
• 2 tbsp Fish sauce
• 1 tsp palm sugar or brown sugar
• 2 long red chillies, sliced on the diagonal
• 3 Bird's eye chilli, bruised (optional)
• 1 handful holy basil or Thai basil leaves
• 300 g jasmine rice, to serve (optional)

Method

1. Heat the oil in a wok or pot over medium heat. Add the curry paste and fry for 1–2 minutes, stirring constantly, until it smells fierce and fragrant. Add a splash of the water if it starts to catch.
2. Add the chicken and stir to coat it in the paste. Cook for 2 min, until the outside is no longer pink.
3. Pour in the water, add the fingerroot and lime leaves and bring to the boil.
4. Add the aubergine, beans and bamboo shoots and simmer for 5–7 min, until the aubergine is tender and the chicken is cooked through (75°C / 165°F).
5. Season with the fish sauce and the small amount of sugar. Jungle curry should taste hot, salty and herbal, not sweet.
6. Stir in the chillies and basil, let the leaves wilt for a few seconds, then serve straight away with rice.

Tips

• Fingerroot (krachai) is the secret aroma of this curry; find it frozen or in jars at Thai grocers.
• Most red curry pastes contain shrimp paste. Pork or firm fish also work well instead of chicken.

Sources

Written in our own words after cross-checking these recipes:

Marion's Kitchen Hungry in Thailand