And so to Green Curry — this does seem to be the one that has got you all going!
I call this ‘porridge’ for reasons that will become obvious. It may look a bit of a mush but it tastes wonderful. And the good news for you all is that this recipe works just as well at home! It is based on an original from Nigel Slater.
This makes four portions. You can easily make more — you will have paste left over and it stores for ages in the fridge. Simple adjust other ingredients sensibly.
Ingredients
Curry Paste
4 lemongrass stalks
6 medium heat green chillies, seeded and crushed
3 cloves of garlic, peeled and crushed
5 cm piece of galangal or ginger
2 shallots peeled and finely chopped
4 tablespoons chopped, fresh, coriander
a teaspoon of ground cumin
a teaspoon of ground coriander
a teaspoon of chopped lime zest
a tablespoon of ground black peppercorns
other ingredients
Chicken breasts or thighs (enough for four)
200 grams of mushrooms, thinly sliced (optional)
400 mil tin of coconut milk
400 ml of chicken stock
8 lime leaves
t tablespoon of Thai fish sauce (nam pla)
1 tablespoon of bottled green peppercorns, drained (optional)
a large bunch of fresh basil leaves
a bunch of fresh coriander leaves
Basics and Buying Info
They key to this dish is the curry paste. It is worth tracking the ingredients down. You will find them in all chinese stores and in many, larger supermarkets.
Kafir lime leaves look rather like bay leaves although they taste very different. Like bay you can buy them fresh of dried (fresh is best if you can get them).
The fish sauce is easily available these days and indispensable.
You need lots of lime juice and the skin (though not the pith) of the limes.]
Galangal is a route rather like ginger. It has a similar though different — less stringent — taste. If you can find galangal then great but if not just use fresh ginger.
Whole spices freshly ground are very different from bought, ground stuff (and they last a long time).
Instructions
First make the paste. Chop up the lemon grass into small pieces. Add to a food processor with the rest of the ingredients and then blitz. Alternatively place in small bowl or water jug and attack with a hand blitzer. If you have neither machines then get a good knife (or cleaver) and chop until very fine.
Put paste in a container of jam jar for keeping in the fridge. having the paste in the fridge is great as you have now done most of the hard work.
Cook the chicken. Simply add a little groundnut or sunflower oil to a wok or good pan and fry on both side until the pieces have taken on some colour. Cook in batches rather than over-fill the pan — the chicken will boil rather than fry. If you are making this well in advance you may simply want to simmer the pieces in boiling water until clearly cooked — this uses no oil and is now quite a common method of cooking for health conscious chinese cooks. Whichever methods you use, drain chicken on kitchen paper.
Heat a tiny amount of oil in the pan and throw in the mushrooms if being used. Add the coconut milk and the stock. Then throw in the lime leaves. Add four tablespoons of your green curry paste, the fish sauce, peppercorns and half of the fresh basil and coriander. Bring to boil, turn down the heat and simmer for ten minutes giving everything a good stir from time to time.
Then return the chicken to the pan and add another tablespoon of green paste. Simmer for a further five minutes or so. Stir in the rest of the green herbs.
You should now have a fine dish which you serve with aromatic rice.
To dehydrate do the following.
Drain off the liquid in a colander into a pan (we need the liquid). Take the cooked chicken and mush and blitz it in a food processor or hand blitzer. You should end up with paste. Gradually stir the reserved liquid back into the blitzed chicken until you have a reasonably consistent sauce. Sometimes this can be problematical. If it gets lumpy, break up the lumps ( a hand blitzer is good).
I would then add my cooked rice to the sauce.
What you now have is something that looks very much like porridge (but tastes great).
Spread on one or more trays and then dehydrate until dry.
Excellent recipe – making your own paste transforms the dish. The dehydrating (porridge) process is invlauable – I just need this snow to clear so the postman can deliver my dehydrator!
Do you need to line the mesh trays? Is baking parchment appropriate?
On no account try dehydrating the chicken without mincing it!
Most dehydrators come with special mesh trays and sometimes this permeable paper/plastic lining. Baking parchment is not the same. You’ll probably find that some liquid does drop onto the base of your dehydrator. When you put the stuff on use a slotted spoon so you leave liquid behind. Once the food is loaded you can always spoon some of the liquid back on top, but you won’t loose that much flavour.
I tried this recipe using turkey instead of chicken. It was absolutely superb. Will be most definatley on the menu for the overland track walk (7 days)in Tasmania in February 2010.
Ooh! This sounds most interesting! I think I’ll make this my second TGO 2010 dehydrated meal
Will try it today. Thank you!
haven’t done this, this year. Really good though.
How does the coconut milk not spoil?
Jesse, Coconut milk is really shredded coconut to which you can add water. It is if you like a bit like dried milk. You either buy in a can or in solid form. I’d always buy in a solid form. Better value for money and lasts for ever!