Green Curry Chicken

Coconut milk finally went on sale at Uwajimaya several weeks ago so I made green curry chicken for dinner.  I usually make red or yellow curry since I usually have ingredients for those dishes on hand.  I switched it up and used green curry instead. I found a small 4 oz. can of green curry paste to experiment with and it was enough to cook for two 4 serving meals. Most recipes call for kaffir lime leaves but I couldn't find it anywhere so I substituted with lime zest instead.  

Green Curry Chicken (serves 4)

Recipe adapted from here and there

Ingredients:

1 lb. chicken thighs or breasts, cut into bite-sized pieces

2 T green curry paste

1 can coconut milk

3 kaffir lime leaves (I used zest of one lime)

1 cup bamboo shoots

1/2 cup frozen peas*

1/4 cup Thai basil

1-2 T fish sauce

1 T palm sugar

1 T vegetable or canola oil

crushed peanuts (optional)

Directions:

1. Saute the green curry paste with oil over medium heat until fragrant, mix in half of the coconut milk and let simmer for about 2-3 minutes.
2. Add the chicken and continue cooking until chicken is almost done.
3. Add the remaining coconut milk, kaffir lime leaves, palm sugar and fish sauce, and bring to a boil.
4. Add the bamboo shoots and frozen peas and cook for 4-5 minutes or until the bamboo shoots are softened.
5. Stir in the basil and remove from the heat. Serve over rice and top with crushed peanuts if desired.

*I also made this dish using eggplants instead of peas which I think goes very well with green curry.  It just took a little longer to prepare because you need to cook the eggplants first until they soften before adding to the curry.