Thai Green Curry Chicken (Gaeng Keow Waan)

Ingredients

• 1 kg chicken thighs, boneless, skinless, cut into 1-inch pieces (for tofu, see note)
• 4 oz bamboo shoots, canned (sliced or strips)
• 500 g Thai green eggplant (quartered) (Optional)
• 240 ml coconut milk, divided
• 30 g green curry paste
• 450 ml vegetable stock (2 C)
• 15 g palm sugar (1 tbs)
• 15 ml fish sauce (1 tbs)
• 3-4 kaffir lime leaves, roughly torn
• 1 C Thai basil

Directions

1. Reduce 120 ml coconut milk until thick and coconut oil starts to separate from the coconut milk. if the oil doesn't separate after it has reduced, just proceed with the recipe. The oil from canned coconut milk doesn't separate as much as fresh.
2. Add curry paste and sauté, stirring constantly over medium heat for about 2 minutes until aromatic. If paste sticks to the bottom of the pan, add a little bit of the remaining coconut milk.
3. Add chicken thighs and stir to mix with the paste. If using eggplant, add them here.
4. Add kaffir lime leaves, vegetable stock (reserving some), remaining coconut milk, sugar and fish sauce. Bring to a simmer and let simmer gently for 10-15 minutes or until the chicken is fork tender. If using eggplant, simmer for 20-25 minutes for the eggplant to become tender.
5. Once the curry is done simmering, add bamboo shoots and bring to a boil. If you prefer your peppers to be more cooked, add them at this stage. Once boiling, remove from heat.
6. Taste and add more fish sauce and/or sugar as needed.
7. Stir in Thai basil and spur chilies or bell peppers.
8. Serve with jasmine rice

Chef's Notes

• 30g of green curry is about 3 stars of spicy in a Thai restaurant (~10g/star)
• If you want to increase the green color, blitz the leaves of three Thai basil stalks in warm water with a wand emulsifier or a blender and add with the stock and coconut milk
• If you're making this dish vegetarian, soy sauce will substitute for the fish sauce.
• I regularly substitute organic cane sugar for palm sugar with no issue
• If using tofu to make this dish vegetarian:
  • Use firm or extra firm tofu, drain the liquid from the package, dry tofu with paper towels and place in a colander to drain
  • Once the tofu is dry, heat vegetable oil or peanut oil and deep fry the tofu until the outside is crusted. This is to make sure the tofu doesn't disintegrate when added to the coconut milk and curry paste sauce