Pai's Thai Green Curry :)

Thai Green Curry has been my favorite Thai dish for quite some time now. I think the first time I tasted it was in a Thai restaurant in Pune and fell in love with it, the very first time I had it. The essence of coconut milk along with the flavors of vegetables like Mushroom, Baby corn and Green Peas created such an amazing combination! The dish looked so simple, yet it tasted exotic!

I wanted to try this out at home and purchased Tarla Dalal's Thai Cooking book. The recipe was easy, but it called for Lemon Grass. I searched quite a bit for this ingredients, but failed to find it. After much searching and postponing to experiment this dish, I decided to go for it, minus the Lemon Grass. This is considered one of the most important element in Thai Cooking, but what to do if I cant find it... well, create the Thai dish, my way... hence the name Pai's Thai Green Curry!! :) 

Well, though it lacked the complete flavour of the Thai Green Curry I had eaten at the Thai restaurant, my preparation made me happy and I was satisfied with this version of the famous Thai delicacy :)

Green Curry Paste:

Ingredients

Green chillies - 10 chopped

Ginger - 1 inch piece

Garlic - 5 cloves

(Or you can use 2 tsp of Ginger-Garlic paste instead)

Onion - 1 chopped

Coriander Leaves - 1 cup chopped

Rind of lemon - 1, grated

Lemon juice - 1/2 tbsp

Coriander Powder - 1 tbsp

Cumin Powder - 2 tbsp

Lemongrass stalks - 2 

(You can skip this, if hard to find. The recipe is good even without this ingredient)

Salt - 1 tsp

Pepper Powder - 1/2 tsp

Method:

• Grind all the ingredients in a mixer using a little water to get a chutney consistency.
• This curry paste can be stored in the refrigerator.

Pai's  Thai Green Curry:

Ingredients

Green Curry Paste - 4 tbsp

Coconut Milk - 1 cup 

(A 200ml tetra pack from Hommade would suffice)

Onion - 1 thinly sliced

Cauliflower - 1 cup florets

Button Mushrooms - 1 cup thinly sliced

Baby corn - 1 cup sliced into 1 inch strips

Green Peas - 1/2 cup

Capsicum - 1 cup diced
Paneer / Cottage Cheese - 10-12 cubes, deep fried

Oil - For frying

Sugar - 1 tsp

Method:

• Par boil capsicum, cauliflower, mushroom, baby corn and green peas in a pot of water. Drain the excess water and keep the vegetables aside.
• Heat oil in a wok and add in sliced onions. 
• Once the onions turn a light brown, add in the green curry paste and fry for 2-3 mins.
• Add in the coconut milk and stir well.
• Now, add in the par boiled vegetables, paneer and mix in all the ingredients together.
• Serve hot with steamed rice!

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