Thai Green Curry with Chicken and Eggplant Recipe
Green curry is a classic of Thai cuisine – creamy, aromatic and spicy. In Thailand it’s often served in small bowls together with jasmine rice, a bit like a stew with grains. This version with chicken and eggplant is homestyle and simplified, but still very Thai in flavor.
Green curry is one of the most aromatic Thai curries, traditionally cooked with eggplants and Thai basil. In home kitchens in Europe, some of the vegetables are often replaced with local produce, but the key is still the balance of heat, sweetness and coconut creaminess.
Green curry with chicken and eggplant combines creamy coconut milk with intensely herbal, spicy curry paste, creating a sauce with a deep, multi-layered flavor. It’s a bit like a stew, but in a Thai, lighter and more aromatic version, perfect for eating with a spoon straight from a bowl of jasmine rice.
Why this version works
- Frying the curry paste in fat releases its essential oils and gives the sauce a deeper flavor.
- The chicken is only briefly seared and then finishes cooking in the sauce, so it doesn’t dry out.
- Eggplant simmered in coconut milk turns creamy and soaks up the curry flavor.
- Seasoning at the end with fish sauce and lime juice makes it easy to fine-tune the balance of flavors.
Chef's tips
The easiest way to ruin this dish is to skip frying the curry paste – the curry will taste flat, even if you use good ingredients. Watch the eggplant closely: when the inside is translucent and soft and the skin is easy to pierce with a spoon, it’s ready; undercooked eggplant will be spongy and slightly bitter. If the curry ends up too hot, don’t dilute it with water – add more coconut milk instead and rebalance with fish sauce so you don’t lose depth of flavor.
How to serve
Serve with fluffy jasmine rice or brown jasmine rice if you want a more filling meal. A simple salad of cucumber, lime and cilantro works great on the side, refreshing your palate between bites of the spicy sauce.
Watch out for
- Don’t leave the curry covered for too long – the sauce can become watery and lose intensity.
- Cooking for too long after adding the basil will make it dark and bitter.
- Don’t add the full amount of curry paste at once, as different brands vary in heat level.
Substitutions
- You can replace eggplant with zucchini or butternut squash, shortening the cooking time to 6–8 minutes.
- Thai basil can be replaced with regular basil or a mix of basil and mint.
- Chicken breast can be swapped for boneless thighs, increasing the frying time by 2–3 minutes.
Ingredients
- chicken breast - 500 g
- green curry paste - 2 tablespoon
- coconut milk kokosowe - 400 ml
- chicken stock or water - 200 ml
- eggplant - 1 pieces
- bell pepper czerwona - 1 pieces
- zucchini - 1 pieces
- oil roślinny - 2 tablespoon
- fish sauce rybny - 2 tablespoon
- sugar trzcinowy lub biały - 1 teaspoon
- Thai basil leaves or regular basil leaves - 1 handful
- jasmine rice jaśminowy do podania - 300 g
- lime juice - 1 tablespoon
Preparation
- Rinse the jasmine rice in a sieve until the water is almost clear. Cook according to the instructions so it is soft but not falling apart, then leave covered – the grains should stay fluffy and gently steaming.
- Cut the chicken into thin strips. Dice the eggplant into 2 cm cubes, slice the pepper into strips and the zucchini into half-moons. Pick the basil leaves off the stems, tearing larger ones in half – you should get a distinctly herbal aroma on the cutting board.
- Heat the oil in a large frying pan or wide saucepan over medium heat. Add the green curry paste and fry for about 1 minute, stirring, until it becomes very fragrant and slightly darkens but does not brown.
- Pour in 3–4 tablespoons of coconut milk and cook, stirring, for 1–2 minutes until you get a thick, smooth sauce with a clearly green color. When a thin layer of fat appears on the surface, the curry base is ready.
- Add the chicken strips. Fry for 3–4 minutes, stirring, until the meat turns white on the outside and no longer looks translucent and raw, but can still be slightly underdone inside – it will finish cooking in the sauce.
- Add the remaining coconut milk and the stock or water. Stir, scraping the bottom of the pan, and bring to a gentle boil until the sauce is evenly green and smooth, with no lumps of paste.
- Add the eggplant cubes, pepper strips and zucchini. Cook over medium heat for 10–12 minutes uncovered, until the eggplant is soft and translucent inside and the sauce has clearly thickened and starts to coat the spoon.
- Add the fish sauce and sugar. Stir and taste – the flavor should be salty, slightly sweet and spicy; if it’s too hot, add more coconut milk, and if it’s too mild, stir a little extra curry paste into a spoonful of sauce and then mix it in.
- Turn off the heat. Add the basil leaves and lime juice and gently mix – the basil should just wilt lightly and stay bright green, while the lime lifts the fresh citrus aroma.
- Serve the hot curry in bowls next to portions of jasmine rice, or directly over the rice so the sauce can soak into the grains. Top with a few fresh basil leaves.
Storage
No storage information available for this dish.
This is one of the dishes I make when I come home late from work and need a bowl of something very aromatic in under 40 minutes. I always cook a double batch and freeze it – during the week I just need to cook fresh rice.
