163. Green curry paste with chicken (Thai recipe, Green Curry Paste)

I've already made an authentic Thai soup, but curry is a category of its own, closer to meat or vegetables in a sauce. The base of green curry paste is a wet mixture of spices ground in a stone mortar which underlies a great many recipes dearly loved both by the locals and by pale-faced farangs. The details of making this spicy dish, and photos, are under the cut.

Cooking time ≈ 40 minutes.
Ingredients:

• 70 g curry paste base (you can buy it or make it yourself by grinding chilli, coriander with its roots, galangal, lemongrass, shallot, cumin and basil)
• 70 g aubergines or cherry tomatoes (I used cherry tomatoes)
• 4 kaffir lime leaves
• 400 ml coconut milk
• 600 g chicken fillet
• 100 g water
• 2 tsp fish sauce
• 3 tsp sugar
• 4 tbsp olive oil
• chilli, basil (to taste)

Grind the base for the green curry paste. If you bought it ready-made, there's nothing to do.

Heat the olive oil in a deep pan. Add the paste base and half the coconut milk.

Bring to the boil, stirring quickly.

Add the rest of the coconut milk and the water. Leave it over medium heat.

While the mixture comes to the boil, cut up the cherry tomatoes.

Add the sliced chicken fillet, the kaffir lime leaves and the cherry tomatoes to the green curry paste. Mix thoroughly, then pour in the fish sauce and the sugar.

While the chicken isn't done yet, cut up the chilli.

Decorate the finished green curry paste with the pepper and fresh basil. Serve with boiled rice.

Bon appétit!

P.S
Many recipes suggest putting shrimp paste in the curry paste instead of fish sauce. Very much a matter of taste.