Green Curry Chicken with Thai Eggplant

The authentic Thai Green curry is not made this way . The ingredients are almost the same ,but the chicken and veggies are not stir fried but rather cooked in the coconut milk . I prefer marinating and stir frying the chicken prior to cooking it in coconut milk since it adds a nice flavour to the meat itself.

Thai Eggplants are similar to Asian eggplants,They are much smaller in size. The tender ones are kind of sweet tasting and the seeds are not bitter . Texture wise I feel they hold up better without getting too mushy .I am going to try them out in other recipes too.

Ingredients:

1. Chicken breast cut into cubes - 2 pieces(from 1 chicken)
2. Green Curry paste - 4 tbsp (Use the ready made green curry paste or make your own)
3. Coconut milk - 1.5 cups
4. Fish sauce - to taste
5. Sambal olek(red chilly sauce) - 1 tsp
6. Thai eggplant - 5
7. Vegetables(optional) - baby corn,Snow peas,bamboo shoot,straw mushroom, tomato etc (I used baby corn , snow peas and tomato)
8. Onion - 1 cut into big chunks
9. Green chillies - 3 cut at an angle
10. Thai Basil - 1/2 cup

For the green curry paste blend together the following ingredients- You can freeze the leftover paste and use as needed.

1. Lemon grass - 1 stalk
2. Cilantro stems,leaves and roots washed well - 1 bunch
3. Toasted coriander seeds or Coriander powder - 2 tbsp
4. Ginger - a small piece
5. garlic - 5 cloves
6. Shallots - 3
7. Green chillies - 4
8. Shrimp paste - 1 tsp
9. Soy sauce - 1 tbsp
10. Fish Sauce - 2 tbsp
11. Oil - 1 tbsp

Method:
Marinate the chicken in a tsp of fish sauce and sambal olek and keep aside.
Heat a pan with 1 tsp of oil and stir fry the chicken pieces on a high heat for 2 minutes and set aside.
Add 1 tsp oil to the same pan and saute the green curry paste until the raw smell goes.
Add in the cubed Thai egg plants and mix well.
Cover and cook for 5 minutes.
Add in the tomato,baby corn and snow peas and stir for a minute.
Add the chicken pieces back into the vegetable mix and stir fry for another minute.
Pour in the coconut milk and bring to a simmer.
Adjust seasoning by adding more fish sauce for saltiness,a pinch of sugar if you like it balanced,squeeze of lime juice for tartness.
Add in the green chillies and Thai basil . Turn the flame off.
Serve with rice.