Green Curry Chicken, again

I didn’t plan to do this, but then I saw Thai basil in Jusco!!!! OMG, I just got to make something with that, and on yeah, green curry. It’s been dog years since I’ve done that. And this time, I’m gonna use cumin with it as well, it’s supposed to have cumin, just that I didn’t have that last time, so now, I’m gonna use that too.

(A)
750gm chicken pieces, chopped into smaller pieces and marinate with 1 tsp salt for 30 minutes
1 russet potato or any other floury potatoes, peeled and cubed

(B)
8 green chillies (seeds partially removed, I keep some for the heat)

2 lemon grass (4 inches from the base)
3-4 shallots
2 cloves garlic
Thumb sized ginger
Pinkie sized belacan/shrimp paste
1 Tbsp oil


(C )
1 tbsp coriander seeds
½ Tbsp cumin seeds
1 tsp black pepper

(D)
200ml thick coconut milk
Salt to taste
Oil for cooking
Handful of Thai basil

1. Blend (B) plus 3 Tbsp coconut cream (skim the top of the 200ml coconut milk) until it becomes a smooth paste
2. Mill (C ) until fine
3. Heat wok and put in 1 tbsp oil and fry (c ) until fragrant, put in (B) and cook until it is very fragrant.
4. Put in chicken and potatoes. Cook for 2 minutes
5. Put in water to cover chicken and cook until potato turns tender.
6. Reduce gravy to desired amount and put in coconut milk. Season with salt.
7. When curry has come to a boil, put in basil leaves and give it a toss and dish up. Serve hot with rice.

Note: If you do not own a food processor like me, but own a blender than comes with a mill, you can do this. To make a smoother paste, divide ingredients B into 3 parts, except the oil. Mill each part until they all get mushed up. Put all mushed up (B) into the blender, then 1 Tbsp oil and 3 tbsp coconut cream, then puree until fine. This way, your green curry paste will be very fine.

Liquidizers or Blenders are not the same stuff back in 20 years ago. I remember the first blender at home was so sharp, that we can just blitz anything, and they will turn superfine in just seconds. Even pandan leaves, and the mill that came with it could make a fine sambal paste or fine garlic paste for my garlic bread. Nowadays, it’s no longer the same story. My so called “Microcutter blender” doesn’t even blend as fine as my regular National blender. Pandan leaves are a chore to it, and I had to snip them real fine to relieve the motor of hard work. And I never get the same smooth fine chili paste that I could get with my old mill. Don’t even talk about milling 2 cloves of garlic that my old one could do a fine job with. They may have come from the same brand (old was National, new was Panasonic, they were practically the same company renamed). Where is the old quality??? Gone with the name, I guess.