My Thai green curry

Thai green curry is one of the basic recipes I cook most. I tend to make it on one of those "low effort days" in quantities that can be frozen or refrigerated for later use. You can either make the sauce separately—and add the chicken, prawns or beef at a later stage—or cook your base protein in at the start. It's also great when you're hungry and want something spicy and fresh because it doesn't take too long to cook.

These portions of Thai green curry sauce are for 2 meals or for approx. 2 to 3 diners. If you want them divided up another way, do the simple arithmetic.

This really is one of those mix-'n-match meals. So, my personal favourite ingredients are listed in flavour categories below. But other options (or any combination thereof) work perfectly well.

Shopping list

for the from-scratch version of Thai green curry

• 2 to 3 large brown or white onions; finely diced

• 10 to 12 large celery sticks; cut into sections 3 to 4cm long

• sweet flavours—carrots OR butternut squash (cut into large cubes or thin slices) OR red bell peppers cut into large segments. Approx. 350g

• bitter flavours— Thai aubergines; cut into halves or quarters depending on size OR green bell peppers cut into large pieces OR celeriac; cubed. Approx. 350g.

• neutral/green flavours— (tender stem) broccoli; broken into rough segments OR baby sweetcorn, cut roughly in half OR bamboo shoots, cut vertically in slices OR mange tout. Approx. 350g

• A vegetable stock cubes/jelly, diluted in approx. 300ml boiling water

• Protein: 1 roughly diced chicken breast (or 1.5 boneless chicken thighs); 400g thinly sliced beef; 6-9 king prawns or langoustines in their shell or 150g cubed tofu per diner

• 5 to 6 heaped teaspoons of Thai green curry paste ("Gang Keow Wan") or the equivalent in a dry spice mix and fresh herbs ground in a mortar—or a combination thereof (I often start the dish with the dry spices for the first stages and move on to the "wet" spice mix at later stages). Yes, you can do the whole make-your-own thing, but I strongly recommend using a reputable readymade brand such as the one by Thai Taste. Save yourself the sad look of trying to claim you do it better...

• 3 sticks lemongrass, topped, tailed and washed

• 4 to 5 hot red chillies; finely sliced

• 1 400g tin coconut milk OR 1 carton coconut cream

• Water, as needed

• A clutch of fresh Asian basil (optional; if you can get it)

• 1 spring onion, very finely sliced

• "Wok" oil (or any relevant combo of peanut, sesame and chilli oil)

• Rice, preferably of the Thai "sticky" variety or alternative

Cooking method

1. Heat the oil on a high heat in a large saucepan (with a lid); add any dry spices and cook in the oil for a few minutes—or a little of the green curry paste. Add the diced onion and sweat until they start to turn golden, stirring so that they do not stick

2. Throw in the chicken/beef (unless using the "sauce first" method) along with half of the green curry paste/spices. Brown the chicken/beef with the onions and ginger

3. Add the celery, bell peppers and red chillies and sweat the ingredients together, covered and stirring occasionally (add a little water if it begins to stick)

4. Boil the kettle and dilute the stock cube in approx. 300ml water

5. While the added ingredients are sweating, add the remaining Thai green curry paste, stirring constantly and ensuring that nothing burns or sticks. Add a little (no more than a few tbspns) of the coconut milk/cream if needed to lubricate/hydrate the contents

6. Slowly add the liquid stock, no more than 100ml at a time. Each time allow it to bubble and simmer a while before adding more

7. Once all of the stock is added, bring to the boil and allow to boil vigorously for 4 or 5min. Then add your vegetables, starting with the ones that take the longest to to cook e.g. Thai aubergines or butternut squash. If you need help, check this out.

8. Gradually, add each vegetable alternating with a little more coconut milk/coconut cream (diluted with some water at the same time if using the creamed coconut)

9. When all of the veggies are added (and covered in liquid), add the sticks of lemongrass and bring to the boil. Add the Asian basil at this stage if you are using it

10. Allow to boil vigorously for no more than 5mins. Reduce the heat substantially so that the liquid simmers very gently. Simmer for about 15mins, checking the veggies with a fork, occasionally stirring to prevent sticking. If needed, increase the heat a little to ensure all vegetables are cooked appropriately. Some—such as broccoli, baby corn or mange tout—work well if still a little al dente. Others, such as Thai aubergine or butternut squash, need to be fully tender. When ready, turn off the heat and allow to rest—you can readily reheat it on a low heat when needed

11. NB: green curry should not be a thick sauce; almost soup-like. Whatever you do, do not add any thicken agents to try and get it to reduce to a thick sauce

12. About 15mins before you want to serve, prepare the rice in your preferred quantities. While Thai sticky rice is the best option, it can also be a pain to cook, especially if doing it for the first time. Thai jasmine rice or simple boiled white rice work perfectly well too

13. When the rice is cooked, plate together with the Thai green curry and garnish with chopped spring onions or a few crushed peanuts

The "sauce first" method

1. Many Asian dishes use a "sauce first" method in which a sauce is cooked and the protein—poultry. meat or seafood—is added later. I often use this "sauce first" method. Cook you Thai green curry without adding and browning any protein in the early steps. Cool fully and add to container for appropriate refrigeration/freezing

2. In such cases, simply defrost the relevant portions of the sauce and, in a shallow pan, using a little wok oil and relevant seasoning, brown the beef, tofu or poultry with finely cubed onion, crushed garlic and grated root ginger (or a store-bought paste of the latter). Add these to the defrosted pre-prepared green curry sauce and heat in a microwave for a 2 to 3mins or until thoroughly cooked through

3. If opting for pre-cooked king prawns or langoustine, these need no more than a few minutes in the pan and only add after you've heated your defrosted green curry sauce in the microwave (unless you like seafood chewing gum)

Alternatives

This dish fundamentally exists on an axis of heat-to-creaminess. I'm not going to frame it in terms of "adults" and "children". As one of those kids who could chomp on raw chillies and loved "hot" food, I know that the relativity of spiciness is not age-determined.

But here's the deal: if you want it less spicy, add more coconut milk/cream and milder/fewer chilies. If you want it spicier: add more chillies (at either the cooking or serving stage).

With this one, while, you might traverse the capsaicin Valley of Death: yeah, shall ye fear no evil... basically you need to trust and respect whomever you're feeding; your nippers or otherwise.

This is fundamentally a pescatarian dish: if you use the Thai green curry mix I recommend (or practically any other), you have intrinsically included dried shrimp paste. Bummer, sorry. But there are now plenty of vegan green curry pastes on the market. I can't honestly express an opinion—mainly because on the occasions that I used them without even realising they were vegan, I made seafood versions. However, one thing I did notice with these vegan green curry pastes—actually the main reason I stopped buying them—was that they tended to go off with a thick fungus growth in the pot within three weeks of being stored sealed in the fridge. So I guess you need to have a Thai green party party if you're buying them.

Pairings

Most often I have this dish with soft drinks or simple sparkling water with a slice of lime.

Regardless of your protein of choice, it's undeniably good with the famous Thai Singha beer, especially in hot weather—one of the times I most crave green curry.

On the wine front, so far my favourite choices have proven South African chenin blancs with a peppery kick. And, that's not just with the chicken and prawn versions. I think this is a dish made for white wine, even when eating a beef version. Remember that the guiding flavours here are green herbs and spices and not a deep beefy flavour that cooks in for hours. Thus, I'm sure I can discuss this one with Karel for hours but, to date, my favourite wines with all versions of Thai green curry have been South African chenin blancs, South African and Australian chardonnays and a Czech Grüner Veltliner. Yes, I've heard all the arguments for vinho verde and Italian "orange wines". I confess I don't like them at the best of times: what they did to this dish made me want to stick forks in my eyes.

I don't doubt there's an amazing red to pair with Thai green curry. I'm just waiting for somebody to introduce me to it.