Green Curry Chicken (Opor Ayam Hijau)

The curry sure didn't look green while I was cooking it. It was more of a grey dull color but the green did show up eventually. Phew! When I first cooked this dish from Chef Wan's Simply Sedap, I was very diligent and pounded the spice paste by hand. But today, I am lazy and used my blender.

I am not certain if this is the same as Thai Green Curry but it tastes very similar. I had a green curry at a Thai restaurant in Taman Tun Dr Ismail a while back and it was very good. If I remember correctly, besides chicken, there were sweet potatoes and small brinjals in that curry.

The spice paste is very pungent and aromatic. It has a very robust flavor profile and may not suite everyone. One thing to keep in mind is to make sure your dry spices - coriander, fennel seeds and white peppercorns are fresh. Do check for any seeds that have gone bad or it will spoil your spice paste. I once realized that my peppercorns had already gone musty after I made the spice paste and sure enough, my curry smelled funny.

The vegetable in Chef Wan's recipe is brinjals, cut into small pieces and deep fried. I thought that was interesting and followed, except that I didn't cut all the brinjals into small pieces.

This curry goes really well white plain white rice. The aromatic gravy just makes you want to eat more and more. Not exactly something you would want if you are on a diet. If you love Thai Green Curry, then this curry is for you.

Green Curry Chicken (Opor Ayam Hijau)

Recipe source : Adapted from Chef Wan's Simply Sedap (page 108)

Ingredients :

- 4 chicken legs, cut into 4 pieces each

- 200ml coconut milk

- 100 ml water

- 5 small eggplants, cut into small pieces and deep fried

- A handful of Basil leaves (Daun Selasih)

Finely ground paste :

- 4 green chillies (I removed the seeds)

- 1 big onion

- 10 shallots

- 4 coriander root

- 1 inch ginger

- 2 stalks lemongrass

- 4 kafir lime leaves

- 1 teaspoon belacan (shrimp paste)

- 1.5 tablespoons coriander seeds, toasted

- 1.5 tablespoons fennel seeds, toasted

- 1/2 tablespoon white peppercorns, toasted

Method :

1. Heat oil and saute finely ground paste until fragrant.

2. Add the chicken pieces and stir to coat with spice paste.

3. Pour in the water and coconut milk and simmer until chicken is tender and gravy is thick.

4. Stir in the eggplants.

5. Season with salt and sugar.

6. Add basil leaves and remove from heat.

I am linking this post to the event, Little Thumbs Up organised by Zoe of Bake for Happy Kids and Doreen of My Little Favourite DIY and hosted by Ms B of Everybody Eats Well in Flanders.

This post is also linked to Cook-Your-Books #1 hosted by Joyce of Kitchen Flavours.