Quick & Super Tasty Green Curry Sauce Recipe

This is a really easy green curry sauce recipe. It's not a paste, it's a sauce that you can turn into a curry by adding in a can of coconut cream or use it for a quick stir fry sauce. It's so fresh and zingy not at all heavy.

This is a Jaimie Oliver recipe that I looked up on the net after seeing it on his 30 minute meal series. And it really is quick. The only thing that takes a while is the chopping up of all the ingredients.

Ok, so you will need:

1) Medium bunch of green shallots
2) 1 bunch of fresh coriander
3) 2 red chillies (for a medium heat)
4) 4 cloves of garlic
5) 1 stick of lemongrass
6) 2 cm of fresh ginger
7) Optional 2 or 3 kaffir lime leaves (I only did this once and then the 2nd time I didn't, still tastes great)
8) Sesame oil
9) Light soy sauce
10) Fresh lime juice ( I used the juice of 1 and a half limes)

Extra ingredients if making a curry:

11) Can of coconut cream
12) Meat of choice - For a quick curry I just use pre-cut meat strips or if you have more time, beef chunks that soften with time like chuck or skirt)
13) Stock of choice 400mls, depending on your meat
14) 2 medium potatoes
15) 1 onion
16) 2 carrots

Extra ingredients if making the stir fry:
11) a splash of coconut cream
12) 1 bunch of bok choy

Method:

Chop all the ingredients roughly and put into a blender along with a few splashes of the soy and then the sesame oil - blend until you get a beautiful green liquid.

The smell you get when chopping all the ingredients is just divine! ( I did have a pic of this somewhere, anyway. . . ) I suggest you have a taste of the blended up sauce of green deliciousness and make sure you have a good balance of the saltiness and sourness. I usually add some fish sauce for some extra saltiness. If it's a true Thai taste you are after you can add some palm sugar. But I always have carrots in my curry and I find the sweetness of them is enough.

Ok, so here is a trick, well a method I learnt from my mum for prepping your meat. In a bowl I put the meat in with a tablespoon of corn flour to dry the meat a bit with some light soy, pepper and some vege oil, in this order and stir around so the meat is coated evenly. This makes your meat brown off nicely when stir frying and will help your curry sauce thicken in the cooking process. I just hate the meat juices you get when it comes straight out of the container, so this is great to get rid of that and makes for better tasting meat which is the most important right?!

Now you can brown off your meat of choice, set aside. Cook off your sauce for a few minutes add the meat back along with your veges, then the can of coconut cream, a cup and a half of stock. Bring to the boil and then simmer until everything is soft.

For the stir fry all you need to do is stir fry the meat in vege oil, add the green sauce, a splash of the coconut cream and then the bok choy in the last few minutes. Serve with rice and there you have it.