Thai Green Curry Roast Chicken

Gaeng Kiew wan gai! Which literally means “sweet green chicken curry” is famous all over the world. If you go to a Thai restaurant it will always be on the menu.  In my recipe I am using  a whole chicken which is not the traditional way to cook this curry, but using a whole chicken and all the Thai herbs keeps the chicken moist and the flavours are to die for.

Cooking with coconut milk and cream can sometimes be a challenge, but if you follow my instructions religiously the coconut cream will produce light speckles of green fat on the surface and this is where the flavour of the curry is.  Follow my instructions carefully!

Ingredients

• 1 whole chicken
• 3 lemongrass stalks, bashed
• 2 2cm pieces of ginger, skinned and squashed
• 2 coriander roots
• 1 large lime, cut in quarters
• 3 tablespoons Thai green curry paste
• 2 tablespoons sunflower oil
• 2 tablespoons palm sugar
• 1 can coconut milk
• 1/2 cup coconut cream
• 2 tablespoons fish sauce
• 1 table spoon of palm sugar
• 4 Kaffir lime leaves, torn with your hands
• 1 small bunch of fresh coriander, chopped
• 2 red chillies, sliced, to serve
• Cooked jasmine rice to serve

Method for the Chicken

• Put the chicken on a roasting pan.  Salt inside the chicken well, this is very important otherwise the chicken will be bland.
•  Stuff the chicken with the ginger, lemongrass, lime quaters, 1 red chilli, and coriander roots.

• Mix half of the green curry paste with the vegetable oil and with your hands smear the curry paste all over the chicken.

• Cover the chicken with foil paper and roast for 40 minutes, then remove the foil paper and cook the chicken until it is cooked through and golden brown.

• Lift the chicken and drain the roasting juices from inside the chicken into the green curry sauce.  Remove all of the coriander roots, the ginger, the lemongrass, the chilli and lime halves.  Cook in the sauce until all the flavours have been released.
• Spoon some of the curry sauce on to the serving dish then sit the chicken on top.
• Decorate the top of the chicken with red chilli slices and coriander leaves.
• Pour the rest of the curry sauce into a sauce jug so your guests can serve themselves.

Method for the curry sauce

• Heat 1/2 cup of coconut cream in a wok until boiling.  Add the curry paste and fry over a low heat until fragrant.
• Gradually pour in 1/2 cup of coconut milk and simmer over a low heat.  Stir occasionally until the mixture turns oily (this is when the sparkles of green oil appear and this is when the flavour of the curry is released).
• Add the rest of the coconut milk and cook for a few minutes.
• Then add the chicken juices, the chilli, the coriander root, the Kaffir leaves, the lemongrass, the lime halves and ginger.

• Cook the sauce for a few minutes to release the flavours and then add the palm sugar and fish sauce.
• Discard the herbs and serve the sauce.

Tips

• The chicken can be marinated the night before with the curry sauce and the salt.
• You can add more green curry paste to your chicken and sauce.  It all depends how spicy you want your chicken and your sauce.
• The sauce can be served separately and let your guests serve themselves.
• Serve the chicken with a nice bowl of warm Jasmine rice.