One thing that you HAVE to love about flying within Latin America and with Latin American Airlines is their baggage allowance. If you are flying economy you are allowed to check in TWO bags of up to 23kg – that is 46kg per person and not including your hand luggage!! Why can this not be a universal airline law? I can’t begin to explain how many times I have flirted, fought and cried with the check-in clerks in Europe because I was 2kg overweight.

On our way home, ‘C’ and I took full advantage of this weight luxury, and brought home so many things for the apartment, one of which being a Peruvian claypot which ‘C’ swears makes the best stews! Now back to my main point – Thai Green Chicken Curry.

You absolutely do not need a claypot for this recipe – we just decided to do so, as first of all we lugged it all the way back from Peru and second of all its quite fun to cook in! Yes. It’s the small things that excite me.

This recipe is one that I have gotten from my mother. It is not 100% authentic – but it will definitely satisfy that Thai craving you may have and is definitely a crowd pleaser. Plus, it is so incredibly easy to prepare – you throw everything into a pot and half an hour later your ready to eat! There are a couple of ingredients here that I was unable to find in Mexico – however I am almost certain you will find them all in Europe, the States and definitely in Asia.

My biggest tip would be to find a very good quality green curry paste – as this really is the base of the entire dish.

Ingredients

• 1tblsp oil
• 1 white onion – finely chopped
• 2 tblsp Thai green curry paste
• 500ml Coconut milk
• 500g chicken thigh or breast – cut into bite sized pieces
• 100g Thai eggplant, green beans or zucchini – cut into pieces
• 125 ml coconut cream
• 2 kaffir lime leaves – cut into strips
• 1 tblsp fish sauce
• 1tblsp lime juice
• 2-3tsp sugar
• ¼ cup sweet basil leaves

Directions

Heat oil in a large saucepan (or in my case the claypot!)

Add onions and curry paste and cook for 1-2 mins stirring constantly. Then Add the coconut milk and bring to the boil.

Once boiling add the chicken, fish sauce and sugar. Reduce to a slow boil and cook for 10-15 mins.

Add the eggplant and re-heat to a strong boil and simmer for 2 mins.

Add the coconut cream, the kaffir and basil leaves and stir to combine.

Remove the curry to a serving bowl and garnish with left over basil and red pepper. Serve with plain white rice.

Tips

• The only vegetables I had at hand were mushrooms and French beans – and I threw them all in at the same time as the chicken.
• Kaffir and Sweet Basil leaves, highly enriches the flavour of the curry – but are not essential, do not worry if you cannot find them!
• I actually omitted the coconut cream in the attempt to cut some calories…although the curry was still very good and ‘C’ loved it…it definitely lacked that lovely creamy texture and was too watery for me.

So – was there anything special with the Claypot? To be honest there was no special taste that ‘C’ had promised – although I did enjoy cooking with it (but not so much the washing up!) It is a lovely piece of equipment to cook with, as it has a thick bottom which ensures a gradual and even heat and ample space…somehow I think this will become a regular feature in our kitchen!