Recipes

Fried Rice with Green Curry

Khao Pad Kaeng Kiew Waan

Green curry chicken and rice fried together with pea eggplant and fresh basil

Prep

20 min

Cook

10 min

Serves

4

Heat

medium

This dish takes the components of a rich green chicken curry — chicken, pea eggplant, fresh green peppercorn, kaffir lime — and folds them directly into rice instead of ladling them over it as a soup. The curry base gets built and tasted on its own first, seasoned strong enough to carry through once a large quantity of rice gets stirred in and fried until it starts browning in spots. A final toss of basil right at the end keeps its licorice-like fragrance from cooking away, finishing a plate that reads as a complete meal in itself rather than a side.

Ingredients

• 5 1/3 cups Cooked Thai jasmine rice, cooled (made ahead of time)
• 1-2 Chicken thigh, large (boned, skinned, cut into 1/2-inch cubes)
• 2 2/3 cups Coconut milk (divided)
• 1 1/3 tablespoons Thai green curry paste
• 2/3 cup Pea eggplants (cleaned)
• 2 cups Thai sweet basil (leaves and flower tops)
• 1-2 Thai long chili (sliced thin, for garnish)
• 8 Kaffir lime leaves (some sliced thin for garnish, some torn for the curry)
• 2 Fresh green peppercorn bunches
• 2 3/4 teaspoons Coconut sugar
• 1 1/3 teaspoons Fish sauce (to taste)

Directions

1. Cook the rice ahead of time so it has a chance to cool and dry out slightly. Cut the chicken into 1/2-inch cubes. Pick the basil leaves. Clean the pea eggplants and slice the chili and a couple of kaffir lime leaves thin for garnish.
2. Add half the coconut milk to a cold wok and heat gradually over medium heat. Once warm, stir in the curry paste.
3. Fry the curry and coconut mixture slowly until thick and the oil separates — keep the heat gentle and don't rush this step.
4. Add the chicken and fry until fully cooked.
5. Stir in the coconut sugar until dissolved, then add the remaining coconut milk. Stir well and bring back to a light bubble.
6. Add the green peppercorn bunches and the torn kaffir lime leaf pieces.
7. Add the pea eggplants and stir well. Let it simmer gently for about 5 minutes, keeping the heat low so it doesn't scorch.
8. Remove the peppercorn bunches and set aside to use as a garnish later.
9. Turn off the heat, let cool slightly, then taste. It should taste fairly strong and a little salty at this stage, since it needs to season all the rice that goes in next. Add a little fish sauce only if needed.
10. Turn the heat to high. Once hot, add the rice and stir-fry, flipping from the bottom, until it browns a little in spots and most of the liquid is absorbed.
11. Turn off the heat and toss in the basil until mixed in.
12. Serve on individual plates or a shared platter, garnished with the reserved peppercorns, sliced chili, slivered kaffir lime leaf, and a few fresh basil leaves.

Notes

Taste and season the curry base before adding the rice, not after — it needs to taste noticeably strong and salty on its own to properly flavor the large volume of plain rice once it's stirred in.

Substitutions

Day-old rice works better than freshly cooked rice, since it fries drier and doesn't turn mushy. Any sweet red pepper can be used for the garnish in place of Thai long chili.