The Authentic Thai Green Curry Recipe I’ve Hoped For

Thai green curry is one of my favorite Thai dishes. With its distinctive sweet and spicy taste, mouth-watering aroma, and recognizable green tint, this curry has meant a lot to me over the years. It’s the Thai curry I crave 10 out of 10 times.

That being said, I’ve tried a lot of green curries over the years from various takeout restaurants and food trucks. I’ve had green curry frozen meals from the grocery store and tried using store-bought green curry paste in hopes of recreating the nostalgic taste of fresh and flavorful green curry.

The results have been varied, to say the least. From restaurants, I could get close to the authentic Thai green curry I remember having when I visited Thailand nearly a decade ago. But even those versions sometimes lacked depth when it came to flavor. By far, the worst were my attempts to make it at home with various green curry pastes. I tried brands from large chain grocers and pastes from different Asian marts. None of them came remotely close to producing the real thing—authentic Thai green curry.

That’s why Thai green curry is a recipe I’ve been searching for a long time. I’ve tried to understand which ingredients give green curry its distinctive flavor profile.

And lo and behold… I’ve finally found the recipe!

This recipe comes from the blog Eating Thai Food by Mark Wiens. His blog is wonderful, and the success I’ve had with this green curry recipe has inspired me to try even more of his recipes. But today, I just want to highlight his authentic Thai green curry recipe, which he received from his Thai mother-in-law. Full credit to them for sharing a beautiful piece of Thai culture that we can all now enjoy!

To see the exact recipe that Mark Wiens wrote down with measurements, please check out his blog here. The recipe I have below is almost identical, but I had to make a few adjustments because I couldn’t find certain ingredients where I live or, being pescatarian, I’ve omitted the meat aspect from the curry.

Ingredients (The Pescatarian Caitlyn Version):

The parts highlighted in green are notes I explain below.

• • 150g Thai green chilies

• • 1 head of garlic

• • 3 small shallots (about 2 tbsp in total)

• • 1 thumb-sized chunk of galangal

• • 5 cilantro roots

• • Peel of 1 kaffir lime

• • 2 stalks of lemongrass

• • 1 tbsp white peppercorns

• • 1 tsp coriander seeds

• • 1 tsp cumin seeds

• • 1 tsp salt

• • 1 tbsp shrimp paste

Additional Ingredients:

• • 2 (ish) cups water

• • Homemade green curry paste (from the ingredients above)

• • 2-3 cups coconut cream (click here to find an unsweetened version)

• • 6-10 Thai eggplants

• • Carrot

• • Sweet potato

• • 6-10 stems of Thai sweet basil

• • 2 red spur chilies (optional, I left them out because I couldn’t find them locally)

• • 20 kaffir lime leaves

• • 1/2 tsp salt

• • Protein of your choice (for pescatarians: tofu, shrimp, etc.)

Tools:

• • Pot or deep sauté pan

• • Mortar and pestle

• • Knives, cutting board, towels

• • Kitchen gloves (to avoid chili oil burns—trust me, you’ll want these!)

Pro tip: I suggest wearing gloves when pounding the chilies in the mortar and pestle. I didn’t the first time, and the chili oils left my fingers burning for over 24 hours. It was seriously painful! Please save yourself the discomfort and use gloves.

Ingredient Notes:

• • Thai Green Chilies: Green curry gets its green color from Thai green chilies. Unfortunately, I couldn’t find them fresh, so I used frozen red chilies and a few dried red ones I ordered from Amazon. It’s not the same, but it worked.

• • Galangal: Another tricky ingredient to find. I initially bought dried galangal from Amazon but later found frozen galangal at an Asian mart near me. It looks like ginger but isn’t interchangeable, so be sure to use galangal.

• • Cilantro Roots: I couldn’t find cilantro with roots attached, so I had to omit this. Even without them, the curry still turned out great.

• • Kaffir Lime: I used regular lime peel because kaffir limes weren’t available. The lime peel worked fine, but fresh kaffir lime would be even better if you can find it.

• • Carrot and Sweet Potato: These aren’t in the original recipe, but I added them to mine, and they were a delicious addition.

• • Thai Sweet Basil: I grew my own in my AeroGarden, but you can find it at Asian markets. While it adds great flavor, I discovered that the real star ingredient for the distinct green curry aroma is the kaffir lime leaves. I used dried ones, and they still worked beautifully! Just make sure to pick them out after you cook the curry with them because I personally found them too tough to eat.

A Few More Notes:

As I mentioned, I couldn’t find green chilies, so my curry wasn’t as green as what you might expect from a restaurant. Just keep in mind that it’s the color of the chilies that makes the curry green, not the other ingredients.

The Process:

The trick to making an authentic curry paste is to pound everything in a mortar and pestle. Here is a link to the one I purchased an like. I would either get this one or an even larger one. This helps release the oils from each ingredient, allowing them to harmonize. It’s a labor of love—expect to spend at least an hour pounding away. It’s not just about mixing; it’s about connecting with the beauty of cooking. You can’t achieve this same depth with a food processor.

My Final Tips:

Here’s how I made my curry paste:

1. 1. I chopped up the thawed chilies and added the dried ones to the mortar. I removed some of the seeds because this curry is extremely spicy. Even with fewer chilies, it was still very hot!
   2. After the chilies, I finely chopped the other ingredients and added them to the mortar. I also heated up my aromatics such as the peppercorns, coriander and cumin seeds on the stove top to start to get the flavor and scent from them. THen, I pounded everything until it was well-mashed. Then I mixed in the shrimp paste (which smells awful but is essential).

When cooking the curry, I started by adding water and curry paste. After boiling my protein (shrimp for me), I added the veggies like carrot, sweet potato, and finally Thai eggplant. I removed the skin of the eggplant and cut it into cubes. Then, I placed the cubes in a bowl of cool water until I was ready to cook them. This prevents oxidization with the air and preserves their light color. Once the veggies were tender, I added kaffir lime leaves, letting them simmer for a few minutes. Finally, I stirred in the coconut cream for richness. Before serving, I removed the lime leaves and added the Thai basil.

The aroma and flavor were unmatched, but be mindful of the spice level. It’s powerful!

Serve your curry with jasmine or sticky rice, and you’ll have an unforgettable, authentic Thai green curry!

Tip: You can store leftover curry paste in the freezer for later use.

Taan hai a-roi 🙂