Thai Roast Chicken Green Curry with Garbanzo Beans and Aubergines

Who doesn’t love Thai green curry? At least I haven’t known of anybody so far. It is one of the most warming things to have for dinner on a cold rainy evening. This recipe is comforting, home-cooked, full of flavors and loaded with the taste of Thailand. Thai green curry is the one of the most loved chicken dishes of my LO. The savory curry amalgamated with the mild sweetness of coconut milk smells and tastes delicious. These days Thai green curry is easily available at restaurants everywhere. But nothing can beat the authenticity and quality of a home-made Thai curry prepared from a fresh blend of spice mix. You could always use a store-bought curry paste in order to make life easier. However, I have always found the ready-made curry pastes are either too spicy or too overwhelming with the lemongrass flavor; which my LO does not like. She likes it best if I do it at home from scratch. And I don’t mind it either!! Who would not like to enjoy a home-cooked meal??

In this dish you can by all means go ahead and use chicken directly in the curry without roasting it; which by default is the norm! I made this curry a number of times with and without roasting and I have noticed my family loves the flavors of roast chicken in this dish. I usually roast the chicken first in the oven and then pull out the pieces of chicken before dumping them into the curry. It does make a little difference in the flavor and we all love it! I have used chicken drumsticks but you can always take any part of the chicken you like.

Fish sauce is a very important element in this dish. It sort of helps to balance all the flavors which really enhances it to an all new level. However you could always substitute it with some shrimp paste if you do have it in your pantry. The beautiful green color and warm aromatic spices brings the dish together which is so wonderful!

Garbanzo beans or chickpeas can make any curry taste absolutely delicious. Throw few of these wonderful beans and you will get a dish that you’ll be licking your fingers on! I love to serve Thai Green Curry with some Jasmine rice. The floral nature of this rice complements the savory-sweet nature of Thai curries.

Ingredients:

For the chicken – 

Chicken – 6 drumsticks

Paprika / red chilli powder – 2 tsp

Lime juice – 1 tsp

Ground black pepper – 1/2 tsp

Salt – as per taste

For the green curry – 

Basil leaves – 1 small bunch

Coriander / cilantro leaves – 1 small bunch

Kafir lime leaves – 5-6

Lemongrass – 2 stalks

Green chillies – 2

Onion – 1 large

Garlic cloves – 5-6

Ginger / galangal – 1 large piece or 2 small pieces

Turmeric powder – 1 tsp

Ground cumin – 1 tsp

Ground coriander powder – 1 tsp

Boiled chickpeas – 1/2 cup

Aubergines / eggplant – 2 (diced into small halves)

Fresh Coconut milk – 1 cup

Shrimp paste / fish sauce – 1 tsp

Salt – as per taste

Method:

Marinate the chicken legs with salt, pepper, paprika and lime juice for at least 30 mins.

Place them on a griddle or pan on very high heat. Sear the meat on high heat for 2-3 mins on each side until it gets a color on the outside.

Place the chicken drumettes on a baking tray lined with an aluminium foil. Pop it into the oven at 204 degree celsius. Roast the chicken for around 20 mins. After 20 mins take out the chicken from the oven and allow it to rest for a while.

After a while, using a fork and knife pull out small pieces of the roast chicken. 6 chicken drumsticks yielded me 1 bowl full of pulled chicken as below. Keep this aside.

Now prepare the Green curry paste.

Take the above ingredients:

Onion, garlic, ginger, fresh basil leaves, cilantro leaves, green chillies, turmeric powder, ground cumin and ground coriander powder. Peel out the shell of the lemongrass. Chop the lemongrass into small pieces. (Wash the basil and cilantro well to remove any dirt). Blend all these in a grinder with very little water to form the Thai Green Curry Paste.

P.S: I wanted to keep this at a low spice level because of my LO, hence I added only 2 green chillies. If you want it more spicy, you can always add more chillies. 

Heat some oil in a pan.

Add the freshly blended green curry paste. Below you can see the paste bubbling away as soon as I added it into the oil.

Cook this down until it is reduced, aromatic and fragrant.

Once it is reduced, add the diced eggplants. Saute for a min.

After a min, add the cooked chickpeas. Mix well and saute for another min.

Now add the pulled roast chicken. Mix well and saute for around a min.

Now add the coconut milk. Mix everything well.

At this stage, you need to add the salt and shrimp paste / fish sauce. Be careful with salt as fish sauce is quite salty too. Do a taste test if needed. Mix well.

Add the kafir lime leaves and a few basil leaves. Give everything a good mix.

Let the curry come to a boil. Once it reaches the boiling point, reduce the heat, cover the pan with a lid and cook for another 10 mins or until the eggplants are done.

Thai roast chicken and chickpea green curry will be ready.

Serve this with warm jasmine rice and a glass of wine. Enjoy!!