Green curry, with its mellow, creamy green color and rich coconut base, has both fresh and mature flavors. Like new growth on plants, it brings brightness, youthfulness, spring and rebirth to the meltdown of flavors created in the curry paste.
The green curry paste uses mainly the same standard ingredients as a gaaeng phet (แกงเผ็ด) curry paste: lemongrass, galangal, coriander roots, kaffir lime zest, garlic, shallots, white peppercorns (S1), coriander seeds (S2), cumin seeds (S3), salt and fermented shrimp paste (kapi).
There is one exception – the dry red chili peppers are replaced with fresh green chilies. These bring to the curry a fresh green taste with shades of bitterness, but also the same rich, mature notes bestowed by the dried red pods. If a more vivid, definite green color is desired, the green chlorophyll – the color of growth – from fresh chili pepper leaves or coriander leaves can be added.
This is the standard green curry paste for common odorless meats such as chicken and pork; if gamey or fishy meat is used, additional aromatics and herbs are employed to counter the stronger smell. For beef, additional dry spices like mace, nutmeg and Thai cardamom are often added. Fingerroot (grachai, กระชาย) and a small amount of fresh sand ginger (หัวเปราะ) are added to the green curry paste when using fish; and if duck is used, fresh sand ginger (หัวเปราะ), along with fresh peppercorns, are often added.
In Thai, the word aawn waan (อ่อนหวาน) is used to describe the mild, pleasant, mellow, pastel green shade of the green curry. The expression means “soft-sweet”, which is perhaps why green curry is often seasoned to the sweet spectrum. This exaggerated sweetness is pleasing to the Western palate, making green curry a favorite Thai dish among foreigners. The truth is that the authentic flavor profile of green curry should not be so different from spicy-red curry, i.e. spicy-salty, with a sweetness found in the base of the coconut cream.
Today we will demonstrate a green curry recipe from the 1927 cookbook, “khuu meuu maae kruaa” (คู่มือแม่ครัว), written by an author who goes by the pen name Lor. Phaehtraarat (ล. เภตรารัตน์). This is the earliest mention of green curry that we could find in print.
Ancient Thai curries evolved from water-based dishes (bplaa raa ปลาร้า, gaaeng liiang แกงเลียง, gaaeng dtohm sohm แกงต้มส้ม) that used only fermented fish (pla ra) or fermented shrimp paste (kapi), along with shallots and garlic. Until chili peppers were introduced in the 16th century by the Europeans, other pungent agents such as white peppercorns, fingerroot (grachai), ginger and galangal were utilized to achieve spiciness. Coconuts had been abundant in Siam for millennia, and were used for dessert making rather than cooking; encounters with Persian, Indian and Malay cuisines introduced the coconut into curry making. Only then – when chilies were available, and the technique of cooking coconut-based curries was adapted and gradually modified, and applied to suit the Siamese palate – do we find the typical red Thai curries.
Those dishes are dressed in a passionate and determined red. The green curry is probably the youngest addition to the curry color spectrum, as it is not mentioned in Siamese oral or written literature, nor does it appear in the oldest set of Thai cookbooks. Examining old cookbooks, we can safely determine that green curry was invented during the reign of King Rama 6 or Rama 7, between the years 1908-1926.
Historical references Green curry is not found in the 1890 (2433 BE, 109RE) cookbook “Tam Raa Gap Khao”, by Maawm Sohm Jeen (“ตำรากับเข้า” หม่อมซ่มจีน ราชานุประพันธุ์”). Nor is it mentioned in Lady Plean Passakornrawong’s cookbook “Maae Khruaa Huaa Bpaa” (“แม่ครัวหัวป่าก์”), which was first published in 1908 after a short period of publishing recipes in the city magazine “Bpradtithin Bat Laae Joht Maai Haeht” (“ประติทินบัตร แล จดหมายเหตุ”). Lady Plean recounts that she was required to edit most of that monumental work – spread over five volumes – herself, as the editor had decamped due to a romantic affair.
Green curry is also absent from the major revisions of Lady Plean’s work carried out by her daughters and granddaughters. This includes the revised third edition in 1952, which was supervised by Lady Plean’s daughter Lady Damrong Ratchapolkhan (Puang Bunnag) (คุณหญิงดำรงราชพลขันธ์, พวง บุนนาค); in this edition, the entire measuring and weight system was updated – rewritten from traditional Thai to modern units – and the collection was bound into one book that spans more than 635 pages.
Green curry only appears in the 1971 fifth edition of “Maae Khruaa Huaa Bpaa”, printed as a memorial book for Lady Plean Passakornrawong’s daughter Jao Jaawm Phit, and overseen by Mrs. Samaknantapol (Jeep Bunnag) (นางสมรรคนันทพล, จีบ บุนนาค).
Thus, the earliest mention of green curry that we could find (and we welcome readers’ comments of any earlier mentions) remain confined to the two cookbooks of Lor. Phaehtraarat (ล. เภตรารัตน์), published in 1926 (2469 BE) and in 1934 (2477 BE), “Khuu Meuu Maae Kruaa and Dtam Raa Khaao Waan” (คู่มือแม่ครัว และ ตำราคาวหวาน); both describe a method of cooking duck curry.
Cooking tips
When cooking green curry, one should use only green or whitish vegetables, and restrict garnishes to green chilies, hair-thin julienned kaffir lime leaves or Thai sweet basil (horapa).
Potential vegetables are Thai apple eggplants, pea eggplants or young coconut tops.
We chose to use a restaurant-made Thai-style whole roasted duck. If you cannot find one, or wish to make your own, you are welcome to follow your favorite recipe for whole duck or duck breasts.
Thai Green Curry with Roasted Duck and Young Chilies Recipe
Hanuman and Chef Thapakorn Lertviriyavit (Gorn)
This is a green curry recipe from the 1926 cookbook, “khuu meuu maae kruaa” (คู่มือแม่ครัว), written by an author who goes by the pen name Lor. Phaehtraarat (ล. เภตรารัตน์). This is the earliest mention of green curry that we could find in print.
Breaking news: The oldest Thai cookbook, as well as history’s first-ever recorded recipe for Phanaeng curry, are revealed for the first time on Thaifoodmaster.com – A 126-year-old cookbook written by one of Siam’s most revered singers, Maawm Sohm Jeen (Raa Chaa Noopraphan) (หม่อมซ่มจีน, ราชานุประพันธุ์), has been rediscovered, offering a unique glimpse into the culinary repertoire of 19th-century Siam. In this chapter we examine the different forms of phanaeng curry from the 1800s to the present day, as we reconstruct the 19th-century version and craft step-by-step a traditional beef phanaeng curry.
Considered by some to be the most famous, and the most delicious, dish in Thai cooking, the story of Massaman curry is interwoven with trade, politics and religion in 17th-century Siam. The story is filled with mighty kings, legendary explorers and unsolved mysteries, adding an air of magic and power to this already-heavenly perfumed dish, and thickening the plot of this full bodied, coconut-based curry’s birth.
Tom kha is a well-known and much-loved Thai soup: a creamy, soothing coconut blend, a warm, silky broth in which chicken, mainly, is simmered with young galangal, mushrooms, and, at times, charred-grilled banana blossoms. In other versions, lemongrass and kaffir lime leaves are added, blurring the boundaries between tom kha and the coconut-based tom yam soup (tom yum kati; ต้มยำกะทิ).
However, in the late 19th century, tom kha was not a soup at all: it was a dish of chicken or duck simmered in a light coconut broth with a generous amount of galangal. The coconut broth added sweetness to the meat, and the galangal helped to mellow the meat odor. It was then served with a basic roasted chili jam as a dipping relish seasoned along the salty-sour-sweet spectrum.
This eel curry includes a greater-than-usual quantity of aromatics used over three stages. First, the eel is cleaned and sliced into segments; then it is fried with a generous amount of lemongrass, galangal, kaffir lime leaves and shallots. These help to counter its muddy and somewhat iron-like odor, which disappears along with the liquids and the aromatics.
This eel curry recipe is adapted from the vintage book: “Gap Khaao O:H Chaa Roht” by Ging Ga Nohk) (กับข้าวโอชารส โดย กิ่งกนก – กาญจนาภา พ.ศ. 2485). This rare book was written in 1942 during WWII, a period of global turmoil in which Thailand was invaded by the Japanese. That same year marked a decade from the ending of absolute monarchy rule in 1932, and one generation away from the peak of the Siamese culinary renaissance that flourished in the court of King Rama V (1868-1910): a nostalgic era for its children who are still with us to remember and reflect on those times.
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Access to Thaifoodmaster’s constantly growing library of prime professional classes, articles, recipes and videos on Siamese culinary topics, available nowhere else in English.
Gain access to NEW MONTHLY masterclasses as they become available.
1-1 support from Hanuman to help you achieve your professional Thai culinary goals
The opportunity to join a monthly live two-hour videoconference where I can answer your questions.
one year access for the price of 3 days in-person training.
You will get everything you need to:
When you design or build a new menu for an event or restaurant or even prepare for dinner with friends.
Finally !
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