Thai Green Chicken Curry with Eggplant

Preparation Instructions

1. For the paste, heat a medium sized frypan over medium heat to toast the cumin and coriander seeds until golden and aromatic. Remove from heat and grind to a powder using a mortar and pestle, transfer to a small bowl and set aside.
2. Trim, roughly chop, and deseed all the chilies. Peel and mince ginger, garlic, and shallot. Roughly chop lemongrass, only use lower thick part. Place chilies, ginger, garlic, shallot and a pinch of sea salt in pestle and mortar together. Add the lime zest and most of the coriander, including stalks, and pound into a paste. Alternatively, use a food processor. Fold in the shrimp paste, ground cumin, coriander and pepper.
3. Cut chicken into bite sized strips and set aside.
4. Heat 2 tbsp of high heat oil in a large ceramic non-stick saucepan over medium-high heat, add 3 heaping tbsp of the curry paste you’ve just made (save the rest), and fry until aromatic, about 30 seconds. Add a splash of coconut milk to prevent lumps. Turn heat up to medium-high, stir in chicken until coated evenly. Cook for 5 minutes, then pour in remaining coconut milk, bring to a boil, stirring regularly. Squeeze juice of half the lime into ceramic non-stick saucepan, simmer for 10 minutes. Add in palm sugar to taste. Broth should taste slightly sweet, but not\ overpowering. Add fish sauce to taste until you reach a balance of salty with an underlying sweetness. Cut eggplants into fourths, add to the pan and cook until tender, about 2-3 minutes.
5. Serve with jasmine rice and the remaining coriander and ripped up Thai basil leaves scattered on top.