Thai green chicken curry - Recipes - Food & Drink - The Independent I like green curries to be intense - not as creamy and light as those you would usually find. Making the paste from scratch takes minutes and what you don't use up can be kept in the fridge as a base for stir-fries or an instant marinade. For the curry paste 1 tsp white peppercorns 1 tsp coriander seeds ½ tsp cumin seeds 1 tsp salt 1 tsp ground turmeric 1 lemongrass stalk, chopped 6 garlic cloves, chopped 4 spring onions, chopped 2 tbsp coriander stems, chopped 3cm piece ginger, peeled and chopped 4 green chillies, deseeded and chopped 2 tbsp light-flavoured oil For the chicken curry 1 tbsp light-flavoured oil 3 tbsp green curry paste (as made, above, or shop-bought if you prefer) 125ml/4fl oz chicken stock 250ml/8fl oz coconut milk 1 anchovy, finely chopped 4 kaffir lime leaves, torn, or 3 strips lime peel 500g/1lb chicken breast fillets, cut into chunks 100g/3½oz green beans, halved lengthways Handful baby corn 400g aubergine, cut into chunks 1 tbsp caster sugar 2 tbsp fish sauce 1 tbsp lime juice Handful basil leaves 3 green chillies, deseeded and sliced To make the paste, heat a small pan over a medium heat. Add the peppercorns, coriander and cumin seeds and toast for 1 to 2 minutes or until fragrant. Put the toasted spices and the remaining ingredients in a food processor and pulse to a paste. This will make more than you need, but the paste will sit happily in a jar in the fridge for a week or so. Now heat a large pan over a high heat. Add the oil and cook the curry paste for 2 minutes or until fragrant. Pour in the stock, coconut milk, anchovy and lime leaves, reduce the heat and cook for 5 minutes. Add the chicken then cook for a further 5 minutes. Add the beans to the pan with the corn, aubergine, sugar, fish sauce and lime juice and cook for 5 minutes. Scatter with the basil leaves and chilli and serve with steamed rice.