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Spicy Green Coconut Curry with Chickpeas

This Thai-inspired green coconut curry with chickpeas is made with the help of some prepared Thai Green Curry paste. The curry paste is cooked in oil and coconut milk to create an emulsified base, which is added to a selection of vegetables, spicy chiles, and cooked chickpeas. The dish is served with steamed rice on the side, and finished with chopped cilantro, Thai basil, and freshly-squeezed lime juice.
It’s a great dish to serve to a crowd that loves spicy foods with bright and exotic flavor profiles. If you are trying to make this dish completely vegetarian, use vegetable stock instead of chicken stock, and omit the fish sauce in the final step by using soy sauce.
The following recipe serves roughly 6-8 people.

Ingredients

  • ¼ cup sunflower seed oil
  • 2 scallions (finely sliced)
  • 4 cloves garlic (finely minced)
  • 1 thumb-sized piece of ginger root (peeled and finely minced)
  • 3 Tbsp prepared Thai Green Curry Paste
  • 1 or 2 Tbsp palm sugar (depending on desired sweetness)
  • 1 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
  • ¼ tsp ground cayenne powder
  • ¼ tsp freshly-ground black pepper
  • 16 oz coconut milk
  • ½ cup chicken stock or vegetable stock
  • 1 Tbsp soy sauce
  • 2 carrots (cut into large bite-sized pieces)
  • 1 white onion (cut into large bite-sized pieces)
  • 1 red bell pepper (cored and cut into large bite-sized pieces)
  • 16 oz canned cooked chickpeas (rinsed and drained)
  • 3 Serrano or Thai Bird’s Eye chiles (finely minced)
  • 1 Tbsp rice wine vinegar
  • 2 Tbsp roasted peanuts (roughly chopped)
  • 2 tsp sesame seeds
  • 2 Tbsp cilantro stems (finely-sliced)
  • Zest of 2 limes
  • Juice of 1 lime
  • 1 Tbsp fish sauce
  • Soy sauce (to finish seasoning the curry)
  • 1.5 cups long-grain rice (rinsed well)
  • 2 cups water (for cooking rice)
  • ½ tsp Kosher salt
  • 4 fresh Thai basil leaves (or regular basil leaves, finely sliced, as garnish)
  • ½ cup fresh cilantro (roughly chopped, as garnish)
  • 1 lime (cut into wedges, for serving)

Instructions 

  • Heat half of the sunflower oil (two Tablespoons) in a soup pot over medium-high heat.
  • When the oil is hot, add the sliced scallions, minced garlic, and minced ginger.
  • *The vegetables should sizzle when they hit the oil.
  • Stir quickly, and cook while stirring for sixty seconds.
  • Reduce the heat to medium, and quickly add the remaining sunflower seed oil.
  • Add the three Tablespoons of prepared Thai Green Curry Paste, the palm sugar, crushed red pepper flakes, cayenne powder, freshly-ground black pepper, coconut milk, chicken or vegetable stock, and soy sauce.
  • Whisk the ingredients together until the curry paste has been emulsified into the liquid mixture.
  • Cook the liquid mixture together for three minutes.
  • Add the chopped carrots and white onion, and bring the curry to a simmer.
  • Reduce the heat to medium-low, and cook with a lid for thirty minutes, stirring every few minutes to ensure the curry doesn’t stick to the bottom of the pot.
  • Add the red bell pepper, in addition to the drained chickpeas, minced spicy chiles, rice wine vinegar, chopped peanuts, sesame seeds, and cilantro stems.
  • Cook the curry for another fifteen minutes, or until the peppers are cooked and tender, but before they fall apart.
  • Add the zest of two limes, in addition to the juice of one lime.
  • Taste the mixture, and add one or two Tablespoons of fish sauce.
  • Remove the curry from the heat, and taste again.
  • Add additional soy sauce if desired, based on personal preference.
  • When you are satisfied with the curry, set it aside while you prepare the rice.
  • For the long-grain rice, rinse the grains under cold running water for roughly three minutes, or until the water runs clear.
  • Drain the rice, and add it to a rice cooking pot.
  • Add the two cups of cold water to the rice, along with a pinch of Kosher salt.
  • Bring the rice to a gentle simmer, and quickly cover with aluminum foil.
  • Reduce the heat to the lowest setting.
  • Cook the rice covered for fifteen minutes.
  • Remove the cover from the rice after fifteen minutes, and gently fluff the rice grains with a fork.
  • Serve the curry in bowls, with the steamed rice on the side.
  • Top each bowl of curry with some fresh Thai basil, chopped cilantro, and freshly squeezed lime juice.

Notes

Add some chicken or shrimp to this if you feel inclined.
You can adjust the level of heat by cutting down on or increasing the number of added peppers.
This curry tastes great reheated the next day. If I have any leftover rice, I’ll cool in down in the fridge overnight and then crisp it up in some oil the next day over high heat to serve again with the curry. Maybe add a fried egg into the mix!