Name: Thai Green Curry (แกงเขียวหวาน) — From Scratch
Prep time: 30 min
Cook time: 30 min
Total time: 1 h
Yield: 3-4 servings
Cuisine: Thai
Ingredients: 50 g green spur chillies (พริกชี้ฟ้าเขียว); 15 g green bird's eye chillies (พริกขี้หนูเขียว); 55 g lemongrass (ตะไคร้); 25 g galangal (ข่า); 7 g makrut lime zest (ผิวมะกรูด); 30 g shallots (หอมแดง); 4 g shrimp paste (กะปิ); 20 g garlic (กระเทียม); 10 g coriander root (รากผักชี); 6 g red turmeric (ขมิ้นแดง); 1 tsp white peppercorns (เม็ดพริกไทยขาว), dry-roasted; 1 tbsp coriander seeds (เม็ดผักชี), dry-roasted; 1 tsp cumin seeds (เมล็ดยี่หร่า), dry-roasted; 2 Thai cardamom pods (กระวานไทย), dry-roasted; 500 g chicken thighs (สะโพกไก่), cut into bite-sized pieces; 1 cup coconut cream (หัวกะทิ); 2-3 cups coconut milk (หางกะทิ); 5-7 pea aubergines (มะเขือเปราะ), quartered and soaked in salted water; 1/2 cup turkey berries (มะเขือพวง), stems removed; 2 red spur chillies (พริกชี้ฟ้าแดง), sliced on the diagonal; 1 large handful sweet basil leaves (ใบโหระพา); 4-5 makrut lime leaves (ใบมะกรูด), torn; 1.5-2 tbsp palm sugar (น้ำตาลปี๊บ); 3-4 tbsp good fish sauce (น้ำปลา); A pinch of salt (เกลือ)

Thai green curry (แกงเขียวหวาน) — chicken, pea aubergines and turkey berries in a green coconut curry with sweet basil

The Curry Everyone Gets Wrong

Green curry (gaeng keow wan, "sweet green curry") is the dish Thailand itself eats more than pad thai — and the one the internet loves to police. In 2021 a Malaysian internet star's takedown of a British celebrity chef's version went viral with 8 million views: "You only used three green chillies? This isn't a curry, this is a smoothie." The Michelin Guide Thailand documents the incident in its own article on the dish.

The name is a promise: a proper green curry is green — the colour of fresh green chillies pounded into the paste, not of coconut milk tinted pale yellow by a jar. Chef Bee Satongun of Paste (1 Michelin star, Bangkok) learned to pound the paste from her mother as a child: "Back then I didn't yet know how to avoid the chillies splashing into my eyes — green curry chillies are fresh and full of water, so I always wanted to avoid making it." Her rule for a curry that passes: "a good green curry must be green, as its name says."

This page is the from-scratch version: Chef Bee's paste, and the everyday chicken curry that Thai home cooks make with it.

The Paste (from Chef Bee of Paste, 1 Michelin star — makes more than one curry; it freezes well)

Thai	English	Amount
พริกชี้ฟ้าเขียว	Green spur chillies	50 g
พริกขี้หนูเขียว	Green bird's eye chillies	15 g
ตะไคร้	Lemongrass	55 g
ข่า	Galangal	25 g
ผิวมะกรูด	Makrut lime zest	7 g
หอมแดง	Shallots	30 g
กะปิ	Shrimp paste	4 g
กระเทียม	Garlic	20 g
รากผักชี	Coriander root	10 g
ขมิ้นแดง	Red turmeric	6 g
เม็ดพริกไทยขาว (คั่ว)	White peppercorns, dry-roasted	1 tsp
เม็ดผักชี (คั่ว)	Coriander seeds, dry-roasted	1 tbsp
เมล็ดยี่หร่า (คั่ว)	Cumin seeds, dry-roasted	1 tsp
กระวานไทย (คั่ว)	Thai cardamom pods, dry-roasted	2

The curry — แกง (chicken, the everyday version, for 3–4)

Thai	English	Amount
สะโพกไก่	Chicken thighs, bite-sized pieces	500 g
หัวกะทิ	Coconut cream	1 cup
หางกะทิ	Coconut milk	2–3 cups
มะเขือเปราะ	Pea aubergines, quartered, soaked in salted water	5–7
มะเขือพวง	Turkey berries, stems removed	½ cup
พริกชี้ฟ้าแดง	Red spur chillies, sliced on the diagonal	2
ใบโหระพา	Sweet basil leaves (not holy basil)	1 large handful
ใบมะกรูด	Makrut lime leaves, torn	4–5
น้ำตาลปี๊บ	Palm sugar	1½–2 tbsp
น้ำปลา	Good fish sauce	3–4 tbsp
เกลือ	Salt	a pinch

The Method

Pound the paste. All the wet aromatics into the mortar — chillies, lemongrass, galangal, makrut zest, shallots, shrimp paste, garlic, coriander root, red turmeric — pounded very fine.
Roast the dry spices. Peppercorns, coriander seeds, cumin and cardamom in a dry pan until fragrant, pounded to powder, then pounded into the paste. The finer the paste, the smoother the curry — no fibres to chew.
Crack the cream. Coconut cream over medium-low, heated slowly until the oil visibly separates on the surface. This is the flavour base — don't rush it, don't use oil as a shortcut.
Fry the paste in the cracked cream, ~5 minutes, stirring, until deeply fragrant.
Chicken before liquid. Meat in, coated in the paste, and the torn makrut leaves go in now to cut any chicken smell — before any coconut milk.
Milk in, boil, season. Coconut milk, heat up, then palm sugar and fish sauce. Hot, salty, sweet in balance.
Vegetables last, briefly. Only at a full boil — pea aubergines and turkey berries, 2 minutes. Longer and the aubergines go black and mushy.
Basil in, heat off. Sweet basil and red chilli slices, pressed under the surface, served immediately with jasmine rice.

Where Thai Sources Disagree

Sweet or salty first? One Pantip tradition insists real green curry is sweet-leading with light salt (หวานนำเค็มตาม); another insists salty-leading, sweet following (เค็มนำหวานตาม). Both are authentic — this is genuinely regional taste, and the balance is yours.

The dry spices. Chef Bee's royal-cuisine paste roasts and adds coriander seed, cumin and cardamom. Most home pastes stop at the wet aromatics. The dry layer is the refinement.

Protein. Chicken thighs (everyday), Chef Bee's grilled prawns, beef, fish balls — all standard. Chicken blood cubes are an old-school optional extra.

Red turmeric appears in Chef Bee's paste; most home versions skip it or use a pinch of ordinary turmeric.

Turkey berries: 10–15 (Chef Bee), a handful, or half a cup (home cooks) — to taste.

How Western Versions Get It Wrong

Jar paste + three green chillies. The "this is a smoothie" problem, as immortalised by an 8-million-view viral takedown. A jar of paste is a start, but it is not the recipe.
Pale yellow colour. If the curry isn't green, the green chillies were missing. The dish is named for its colour.
No cracked coconut cream. Western versions pour everything in at once. The cracked cream is where the paste's aromatics bloom.
Broccoli instead of pea aubergines and turkey berries. The defining vegetable swap — pea aubergines are small, crunchy and bitter-sweet; broccoli is a different dish.
Cream added for "richness." The richness comes from the cracked coconut cream and the oil the paste releases. Adding dairy cream is a fix for a curry that was never properly started.
White sugar. Palm sugar's round, floral sweetness is part of the dish; granulated sugar is sharp and thin.
Basil cooked in early — it goes black and scentless. Last, pressed under, heat off.

UK Ingredient Notes

Green bird's eye chillies and Thai sweet basil: Asian grocers. UK "Thai basil" labelling is unreliable — for this dish you want sweet basil (โหระพา), the anise-scented one, not holy basil.
Pea aubergines and turkey berries: Thai grocers (fresh, sometimes frozen). Quartered and salted water prevents blackening.
Makrut lime leaves and zest, shrimp paste, palm sugar: Asian grocers. Palm sugar → light muscovado as fallback. Red turmeric → ordinary fresh turmeric or a pinch of powder.
The paste freezes well — make a double batch, portion and freeze, and the curry becomes a 20-minute weeknight dish.
Chicken thighs over breast — the long simmer stays tender; breast goes dry.

Sources

This recipe is translated from the following Thai-language sources. Where they disagree, we've said so.

1. Michelin Guide Thailand (16 Sep 2022) — "แกงเขียวหวานสูตร (ไม่) ลับ จานเด็ดของเชฟบี-บงกช สระทองอุ่น แห่งร้าน Paste" — Chef Bee Satongun, Paste (1 star) — guide.michelin.com

2. Pantip thread 44106780 — "มีสูตรแกงเขียวหวานในตำนานไหม" (Talat Phlu old-shop recipe + home paste) — pantip.com

3. Pantip thread 43833050 — "แจกสูตรลับ แกงเขียวหวานไก่ แบบต้นตำรับ กะทิแตกมันสวย" (the complete home chicken recipe) — pantip.com

Johnny Tiger

Johnny researches and translates Thai recipes from Thai-language sources — chefs, restaurants and home cooks in Thailand — and publishes them with their sources cited. No westernised shortcuts, no invented steps.