Thai curries embrace a delicate balance of tastes, textures, temperatures, and colors that come together to create a harmonious whole. Green curry, one of the spiciest and most intense varieties, gets it verdant, aromatic flavor from curry paste. Making the paste from scratch can require a laundry list of ingredients, not to mention a fair amount of time; using jarred paste was convenient and made our curry weeknight-friendly. Browning the paste with the cream from a can of coconut milk concentrated and bloomed its flavor. A slug of fish sauce offered complexity, and coconut milk gave the sauce richness and a silky texture. A couple tablespoons of brown sugar balanced out the heat and pungency. With our sauce completed, we continued cooking right in the Dutch oven: We poached shrimp and meaty shiitake mushrooms in the sauce before adding snow peas and a red bell pepper for color and contrasting texture. Some fresh herbs and lime juice stirred in at the very end perfectly balanced the rich, spicy flavors of the dish. To make scooping the cream from a can of coconut milk easier, refrigerate the can for 24 hours and do not shake it.
Ingredients
- 2 (14-ounce) cans coconut milk
- 2 tablespoons Thai green curry paste
- 2 tablespoons fish sauce
- 2 tablespoons packed brown sugar
- 1½ pounds extra-large shrimp (21 to 25 per pound), peeled, deveined, and tails removed
- 5 ounces shiitake mushrooms, stemmed and halved if small or quartered if large
- 4 ounces snow peas, strings removed
- 1 red bell pepper, stemmed, seeded, and cut into ¼-inch-wide strips
- 1 Thai chile, stemmed, seeded, and quartered lengthwise (optional)
- ¼ cup coarsely chopped fresh basil leaves
- ¼ cup coarsely chopped fresh mint leaves
- 1 tablespoon lime juice
- Salt
- Carefully spoon off about 1 cup of top layer of cream from 1 can of coconut milk. Whisk coconut cream and curry paste together in Dutch oven. Bring to simmer over high heat and cook until almost all of liquid has evaporated, 5 to 7 minutes. Reduce heat to medium-high and continue to cook, whisking constantly, until oil separates from solids and mixture is darkened and aromatic, 4 to 8 minutes.
- Whisk in remaining coconut milk, fish sauce, and sugar. Bring to simmer and cook until flavors meld and sauce is thickened, about 5 minutes. Stir in shrimp and mushrooms and cook for 5 minutes. Stir in snow peas, bell pepper, and Thai chile, if using, and cook until vegetables are crisp-tender and shrimp are opaque throughout, about 2 minutes. Off heat, stir in basil, mint, and lime juice. Season with salt to taste. Serve.
