Green Curry with Chicken and Eggplant | Gaeng Keow Wan Gai | แกงเขียวหวานไก่

This Thai green curry with chicken and eggplant known as Gaeng Keow Wan is spicy, rich, and incredibly fragrant. Served over a bed of jasmine rice, it makes for a delicious and satisfying Thai meal.

Every time my Thai in-laws come to visit, they prepare a wonderful array of delicious Thai foods. And always among the spread is this Thai green curry with chicken and eggplant known as Gaeng Keow Wan Gai. It is a classic Thai curry that never gets old, and is eaten almost as quickly as it's made!

Although Thai green curries can be made with any number of proteins or vegetables, this version with chicken and eggplant is one of my personal favorites. Both the chicken and the eggplant simmer in the curry sauce until they are super tender, picking up the wonderful curry flavor all the while. When the curry is done, they almost melt in your mouth, releasing all of the delicious flavors they picked up with each bite.

Jump to:

• What is Thai Green Curry / Gaeng Keow Wan?
• What does Gaeng Keow Wan mean?
• What is the best Green Curry Paste?
• How Much Curry Paste Should I Use?
• Ingredients
• Instructions
• Serving Suggestions
• Variations
• Recipe

What is Thai Green Curry / Gaeng Keow Wan?

Green curry is one of many types of Thai curries. Green, red, yellow, massaman, and panang curries are some of the most well-known Thai curries in the West, although so many more than this exist.

Thai green curry, known as gaeng keow wan, starts with green curry paste. A typical green curry paste will include fresh green chilis, lemongrass, galangal, makrut lime zest, and shrimp paste in addition to a few other fresh herbs and spices. This paste is cooked with coconut milk until it's aromatic. Then the main ingredients and additional coconut milk, water, or broth are added to form a soup-like consistency. Fresh makrut lime leaves and Thai basil are added towards the end of cooking for a burst of fragrant flavor.

What does Gaeng Keow Wan mean?

In Thailand, green curry is known as "Gaeng Keow Wan". "Gaeng" is a word that's used to refer to a spicy soup or curry. "Keow" is the Thai word for green, and "wan" is the Thai word for sweet (see How to Interpret a Thai Menu for more Thai culinary word meanings). Put together, "Gaeng Keow Wan" translates to sweet green curry. The sweetness in this curry, however, is meant to be incredibly subtle. So subtle, in fact, that it's hardly noticeable amongst all of the spice, richness, and fragrance of the curry.

What is the best Green Curry Paste?

Thai green curry pastes can be made from scratch or bought from the store. Don't feel bad if you don't make your paste from scratch, I don't usually and most Thai people don't either! As such, there are many different brands of pre-made curry pastes available.

I conducted a Thai Test Kitchen taste test of several of the more common green curry paste brands to answer the question, "Which curry paste brand is best?". Fortunately, we found that all of the curry pastes we tried resulted in a decent Thai green curry. However, our top three favorite brands of Thai green curry paste were Mae Anong, Mae Ploy, and Maesri. Each brand of curry paste has slightly different flavors, so you'll want to taste your curry as it cooks and adjust the saltiness and sweetness accordingly.

How Much Curry Paste Should I Use?

The amount of curry paste you use will depend on your spice tolerance. This recipe calls for two tablespoons of curry paste, which, for most of the common curry paste brands, will result in a spicy curry for the American palate. When my Thai in-laws make this green curry, they use half a package of Mae Anong green curry paste or one and a half cans of Maesri green curry paste, and the result is definitely more of a Thai level of spice. If you prefer less spice, I'd recommend starting with one tablespoon of curry paste.

Ingredients

In addition to a good green curry paste, you'll need the following ingredients to make Thai green curry with chicken and eggplant:

• Coconut milk: Coconut milk helps to offset the spiciness of the curry, and adds a creamy richness to the dish. Regular canned coconut milk works well. I would not recommend using any variation such as sweetened coconut milk, coconut cream, or lite coconut milk. If you're feeling adventurous, you could squeeze your own coconut milk and make green curry with this recipe.
• Chicken: Boneless, skinless chicken thighs work really nicely in this recipe. Slice into bite-sized pieces against the grain of the meat and allow to simmer until it's nice and tender.
• Water or chicken broth: Thai green curry is more soup-like in consistency than many western restaurants would lead you to believe. Water or chicken broth will help to dilute the rich coconut milk base and allow the main ingredients to cook until tender.
• Eggplant: In Thailand, small round green eggplant and pea eggplant are often used in this curry. However, long purple Japanese eggplant also work well. Note that if you are using purple eggplant, the skin will likely turn brown after simmering in the curry paste. If you'd like for it to stay purple, you can flash fry the eggplant separately, then add it to the curry towards the end of the cooking process.
• Makrut lime leaves: These distinctive lime leaves add a wonderful fresh, citrus flavor to Thai green curry. They are often sold at Southeast Asian grocery stores, and occasionally at pan Asian stores like Ranch 99. You can also buy them fresh online. They freeze well, so once procured, they can be stored for many months in a freezer-safe bag. To use, simply wash, fold in half to strip the central vein away, and then tear in half again and add to the curry.
• Thai basil leaves: Thai basil adds a wonderful freshness and aroma to the spice of the green curry. If you don't have access to Thai basil, regular basil would likely work as a substitute. The leaves should be washed and added towards the end of the cooking process.
• Red pepper: I like to add red pepper slices for a little extra color, but these are definitely optional.
• Fish sauce: Fish sauce adds saltiness to the curry. How much fish sauce you need, or whether you need it at all, will depend upon which curry paste you use. I often use Mae Anong brand green curry paste, and add 1 teaspoon of fish sauce to help round the curry out.
• Sugar: Although green curry in Thai is "gang keow wan", with "wan" meaning sweet, Thai green curry is not meant to be very sweet. Half a teaspoon of white granulated sugar is all that's needed to bring out the subtle sweetness of the chicken and eggplant in this dish.

Instructions

Many Thai curries follow the same basic steps (see How To Make Thai Curries). This Thai green curry with chicken and eggplant is no exception. Follow these six steps and you'll have a delicious green curry in no time!

NOTES:

* You should be aware that canned coconut milk has added homogenizers that make it harder to "break". Some separation is still possible, but it won't be as pronounced as using fresh coconut milk. You can add some mild flavored oil if you like.

**You may need to add more water or broth, depending on how long it takes for the eggplant to cook.

Serving Suggestions

This green curry with chicken and eggplant is meant to be quite spicy and flavorful. This is so that it can flavor the plain jasmine rice that it's served with. You can serve the curry on top of a bed of jasmine rice, or in a separate bowl so that diners can add as much to their rice as they like. As an alternative to jasmine rice, this curry is also delicious when served over khanom jeen noodles (I often use somen noodles as an easier-to-find substitute).

Variations

Although chicken and eggplant is a classic combination, Thai green curry can be made with many different proteins and vegetables. This green curry with fish works well as the flavors of the curry permeate the flakey white fish. Pork, beef, and fried firm tofu are also all good protein options.

Any number of vegetables work well in Thai green curries. Some of the more common options in Thailand include eggplant, pea eggplant, bamboo shoots, and baby corn. In the West, carrots, broccoli, squash, zucchini, and snow peas would all be good options.

Recipe