Thai kicking chicken - Thai green curry
A mild curry with lovely aromatic flavours of citrus and the creaminess of coconut milk. Coconut milk is great baby comfort food due to it having lauric acids which is found in high quantities in breast milk.
Enough for 4 grown-ups and 1 little one
Paste (For 4 chicken breasts)
1/2 tbsp coriander
1tsp cumin
Zest and juice of a lime
2 lemongrass stalks
2 shallots
4 deseeded medium green chillis (not the hot ones!)
A handful of coriander including stalks
2 garlic cloves - crushed
Thumb size piece of ginger – finely grated
8 dried kaffir lime leaves
3 tbsp olive oil
You also need
4 skinless chicken breast – chopped into chunks
2 x 400g tins of coconut milk
Tbsp of olive oil
Soy sauce*
Bean sprouts*
Red pepper in strips*
Tin water chestnuts sliced*
*optional not included in photograph
Method
1. To make the paste: place all ingredients in blender and blend.
2. Put olive oil in wok over high heat and fry chicken until lightly brown and sealed
3. Turn heat to medium and add paste, fry for a few minutes, stirring occasionally
4. Add coconut milk, turn up heat to high, when it starts to bubble hard, turn heat down and simmer. It needs to simmer for around 15 mins. Stir occasionally to distribute heat.
5. Add the *optional veg* after you add the coconut milk. The soy sauce addition is detailed in tips.
Tips
The paste can be prepped the day before and can be frozen to store for future use, so making in bulk would save time, just multiply up the ingredients. I often chop chicken the night before too, then it is a 30 min meal when you come to cook it.
Once cooked you can pull out the chicken and sauce for baby then you can add a teaspoon of soy sauce for a bit of tang and salt, or use a low salt soy sauce. At 6-9 months Zahara liked her chicken in strips she could grasp in her fist and chew/suck. That all changed at 9 months when her pincer grip got awesome she wanted little mouth size bits that she can pick up and pop in her mouth and chew. Adapt the above according to your babies preferences - just make sure the chicken is cooked before you serve, the bigger the chicken the longer the cooking time.
Facts
Coconut milk contains lauric acid, which is found heavily in breast milk, making coconut milk a great baby comfort food.