Green curry is a Thai curry usually eaten with steamed rice. Its story reaches back to older Thai curries: people first made curries without coconut milk, later added coconut milk and dried chillies, and over time this developed into the green curry we know today.

Where Does Green Curry Come From?

Green curry is a coconut curry that Thais love and that is just as popular with visitors. It's a traditional Thai dish with bold flavours that works with steamed rice or khanom jeen rice noodles, and most of its ingredients are Thai herbs such as Thai basil and kaffir lime leaves. In the past, Thai cooks had only red curry paste, pounded from dried red chillies for jungle curry. When they began cooking with coconut milk, using it in place of water, the result was red curry.

Later, cooks swapped the dried red chillies for fresh green ones and pounded fresh chilli leaves into the paste to give it a stronger green colour, using chillies such as spur chillies and bird's eye chillies. Fried in coconut milk, this paste produces a soft, pale green, creamy curry, finished with meat, seasoning, vegetables, kaffir lime leaves and Thai basil. Thais named it kaeng khiao wan, "sweet green curry".

Many people think the name means it's a sweet green curry, but green curry is actually salty first with only a hint of sweetness. The "sweet" describes the gentle green colour. Traditionally it was seasoned only with salt, and the sweetness came naturally from the coconut milk, the meat and vegetables such as Thai eggplant and coconut shoots.

Green Curry Today

Green curry is hugely popular, whether over rice or with khanom jeen noodles, and it comes in many versions: chicken, beef, fish balls made from featherback fish, and more. The protein can be changed to suit your taste, from beef, pork, chicken, fish and prawns to vegetables only. It's fragrant with curry paste and spices and rich with coconut milk, and as well as rice and khanom jeen, it's often eaten with plain roti or naan in Indian restaurants.

What's in Green Curry

Nutritionally, green curry provides a fair amount of protein and fat, plus fibre from pea eggplants and the paste ingredients. The paste and curry bring together many herbs traditionally used in Thai cooking and folk medicine:

  • Pea eggplant — adds fibre and a pleasant bitterness
  • Kaffir lime leaves — a bright citrus aroma
  • Thai basil — traditionally used to ease bloating and stimulate appetite
  • Green and red chillies — heat, and traditionally used to stimulate appetite
  • Shallots and garlic — depth of flavour
  • Galangal and lemongrass — traditionally used to ease indigestion
  • Coriander root, pepper and cumin — warmth and aroma

Try Green Curry by the River

To taste green curry with chicken by the Chao Phraya, come to Coco Chaophraya, a riverside restaurant with Thai, Italian and international dishes and desserts to finish. For more Thai favourites, see Thai food foreigners love (in Thai).

49/1 Phra Sumen Road, Chana Songkhram, Phra Nakhon, Bangkok 10200 · Tel 02-281-9918 · Open daily 10:00–23:00

About us: Coco Chaophraya has been open for more than 10 years. We started at the front of Baan Chao Phraya before moving to the Chao Phraya riverside. Our chefs have more than 10 years of experience, and our professional baristas have more than 10 years of experience making coffee.