Green curry with chicken of the woods

Credit and permission to share: Wild Food UK

We have a lush Thai green curry on the site already and I wanted a red one too, but then I saw another green one from the lovely people at Wild Food UK who are mushroom lovers like us.  

Spoiler alert, this ain’t got chicken in it.

There are so many lush recipes on their website that remind me of my childhood and foraging – except we never foraged mushrooms as we were actually taught by my Nanna to stamp on evil toadstools at every opportunity – strange activity but back then we never had expert guidance like these folks (or mobile phones):

You will need:

This aromatic curry is an excellent way to use chicken of the woods, and with ready-made spice pastes so widely available now it’s also very easy to make. Most or all of the non-foraged ingredients should be readily available at your local supermarket. We recommend using an authentic Thai brand of green curry paste, as they seem to have the best flavour.

(Vegans and vegetarians should bear in mind that green curry paste often contains fish sauce and/or shrimp paste. If you do manage to find a suitable curry paste, replace the fish sauce in our recipe with soy sauce or tamari).

Green beans are added in the last few minutes of cooking for a contrast of flavour and texture, but you could use any vegetables you like: mangetout, broccoli florets, baby corn, spinach or pak choi would all work well.

Serves : 4

Prep : 5 minutes

Cook : 25 minutes

• 400g chicken of the woods

• 2 tablespoons of oil

• 3 spring onions, thinly sliced

• 3 tablespoons Thai green curry paste (Kanchana's Kitchen recommends Nitaya brand)

• 150g fine green beans, trimmed and cut in half

• 1 × 400ml can coconut milk

• 2 tablespoons Thai fish sauce (or soy sauce)

• 2 tablespoons lime juice

• 3 tablespoons chopped fresh coriander leaves, plus a few whole leaves for garnish

  
  

Method

1. Clean the chicken of the woods with a pastry or mushroom brush, and wipe away any dirt with dampened kitchen paper. Cut into roughly 3cm chunks, removing any hard or fibrous parts, and set aside.

2. Set a large frying pan or wok over a medium-high heat and add the oil. When the oil is hot, add the chicken of the woods chunks. Cook over a brisk heat, stirring not too often, till the pieces are nicely browned.

3. Add the spring onions and stir fry for a couple of minutes, then add the curry paste. Stir well to coat the mushrooms and allow the paste to cook for about 5 minutes, till fragrant. Add the coconut milk, fish sauce and lime juice and bring to a gentle simmer. Cook for 15 minutes, then raise the heat and add the green beans.

4. Cook for a few minutes until the beans are tender but still slightly crisp, then stir in the chopped coriander (add a little hot water if you feel the sauce is too thick). Transfer to a serving bowl, scatter over the reserved coriander leaves and serve with rice.