I made Derek Lucci’s [Gaeng Khiao Waan Gai](https://www.seriouseats.com/gaeng-khiao-waan-gai-thai-green-curry-with-chicken-recipe-5189726) this week and it came out *completely* unpalatable. I did double the recipe, and I used _slightly_ more curry paste than I should have (8.75 oz instead of 8 oz) due to the curry paste packet sizes. However, I added **quadruple** the amount of coconut milk in an attempt to make an edible dish (4 cans instead of <2) which did not even work. For reference, I used Aroy-D curry paste and coconut milk.
Despite all of this, I produced the most overpowering, unpalatable curry I’ve ever tasted in my life. The curry paste was SO intense that I couldn’t eat more than a few bites. Now before you ask, yes, I have had a lot of Thai curry in my life – dozens of times from quite a few places. I love heavily-spiced foods but have never had an issue with something being so aggressively spiced.
Looking back at his recipe and comparing to others, I’m noticing that he does call for a lot of curry paste – 1/2 cup (i.e. 8 tbps) of curry paste for <1 can of coconut milk where [most](https://hot-thai-kitchen.com/green-curry-new-2/) [recipes](https://www.seriouseats.com/pressure-cooker-thai-green-chicken-curry) use 2-3 tbsp of paste for 1 can. I was surprised to see so many positive reviews of the recipe as well as a post on this sub lauding it.
Another oddity I noticed in his recipe is that he calls 35g / 1 tbsp + 1 tsp of palm sugar. I don’t know if palm sugar comes in forms other than those hard pucks, but 35 grams of grated palm sugar is at least a half cup, if not more.
I’ve been wracking my brain trying to figure out what went wrong with this recipe because frankly I can’t remember the last time I cooked something that I wanted to put straight in the trash. I’m very curious if anybody has insights on what may have gone wrong. I’m feeling pretty demoralized at having gone through the trouble of tracking down some of these ingredients only to produce the worst dish I’ve made since I started learning how to cook.
by herpes_fuckin_derpes
1 Comment
I’ve made this a few times and it’s always been great. I’m fairly experienced with Thai food and I think this is a really good example of a green curry.
I’ve always made his paste as well, I’ve never used a store bought paste. I think if I was using a store bought paste then then I’d use the directions that came with that rather than a recipe like this – there’s no way the author can cover every variety of paste, and they do vary in strength. I think this is cause of the issue you’ve had.
The sugar thing is interesting – i think I probably just do this by eye, but 35 grams seems a lot!