Thai "Temple" Green Curry

OK folks - this is becoming my signature dish.  Everyone loves it.  You can modify it very slightly to make it Vegan (just leave out fish sauce and chicken), but my personal favourite is with chicken.

It’s also the most awesome way to get your greens.  A lot of people associate eating greens as a healthy chore that isn’t particularly pleasurable.  I’m here to tell you that I don’t care what your relatioship with greens is like, in blind taste tests EVERYONE likes this recipe - even my young children!  If you only make one of our recipes it has to be this one.  It’s incredible!

It might not be super authentic (whatever that is), but it’s my version of a Thai Green Curry.  I will back up my conviction with the fact that I have been to Thailand and lived with a Thai family in Bangkok for a short period of time.  I sampled all sorts of amazing dishes and this is my adaption of the green curry.

Enough already out the waxing lyrical on it, and let’s get to it!

Ingredients & Method:

Enough for 4 (with a portion or two to save for later - it’s great as a quick snack from the freezer).  Preparation time 10 minutes. Cooking time 1.5 hours.  Actual time in the kitchen approximately 20 minutes.

For frying:
Coconut oil (extra virgin)

For the green Curry Paste:
3 large bunches fresh corriander
2 large bunches fresh basil
5 birds eye green chilli (or enough for your desired heat)
two thumb sized pieces of ginger (skin on)
4 sticks of lemon grass
8 cloves of garlic
4 Kafir Lime Leaves
12 fat spring onions (wash them and use the lot - especially green bits)
thumb sized piece of Galangal
3 teaspoons of Coconut Blossom / Palm Sugar

To add to make sauce:
2 tins coconut milk

To finish:
1 Roast Free Range Chicken
Seasoning (salt, pepper, fish sauce)
Bag of spinach
French green beans
(Basically your favourite greens - any will do.  Other ideas are Kale, Rocket, Watercress)

Method:
Put your chicken into the oven to roast.  I usually do mine for about 1.5 hours at 190 degrees. Meanwhile….

Here’s where your blender comes into action again.  Place all of the ingredients for the curry paste into your blender and blend to a paste.  Don’t blend to a super smooth smoothie consistency, but do blend well.  It should look like the greenest paste you’ve ever seen 😃

Heat some coconut oil in your favourite frying pan and add the paste.  It will probably make your eyes water a little (especially if you like hot and spicy and have added extra chilli) so be careful and turn on the extractor fan if you have  one.  Cook the paste for about 5 - 10 minutes.  It will lose some of its moisture and go a dark green colour.  When you get to this stage you know it’s ready for the neXt stage.

At this point add the coconut milk.  Stir the whole thing together and you have your green curry sauce.  Add some fish sauce (about 2 table spoons) and some pepper.  This just needs to be simmered gently for about 10 minutes to allow all the flavours to get to know each other.  Have a taste to check seasoning and add some extra salt to taste if needed.

When your chicken is cooked, remove from the oven and let it rest for about 10 minutes.  Then pull the chicken from the bones and reserve the bones to make stock (not required for this recipe, but we never waste our chicken bones.  See why here.)

Add the chicken to the curry sauce along with your greens.  Cook the whole thing through until the greens are tender (probably about 5 minutes) and then check seasoning before serving with sticky rice, or just on its own.

Let us know how it makes you feel and what you think!

#respectyourtemple

Rich Davis

Clean and Green - Kickstart with Chlorella

So we're staying on our green theme with this article today.  We’re doing this because IT’s SO IMPORTANT and we want you to live a long, healthy and energy abundant life!

Phytonutrients give foods their colours, flavours and aromas and include substances like carotenoids and flavonoids.  These essential building blocks of life are linked to prevention of certain diseases including cancer.  We explore this area with an article below from our wonderful contributor Elizabeth McQuillan.

Chlorella is a great addition to any smoothie and adds super green colour

A visit to the local health shop leaves those of us without qualifications in herbology or supplement-ology pretty lost. Potions, tinctures, capsules and tablets – that are presumably meant to be good for us in one way or another – vie for position on the groaning shelves.

Most recently I had noticed an upsurge in the selection of green pondweed products. Chlorella seems to be flying off the shelves, and I did wonder what the heck the stuff actually does. The Japanese have known about the benefits for years, and actually cultivate their freshwater weed.

Algae are eukaryotes, with the contents of their cells parcelled into membrane shrink-wrapped organelles. The green slime acts as an effective powerhouse; capturing energy from sunlight during photosynthesis and reproducing at a phenomenal rate.

Chlorella is a slimy “superfood”.

Discovered in the 1950s by a Japanese scientist, chlorella growth factor (CGF) is an extract of the green freshwater alga, chlorella. Its cells divide themselves into four every 20 to 24 hours, and it is thought that the substance that allows this rapid expansion is CGF, which is produced during photosynthesis and makes up just 3 – 5% of the alga.

Significantly, CGF is believed to contain high levels of the nucleic acids RNA and DNA (our genetic fingerprints). The significance here is that as you age, your production of RNA and DNA slows down, and this growth factor is thought to kick-start the body’s ability for cell renewal. We can consume RNA and DNA in a range of foods, but chlorella is by far one of the richest supplies of the nutrient, containing 17 times more RNA than sardines.

Japanese scientists in the 1960s carried out tests that also suggested CGF may promote the tissue repair. After giving schoolchildren two grams of chlorella on a regular basis, after 112 days they discovered the children had grown faster and gained more weight than others who were not taking the algae. Since the same substances and processes that accelerate growth in children are thought to also promote the repair of tissue damage in adults, the scientists concluded that CGF has the ability to stimulate the body’s healing processes.

Chlorella can help to heal specific conditions of cellular breakdown such as ulcers, promote healing and repair in injury and illness, as well as boosting the good bacteria in the gut.

You can pick Chlorella up in various forms (tablets and powder) from health food shops.  Amazon UK supply a number of products as well and our UK readers and get them via the links below.

Elizabeth McQuillan

#respectyourtemple

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£21.99

£11.99

Green Smoothie Quickie

Our founder, Richie Norton, is working in the Middle East at the moment. He’s been running a very heavy schedule working with some exciting new drivers and the changes in temperature from red hot track to ice cold air con have been playing havoc with his body.  He's been craving some greens goodness amongst the sweet treats available everywhere. We just got this message from him, so thought we’d share it with a picture from The Strength Temple kitchen in the UK with the amazing @shonavertue modelling these health promoting breakfast smoothies for us.

"Today was a right treat, managed to find some ingredients this morning, borrowed the chefs blender and showed the kitchen crew how to rustle up a brekky super smoothie #thestrengthtemple#style 👉🏽🌿spinach • mixed with a green apple • melon • cucumber & a coconut 🌴 bosh! 🙏🏼Looking forward to some home comforts...missing my bed & my kitchen. 

Happy Thursday!! 💚” Richie Norton

So start with some ice in your blender and get these incredible ingredients in there to start your day.  Add some coconut water or filtered water to get your desired consistency and enjoy 😃 Make a little extra and stash it in some recycled jam jars in the fridge to give you a hit of goodness later when you need it!

#respectyourtemple