Photographer Page

Steven Joyce

What are the main characteristics of a Thai green curry? Mildness? Sweetness? Bright green-ness? If you’ve eaten Thai food in Europe or the US, you’ll certainly have come across versions of the dish that tick all three boxes — but the real deal is entirely different. Steven Joyce shot our Deconstruct feature for Issue 9 of National Geographic Traveller Food (summer 2020). Read the article.

A fresh Thai green curry paste usually contains white pepper, ground cumin, ground coriander, fresh galangal, lemongrass, shallots, green chillies, coriander root, garlic, Thai shrimp paste and kaffir lime zest.

Traditionally, the only sweetness comes from coconut milk; however, some cooks add palm sugar, which dulls the flavour of the chillies.

The end result of the Thai green curry paste should be spicy-salty, with a lick of sweetness from the coconut.

Almost all chefs and food writers agree it’s better to make the paste for a Thai green curry from scratch, rather than buying it in a jar.