Newly crowned Miss South Africa 2024, Mia Le Roux is a keen cook and a dab hand in the kitchen! One of her favourite dishes to make for friends and family is her Thai Green Chicken Curry.
Says Le Roux: “This is a Jamie Oliver recipe that I’ve adapted to include ingredients more readily available in South Africa. It’s a real winner and there’s never any leftovers as everyone always comes back for seconds.”
Mia Le Roux’s Thai Green Chicken Curry
Ingredients
750g skinless chicken breasts
2 tbsp olive oil
400g button mushrooms, sliced
400g coconut milk
1 cup of chicken stock
200g sugar snap peas
½ bunch fresh basil
1 red chilli, chopped
1 lime
For the curry paste
4 garlic cloves
2 onions
5cm piece of ginger
Zest and juice of 1 lemon
4 green chillies, chopped
1 tsp ground cumin
½ bunch of fresh coriander
2 tbs fish sauce
Method
To make the curry paste, peel, roughly chop and place the garlic, onions and ginger into a food processor. Add the lemon zest and squeeze the juice into the processor. Trim and add the chillies, cumin and half the coriander. Blitz until finely chopped then add the fish sauce and blitz again. Slice the chicken into bite-size pieces. Heat the olive oil in a large pan over medium heat, add the chicken and cook for 5 to 7 minutes or until just turning golden. Remove and transfer to a plate. Return the pan to a medium heat, add the mushrooms and cook for 4 to 5 minutes or until golden. Transfer to a plate using a slotted spoon. Reduce the heat to medium-low and add the Thai green paste for 4 to 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Pour in the coconut milk and the chicken stock. Turn the heat up and gently bring to a boil, then simmer for 10 minutes or until slightly reduced. Stir in the chicken and mushrooms, reduce the heat to low and cook for a further 5 minutes or until the chicken is cooked through, adding the sugar snap peas for the final 2 minutes. Taste and if needed, season with sea salt and freshly ground black pepper. Roughly chop and stir through the basil leaves and remaining coriander and scatter over the chopped red chilli. Serve with steamed rice and a wedge of lime.
