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Thai Green Curry Prawns

"I lived above a Thai restaurant for a year in Sydney and they made the best green curry I've ever tasted. I was a regular customer and they even loaned me plates and bowls. I managed to persuade the chef to let me know how he made the curry. I've adapted it slightly to bring down the heat but it's still got a nice kick to it. Apparently the paste will keep in the fridge for up to 4 months! Serve immediately over fluffy jasmine rice."

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Why it works: Lime and green beans work together. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and 17 recipes mention both. Both carry linalool, which smells floral, citrus. The science ↓

The recipe

4 servings
Prep25 min
Cook15 min

Ingredients

Contains: soy, shellfish (auto-detected from the ingredients and method; we can miss things, so check labels)

Directions

Method written by CompKitchen from the ingredient list. Not the original author's method, not kitchen-tested.

  1. Trim the green beans and cut the baby corn in half lengthwise if large. Remove the tough outer layers from the lemon grass and mince the stalks finely. Rinse the shrimp and pat dry.

  2. Make the paste: in a food processor or mortar, combine the ginger, garlic, green chile peppers, lemon grass, cumin, coriander, lime zest, 2 tablespoons corn oil and half of the cilantro. Blend or pound to a coarse paste.

  3. Heat the remaining 1/4 cup corn oil in a large wok or skillet over medium-high heat. Add the green beans and baby corn and stir-fry for 3 to 4 minutes until the beans are bright green and lightly blistered. Remove and set aside.

  4. Lower the heat to medium. Add the paste to the same pan and fry, stirring, for 2 minutes until fragrant. Pour in the coconut milk and soy sauce, then bring to a gentle simmer.

  5. Add the shrimp and the cooked vegetables to the simmering curry. Cook for 3 to 4 minutes, stirring gently, until the shrimp are pink and opaque and reach 145°F (63°C) in the thickest part.

  6. Stir in the lime juice and the remaining cilantro. Taste and adjust with a little more soy sauce or lime juice if needed, then serve hot.

By allrecipes. Recipe from Open Recipes.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.

  1. Lime + green beanstop 9% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapmoderate
    Mentioned together17 recipes

    Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).

  2. Coriander + limetop 1% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together3,536 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  3. Lemon grass + limetop 1% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together407 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  4. Cumin + coriandertop 1% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together3,866 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  5. Cumin + limetop 1% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together1,216 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

Flavor stand-ins for the garlic

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (cumin, coriander, ginger, pepper, lemon grass, lime, corn):

  1. Turmericbetter flavor fit
  2. Cardamombetter flavor fit
  3. Basilbetter flavor fit
  4. Garlicthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against cumin, coriander, ginger, pepper, lemon grass, lime, corn. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes. This compares flavor only: it does not check the job the ingredient does in the dish (bulk, moisture, acidity, structure).