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Felicity's Perfect Thai green curry

From: theguardian.com Serves 2.

For the paste (or use 4 tbsp of good quality bought paste like Thai Taste's):
20 bird's eye chillies
1 tbsp chopped galangal
3 tbsp chopped lemongrass
1 tsp makrut (aka kaffir) lime zest, or 2 tsp finely minced makrut lime leaves
1 tsp chopped coriander root, or 10 tsp pounded coriander stems
1 tsp chopped red turmeric
2 tbsp chopped shallots
2 tbsp chopped garlic
1 tsp shrimp paste
Ground white pepper and salt
For the curry:
5 tbsp coconut cream
1 tsp fish sauce
½ tsp palm sugar
180ml chicken or vegetable stock
180g chopped chicken, seafood, pork or tofu
100g pea aubergines or chopped purple aubergines
2 makrut lime leaves, shredded
3 red chillies, deseeded and finely sliced
Handful of Thai basil leaves

Pound the paste ingredients one by one in a pestle and mortar, making sure each is well incorporated before adding the next. You can use a food processor, but you won't get quite such good results.

Heat the coconut cream in a small saucepan, and allow to come to the boil. Once it has reduced and begun to split, add 4 tbsp curry paste and mix, stirring continuously until aromatic – taste to see whether the spices are cooked.

Add the fish sauce and sugar to taste, pour in the stock and bring back to the boil, then put in the meat or tofu, and the aubergines. Simmer until cooked through, then stir in the lime leaves, red chilli and basil leaves. Stir in a little more coconut cream if it's too spicy, and serve with jasmine rice.

Notes

The Thai green curry paste was derived after testing the following:

Nigel Slater, from guardian.co.uk
"thrillingly tangy, peppery recipe has impressed many guests over the years – what I didn't admit is that it's surprisingly easy to make."

Rick Stein (following in Keith Floyds footsteps (who used ready made paste))
Via his Eastern Odyssey, from the Poj Spa Kar restaurant in Bangkok. See PDF recipe
"The intensely savoury shrimp paste is complemented by the fish sauce which Stein adds to the curry itself, along with coconut milk, lime juice and 2 tsp palm sugar. I like the sweet and sour quality this gives the finished dish, but feel it overpowers the flavours of the carefully made paste – despite the lime leaves and the lemongrass, it just doesn't taste as fresh as Nigel's."

Madhur Jaffrey's Ultimate Curry Bible, From the Oriental Hotel Bangkok. See recipe blog
Uses hard to track down spices, and "The paste itself is promising – a lovely vibrant green, thanks to all those chillies – but once I've added the required teaspoon of thick, dark tamarind paste to the pan, 1 tsp of palm sugar and 1½ tbsp fish sauce, it's sort of muddy looking, and much too sour. In fact, despite the lime zest and the lemongrass, it's hardly aromatic at all."

Rosemary Brissenden See South East Asian Food
"Contains no dried spices whatsoever, other than ½ tsp of ground peppercorns. This seems to gives the finished paste a fresh, startlingly hot flavour which sets it apart from the others.... Brissenden also teaches me to allow the curry paste to cook in the oil from the coconut milk, rather than frying it first, as in many other South East Asian cuisines. According to Thai food blogger SheSimmers, curry sauces are supposed to separate – not only does it make them look more appetising to Thai eyes, but it indicates the paste has been correctly cooked. "

David Thompson The first Thai chef to win a Michelin star for his London restaurant Nahm
See Times subscription or thefoodblog
"Strong, salty, spicy, rich and aromatic, Thompson's curry is as overwhelming and thrilling as a Bangkok street market. I omit the optional roasted coriander seeds, as I feel they interfere with the fresh flavour of the dish, and to make it absolutely perfect, I add half a teaspoon of palm sugar as a counterpoint to the savoury notes of the shrimp paste, which rounds things out nicely."

Kaffir Lime Sources
Fresh makrut (kaffir) lime leaves cannot be imported into this country, but Waitrose sells them frozen as part of their Cooks Ingredients range, and they're also found in jars.
Other sources: To buy a plant or for the pickled peel