Culinary SOS: Thai green chicken curry from a San Luis Obispo restaurant

Novo Restaurant shares its recipe for a rich and flavorful soup-like concoction.

Thai green curry with chicken. (Glenn Koenig / Los Angeles Times / October 19, 2011)

By Noelle Carter Los Angeles Times

February 2, 2012

Dear SOS: Recently my best childhood friend treated me to a creekside birthday dinner at beautiful Novo Restaurant in San Luis Obispo. We both had the Thai green chicken curry, and it was absolutely incredible. I tried an online recipe that was good but just didn't reach the level of excellence that Novo's creation did. I would love to have the privilege of getting that recipe if possible!

Julie Simonsgaard

Thousand Oaks

Dear Julie: Novo was happy to share its recipe for this wonderfully rich and flavorful soup-like curry, which it serves with rice and chapatis on the side. Enjoy!

Novo's Thai green chicken curry

Total time: 2 hours

Servings: 6 to 8

Note: Adapted from Novo Restaurant in San Luis Obispo. Laos powder, which is dried, ground galangal root, is available at Thai markets.

Thai green curry paste

2 serrano chiles, seeded

1/2 onion

1/4 bunch cilantro

Rind of ¼ lemon

1 teaspoon black pepper

1 tablespoon chopped garlic

3/4 teaspoon salt

Scant 2 teaspoons ground coriander

Heaping 1 teaspoon ground cumin

Heaping 1 teaspoon Laos powder

Comments (6)

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Rickameil at 3:57 PM February 23, 2012

I made the Thai Green Chicken Curry recipe last week. It was---out-of-this-world. Didn't get enoigh so I'm making it again tonight. One of my favorite recipe from the Los Angeles Times.

herbalgirls at 5:09 AM February 15, 2012

@thaitable: Such a humorless and pedantic comment. The reader asked for a recipe she enjoyed from a restaurant. The recipe isn't claiming to be the gold standard classic green curry. It is simply a dish that she liked. I think readers here are intelligent enough to look up classic versions of famous dishes if they so choose.

Noelle Carter at 12:26 PM February 03, 2012

Hi NCNYJW -- The recipe is broken up into 2 pages, and the chicken and remaining ingredients are given on the second page. Scroll to the bottom of the screen to click to the next page. Hope you enjoy the dish as much as we did!

Hi ThaiTable -- You're right about this being Novo's version of the curry. As with all SOS requests, the reader requested the restaurant's recipe (as she mentions in her request, she searched online but didn't find a recipe that compared with the restaurant's, which she really enjoyed). Novo was happy to send me its recipe (and the staff were very helpful answering our Test Kitchen's questions and clarifying the steps as we tested the recipe before publishing), and we're happy to share it. But thank you also for sharing your link.