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1
Pour the first-extraction coconut cream into a cold wok or wide saucepan, then place over medium-high heat and cook, stirring regularly, so the water gradually drives off and the cream splits into clear fat pooling around a thickened white solids mass — taek man — rather than simply reducing to a thick soup. The oil will shimmer and the surface will look broken rather than smooth; this is the moment to proceed.
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2
Add the green curry paste directly to the cracked coconut fat and fry, pressing and folding the paste continuously into the fat, for 3–5 minutes, so the lemongrass, galangal and fresh chillies lose all harshness through sustained contact with hot fat rather than merely warming through in liquid. This is where the dish lives or dies: the fat must visibly re-separate around the paste before the chicken is added, and the smell must shift from raw and green to deep, fragrant and slightly smoky — any grassy edge means the paste is under-cooked.
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3
Add the chicken to the fried paste and turn to coat every surface, so the meat picks up the full depth of the paste rather than sitting apart from it in the wok. Continue to cook over medium-high heat until the chicken is sealed and the paste clings to the meat — the wok will be nearly dry at this point.
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4
Add the second-extraction coconut milk in stages, not all at once, stirring between additions, so the curry builds body and stays bold and concentrated rather than turning thin and pale the moment liquid hits. Adjust the heat to maintain a steady, moderate simmer throughout.
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5
Add the quartered Thai eggplant (makheua pro) and simmer, so the pieces have time to absorb the curry's colour and heat all the way to the centre rather than remaining raw inside a cooked skin. Pull them when they are just tender but still offer slight resistance when pressed against the side of the wok with a spoon.
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6
Add the pea eggplant (makheua phuang) in the final 2 minutes only, so they stay firm and their slight bitterness reads as a clean counterpoint rather than cooking away to mush. Season with fish sauce and palm sugar; taste and adjust — the curry should be hot, herbal and savourily balanced, with no single element dominating.
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7
Remove the wok from the heat entirely before adding the kaffir lime leaf chiffonade and the Thai sweet basil leaves, folding once or twice, so the residual heat wilts the basil without cooking it and the leaves hold their vivid green rather than turning dull and slack. Serve immediately.