I recently had a friend over for dinner who is ‘mostly
vegetarian’ (I’m not entirely sure what that means) but it meant I had to put
my thinking cap on. It’s not that I don’t like or eat vegetarian food, in fact
it’s quite the opposite. My problem is that I get worried when making veggie
food that it won’t fill people up unless it’s majorly carb heavy, and that’s
not ideal for anybody. However, there are certain things I do believe meat
makes very little difference to and Thai curry is one such dish. It’s
surprisingly easy to make the paste from scratch (especially if you have a mini
chopper). If you don’t have a store cupboard set up for Thai cooking the
initial investment in ingredients may seem a lot, however if you like Thai food
you’ll be stocked for a good while (and once you realise how quick and easy Thai
food is to make you’ll be cooking it all the time).
Ingredients
Green Curry Paste
Handful Coriander
Handful Basil
2-4 Green chillies (To taste)
2 lemon grass stalks
4 cloves garlic
1 teaspoon coriander seeds
4 spring onions or ¼ onion (an Asian shallot would be
preferable to either or these)
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 teaspoon fish sauce
3 kaffir lime leaves
Juice of 1.5 limes and zest of 1
2 cm sq piece of ginger
Salt and pepper
You will need a pestle and mortar, mini chopper or food
processor (you may be able to do it with a hand blender actually).
Peel the garlic, ginger, onions and lemongrass and roughly
chop into small bits along with the chillies (the smaller they are the easier
it will be to make into a paste). Grind the coriander seeds (I usually use a
pestle and mortar but you can get spice grinders that do the job too).
Put everything so far in either the food processor or mortar
(if using a hand blender put them all into a container just bigger than the
blender piece, I find a mug is usually perfect for this so long as its wide
enough at the bottom). Grind or blend everything together.
Chop off the leafiest bit of the coriander and put aside. Chop
the rest and the basil (including stalks) and add to your mortar or food
processor. If your lime leaves are fresh add them too. Grind or blend again.
Add the juice of 1 and a half limes, the soy sauce and fish sauce and continue
to grind or blend until everything comes together to form a paste.
Thai Green Curry
1 Tin Coconut Milk
Mixed Vegetables
Pretty much any vegetable can go in Thai curry, I used baby
aubergines, courgettes, peppers and an onion. Broccoli, cauliflower, beans and
spinach (add this right at the end) also work really well.
To make up the curry fry the paste (as little as half or as
much as all for 2-6 people) in a hot wok for a few minutes until the fragrance
really starts to come out. Add the harder vegetables (onions, peppers) and cook
for a minute or two before adding the rest. Toss the vegetables around in the
wok so that they are evenly covered in the paste, then add the coconut milk (if you are using dried lime leaves, add them whole here).
Cook for 10-20 minutes depending on the size of the veg. Don’t worry if at first it looks too white, it
will go greener the longer you cook it.
Serve with steamed rice and fresh coriander leaves (you can
use some of the leftover ones from the paste).
Tips
If you are keeping the curry paste it will keep for longer if you put a thin layer of oil over it in a jar.
If using a mini chopper for the paste you can pretty much put everything in at once, however if using a pestle and mortar its best to keep to the stages I have set out.
Also works beautifully with chicken and prawns, marinate these with a bit of the paste first and add before the coconut milk (though I often cook these separately to ensure they are not over done).
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