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Saturday 14 June 2008

Thai Green Curry with Chicke

(Serves 4-6)


450 g cooked chicken, sliced into shreds
600ml coconut milk (you will need to buy two tins)

For the green curry paste
8 green bird eye chillies (whole)
1 lemon grass stalk, sliced thinly and soaked for 30 minutes in 2 tablespoons lime juice
1 rounded teaspoon kaffir lime peel, pared and thinly shredded
7 thin slices Thai ginger (galangal)
1 heaped teaspoon coriander stalks, chopped
½ level teaspoon roasted ground cumin
½ level teaspoon roasted ground coriander
3 garlic cloves
5 Thai shallots peeled (or normal shallots if not available)
1 level teaspoon shrimp paste

For the finished sauce
3-4 level dessertspoons Thai fish sauce
1 level teaspoon palm sugar
3 level dessertspoons fresh green peppercorns (or preserved in brine)
7 kaffir lime leaves
½ mild red chilli, de-seeded and cut into hair-like shreds
25 g Thai basil leaves

You will also need a large flameproof casserole or a wok.


The curry paste can be made well ahead of time and there's absolutely no work involved if you have a food processor or a liquidiser because all you do is simply pop all the curry paste ingredients in and whiz it to a paste (stopping once or twice to push the mixture back down from the sides on to the blades). In Thailand, of course, all these would be pounded by hand with a pestle and mortar, but food processors do cut out all the hard work.

What you need to end up with is a coarse paste but don't worry if it doesn't look very green – that's because I have cut the chilli content; in Thailand they use about 35! If you want yours to be green, then this is the answer! Your next task is to prepare all the rest of the ingredients.

To make the curry, first place the tins of coconut milk on a work surface, upside down. Then open them and inside you will see the whole thing has separated into thick cream and thin watery milk. Divide these by pouring the milk into one bowl and the cream into another. Next place a wok, without any oil in it, over a very high heat and then as soon as it becomes really hot, add three-quarters of the coconut cream. What you do now is literally fry it, stirring all the time so it doesn't catch. What will happen is it will start to separate, the oil will begin to seep out and it will reduce. Ignore the curdled look – this is normal. You may also like to note that when the cream begins to separate you can actually hear it give off a crackling noise. Next add the curry paste and three-quarters of the coconut milk, which should be added a little at a time, keeping the heat high and letting it reduce down slightly. Stay with it and keep stirring to prevent it sticking. Then add the Thai fish sauce and palm sugar, stir these in and then add the chicken pieces and the peppercorns. Stir again and simmer everything for about 4-5 minutes until the chicken is heated through. Then just before serving, place the lime leaves one on top of the other, roll them up tightly and slice them into very fine shreds. Then add them along with the red chilli and torn basil leaves. Serve with Thai fragrant rice.

Thursday 12 June 2008

Green Curry Paste

4-6 medium green chillies, de-seeded and roughly chopped
2 shallots, roughly chopped
5cm piece of fresh ginger, peeled and grated
2 garlic cloves, crushed
small bunch of fresh coriander, stalks and roots attached if possible
2 lemongrass stalks, chopped
1 lime, grated zest and juice
8 kaffir lime leaves, torn into pieces )
2.5cm piece galangal, peeled and chopped
1 tbsp coriander seeds, crushed
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp black peppercorns, crushed
2 tsp Thai fish sauce or light soy sauce
3 tbsp olive oil

Method
1. Place all of the ingredients in a food processor and blitz to a paste. Use straight away or store in a jar in the fridge for up to 3 weeks. This quantity is enough for a curry for 8 people.

Tip:
When your curry is cooked, if you think it is too spicy, add some more sugar; if it isn't spicy enough, fry a little more curry paste in some oil for a minute or two and add to the sauce.

Angel-hair Pasta with Thai Spiced Prawns

Angel-hair pasta (capellini) is, as the name suggests, the very finest shreds of pasta, now available in larger supermarkets. Large prawns also come in packs, peeled with the tails intact: the very large varieties come in eight per pack, the smaller ones in 12 per pack. Either way you need one pack per person as a main course. The recipe is spicy, pungent and just the thing to make use of some previously prepared Thai Red Curry Paste.

175 g angel-hair pasta
2 packs prawns (see above) /chicken
4 slightly rounded tablespoons Thai Red Curry Paste
2 tablespoons light olive oil
5 cloves garlic, chopped
2 large tomatoes, skinned, de-seeded and chopped
grated zest and juice 1 lime
7 fl oz (200 ml) dry white wine
salt

To garnish:

3 tablespoons chopped fresh coriander
a few paper-thin slices of fresh lime, cut in half

A couple of hours before you intend to serve the pasta, place the Thai Red Curry Paste in a bowl, add the prawns and toss them around so that they get a good coating of sauce. Now cover the bowl with clingfilm and leave in the fridge for a couple of hours for the prawns to soak up the flavours.

When you're ready to start cooking, first heat up 2 tablespoons of oil in a frying pan and gently cook the garlic for 1 or 2 minutes or until it's pale gold, then add the chopped tomatoes, lime zest and juice and wine and keeping the heat high, let the sauce bubble and reduce for about 8 minutes. After that add the prawns and paste to the sauce and when it's bubbling again, turn the heat down and let it cook gently for another 3 minutes or until it has reduced and thickened. Then put a lid on the pan and keep the sauce warm while you deal with the pasta.

For this you need to make sure that you have two serving plates warming, then bring a large saucepan of salted water up to a fast boil. Push the pasta down into the boiling water and immediately time it for 3 minutes only. As soon as the 3 minutes are up, spoon the pasta (using a spoon and fork, or a proper pasta server) directly on to the plates. Don't worry about the wetness as this will soon evaporate: if you drain this pasta in the normal way, because it's so fine it sticks together and becomes unmanageable. Now quickly spoon the sauce and prawns over the pasta, sprinkle on the coriander, add the lime slices and serve presto pronto!

Red curry paste

4 medium red chillies
4 level teaspoons coriander seeds
2 level teaspoons cumin seeds
4 stems lemon grass, trimmed and chopped
2 level teaspoons grated fresh ginger
4 shallots
6 cloves garlic
grated zest and juice 2 limes
2 level dessertspoons hot paprika

Begin by splitting the chillies in half and removing and discarding the seeds. After that wash your hands, because the seeds are very fiery and if you touch the delicate skin on your face after handling them it can smart and burn (I've done it so often!). Now take a small frying pan and pre-heat it over a medium heat, then add the coriander and cumin seeds and toss them around in the dry pan to roast them and draw out their flavours. After about 5 minutes tip them into a mortar and crush them finely to a powder.

Now simply place the chillies, spices and all the other ingredients in a food processor and whiz them to a coarse paste. Then freeze in 2-tablespoon portions – and don't forget to label and date. It will keep for 2 months.

This recipe is taken from Delia Smith’s Summer Collection.
Angel-Hair Pasta with Thai Spiced Prawns

Nigel Slater's Thai green curry

(Serves 4)

For the curry paste
4 lemongrass stalks, tougher outer leaves discarded
6 medium-hot green chillies, seeded and chopped
3 cloves garlic, peeled and crushed
5cm piece of galangal or ginger, peeled and chopped
2 shallots, peeled and finely chopped
4 tbsp chopped coriander
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp chopped lime zest
1 tbsp nam pla (Thai fish sauce)
½ tsp ground black peppercorns

For the curry
750g/1lb 10oz free-range chicken breasts or thighs, bones removed
3 tbsp groundnut oil
200g/7oz chestnut mushrooms, quartered
400ml/14fl oz tin coconut milk
400ml/14 fl oz homemade or ready-made chicken stock
8 lime leaves
1 tbsp nam pla (Thai fish sauce)
1 tbsp bottled green peppercorns, drained
leaves from a large bunch (about 20g/0.7oz) basil, shredded
15g/½oz fresh coriander (leaves and stalks,) roughly chopped

Method
1. For the curry paste, slice the lemongrass finely. Put it in a food processor with all the remaining curry paste ingredients and whiz to a thick paste, pushing the mixture down from time to time with a spatula. Transfer to a glass or china dish, cover tightly (otherwise it will taint everything in the fridge) and refrigerate.
2. For the curry, cut the chicken into finger-thick strips.
3. Warm the oil in a casserole and, when hot and sizzling, add the chicken strips and let them colour slightly on all sides. You will need to do this in batches to avoid crowding the pan.
4. Remove the cooked chicken pieces from the casserole with a slotted spoon. Add the quartered mushrooms to the casserole and fry until golden-brown, adding more oil if needed.
5. Pour in the coconut milk and stock, then add the lime leaves, four heaped tablespoons of the curry paste, the fish sauce, peppercorns and half of the chopped herbs. Bring to the boil, then turn the heat down and simmer for 10 minutes, stirring from time to time.
6. Return the chicken to the casserole with a further tablespoon of the paste and simmer for five to six minutes, or until the chicken is cooked through. Stir in the last of the herbs and serve.