Recipe: Thai Panang Curry

Ingredients:

400ml Tin coconut milk

100g Red or Panang curry paste

300g Chicken — optional if you’re vegetarian

Vegetables of choice; mangetout, baby sweetcorn, spinach, broccoli

1 Red onion, sliced

40g Palm sugar or caster sugar

30ml Soy sauce

30g Fresh ginger

15ml Fish sauce

4 Kaffir lime leaves (two left whole and two finely shredded)

1 Red Chilli

1 Bag of microwave rice or straight to wok noodles

A handful of fresh coriander

1 spring onion

Handful unsalted peanuts crushed

Method

1.       Add half the coconut milk to the wok and fry for about 5 minutes, or until the oil has begun to separate out from the milk. Once separated, add the curry paste and fry for about 3/4 minutes, or until the paste has begun to smell significantly stronger.

2.       Add the meat to the pan and seal. If using prawns then leave these until a later stage to avoid overcooking.

3.       Once the meat is browned, add the palm sugar, onion, soy sauce, fish sauce, ginger, ¾ of the red chilli finely diced, and the kaffir lime leaves to the pan. Fry this mixture for approximately 5 minutes to cook out the ingredients.

4.       Add the remaining coconut milk and bring to the boil. Once boiling, add the vegetables and then reduce the heat and simmer for approximately 10 minutes, or until the meat is cooked. If using prawns then add at this stage, and if using noodles then check the packet to see how long the manufacturer recommends cooking them for and add as many recommended minutes from the end. If using microwave rice simply heat as per packet instructions.

5.       To garnish, finely shred the coriander, spring onion, crushed peanuts and the remaining red chilli and place on top of the curry.