Thai Green Curry | Steph's Ramblings

On being a bit of a foodie…

There are few things in life that get me really riled, as I’m usually calmness personified; although it is alarmingly less so as I get older icon_eek People who queue jump, people who spit, people who drop littler, people who don’t put the ‘next customer’ bar onto the supermarket checkout belt icon_mad , people who park in ‘parent & child’ spaces without any kids, people who get their tiny babies’ ears pierced and dress them as if they’re teenagers and people who shout while using a mobile-phone (usually in a bank or shop)… All of those things will probably get my rile juices flowing. God only knows what would happen if I encountered them all on the same day icon_eek It would probably result in this…

There is also another small annoyance I have; maybe less so than those above, but an annoyance all the same. And it’s with people who can’t be arsed to cook. People who live off ‘ready meals’ and take-aways, who buy bags of pre-grated cheese and pre-cooked jacket potatoes and who believe opening a packet of powdered mashed potato is in fact cooking!!! It’s not. It largely tastes like shite and is just lazy.

‘Oh but I simply haven’t the time to cook…’ will often be the excuse given and yes I have ordered take-aways when I wanted a break from cooking, but not every day. I also believe the ‘fast food’ is time saving belief to be a bit of an urban myth. For starters your average take-away would take a good 20 to 30 minutes to arrive, while the plastic & Styrofoam wrapped ‘ready meals’ take about 10 mins to nuke in the microwave and then leave to stand. Pasta, onion, pepper, garlic, tomatoes, herbs and grated cheese, would take a few minutes to chop and less than 10 minutes to cook, not to mention be a damn sight better for you.

So in light of Jamie Oliver’s (love him or hate him) recent Ministry of Food, ‘Pass it On’ experiment, where he’s desperately trying to get a nation of ‘ready meal’ & take-away junkies to start cooking… Here’s a recipe to get you started. It tastes amazing and is a piece of piss to make icon_smile

Thai Green Curry (serves about 3)

Ingredients

Curry paste

Spring Onions (6 – chopped)
Ginger (Large thumb sized piece chopped)
Garlic (2 cloves – chopped)
Lemon grass (1 – chopped)
Lime (1 – zest & juice)
Chilli (2 medium – chopped)
Coriander (1 bunch, but mainly the stalks – chopped)
Basil (Half a handful – chopped)
Olive Oil (3 big glugs to get the paste nice and runny)
Salt & pepper (Just chuck a bit of both in)

Mix all of those fresh zingy ingredients together in a pestle & mortar or a food processor.

Curry

Green Pepper (1 – cut into chunks)
Carrot (1 – cut into thin slices)
Prawns (1 pack) or Chicken (2 breasts – chopped into chunks)
Coconut Cream (About a quarter of a block)
Water (400ml ‘ish… just don’t make it too runny)
Rice (About 60g per person)
Coriander leaves (A handful – chopped)
Lime (1 – cut into wedges)

Fry the chicken (if you’re using the chicken), peppers & carrot in a little oil in a deep frying pan for about 5 – 10 minutes. Add the curry paste, give it a good stir around and then add the water. Chuck in the coconut cream and leave to simmer for about 10 minutes, until the coconut has melted. Throw the prawns in (if you’re using them) and cook for 3 – 4 minutes, until the prawns are cooked.

Cook your rice in a pan of boiling water for 8 – 10 minutes, then drain and wash with boiling water.

Serve curry and rice. Garnish with the coriander leaves & lime wedges… And a nice bottle of cold beer icon_smile

And this will all take about 10 minutes to prepare and about 25 minutes to actually cook… If you like it, pass it on.