28 June - Thai green prawn curry with noodles

Tris is working late quite a bit at the moment, so my challenge is to come up with dinners that I can cook and eat at the normal time (before I fade away!), but can then sit happily for him to reheat when he gets in. Last night's pasta worked well and tonight I decided to go for a Thai green curry. The mangetout are growing by the day, so I wanted to include some, but didn't want to overcook them. So I made the curry, adding half of the picked mangetout right at the end. When I served up my half, I fished out all of the cooked mangetout, leaving the remaining uncooked ones in a bowl for Tris to add to the rest when he heated it up. A bit of a palaver, but worth it to appreciate precious home-grown veg at its best!

The recipe I use for the curry is based on one from Nigel Slater's Appetite. When I was buying some of the ingredients for the paste, the girl behind me in the queue commented on what exciting shopping I had. I explained that I was making Thai green curry, to which she exclaimed "What! You make the paste from scratch?!". It's actually really not that difficult, you just bung everything in a blender and I think it tastes so much better than ready-made paste. being a bit of a chilli-wimp, it also means I can control the heat - a bit less chilli, lots of other lovely flavours coming through.

Thai Green Prawn curry
For the paste, blend together:

• two cloves of garlic
• a knob of peeled fresh ginger
• a stick of lemongrass (soft centre bit only)
• some fresh red chilli (I used about 1/3 a big one)
• a big handful of fresh coriander leaves
• a few coriander seeds
• 1/2 tsp turmeric
• a little groundnut oil (1-2 tbsp) - enough to make a paste

1. I fry a few chopped spring onions in a little oil in a big wok-like pan, the add the paste and stir it about a bit.
2. Add about 100ml chicken stock and a tin of coconut milk. Simmer gently for about 5 mins.
3. Add a handful of fresh peas - simmer another 5 mins.
4. Cook the noodles (50g per person) in boiling water (according to the packet) and drain under cold water.
5. Add the prawns and the mangetout to the sauce and cook for just a couple of minutes till the prawns turn pink.
6. Season with a squeeze of fresh lime juice, a pinch of salt, a tsp of Thai fish sauce and some fresh mint leaves.
7. I pile the noodles in a deep bowl and pour over the curry.
8. Eat carefully without flicking the sauce because of the bright yellow turmeric!!