Thai coconut curries, but more often than not, standard Thai curry pastes usually contain dried shrimps or fish sauce so I’ve come up with this delicious and easily made alternative paste. It helps if you have a food processor, or mini chopper, but you could also make the paste using a pestle and mortar. The vegetables don’t need to be cooked for too long, otherwise they will lose their lovely vibrant colour and crispy texture. If you’re using long-stemmed broccoli, opt for young, smaller stems.
Ingredients
For the Curry Paste
- 1½ oz (45 g) knob of fresh ginger, peeled
- 2 garlic cloves, peeled
- 1 stalk lemongrass, trimmed
- 3 kaffir lime leaves
- 1 tbsp ground coriander
- 1 tbsp ground cumin
- 1 scant tbsp dried chilli/red pepper flakes
- 1 tbsp coconut oil
- 1–2 tbsp warm water
- a bunch of fresh coriander/cilantro
For the Curry
- 14-fl oz (2 x 400-ml) cans full fat coconut milk
- ⅓ cup plus 1 tbsp (100 ml) well-flavoured vegetable stock
- 1 tbsp demerara/turbinado sugar
- 3½ oz (100 g) cherry tomatoes, roughly chopped
- 1 yellow (bell) pepper, deseeded and cut into strips
- 14 oz (400 g) mixed young vegetables (sugar snap peas, green/French beans, young, long-stem broccoli, baby sweetcorn, etc.)
- a small bunch of fresh coriander/cilantro, roughly chopped
- 1 large lime juice and zest
To Serve
- a handful of cashew nuts
- a bunch of spring onions/scallions, thinly sliced
How to Make It
- To make the curry paste, roughly chop the ginger, garlic and lemongrass and add them to a food processor or mini chopper and whiz until finely chopped (or bash them using a pestle and mortar if preferred). Add the lime leaves, ground coriander, cumin, chilli/red pepper flakes and coconut oil. Pour in the warm water and blitz everything to a paste. Add the coriander/cilantro and whiz again until everything is ground down and evenly mixed.
- Preheat the oven to 180˚C (350˚F) Gas 4. For the curry, pour the coconut milk and stock into a deep roasting pan and stir in the curry paste and sugar. Cover with foil and cook for 15 minutes.
- Remove the roasting pan from the oven, give everything a good stir and add the chopped tomatoes, (bell) pepper strips and prepared vegetables (cut the baby/sweet corn in half from top to bottom, if using). Replace the foil and cook for 10 minutes or so, until the vegetables are just soft but retain their bright colours.
- Stir in the fresh coriander/cilantro and add the lime zest and juice. Serve straight away, scattered with cashews and spring onions/scallions.
