Thai Green Curry, A Friendly Dinner Party and a Diet

Last night HB and I had some good friends over for dinner.  On Monday I thought I’d email the crew and ask them each to bring a course.  My hope was that, as I was hosting, my kind friends would immediately ‘bagsy’ the main course and the pudding and I would be left with the task of buying some figs (they are quite fabulous at the moment), Parma ham and goats cheese to arrange on a plate.  Otherwise, I could sit back in a bacchanalian manor, drinking wine and eating figs whilst watching my friends produce something delicious.  No such luck.  Within 2 seconds of my email being sent Amy C had bagsied pudding and Millie J had bagsied nibbles.  This quick retort either meant that my friends are 1) plain lazy, 2) plain busy or 3) they plain love my cooking so much they couldn’t possibly pass up on the chance of dinner made by me. Most likely to be points 1 or 2 but the thought of point 3 made me make an effort to make something half decent.  Thai Green Curry it was.

In 2003 my very good friend, Millie S and I hit South East Asia after a very over indulged 2 months in Australia and New Zealand.  Having both gained 1.5 stone we decided that we needed to shed a few pounds.  We started on a self inflicted ‘strict regime’; for me this meant that I could eat as much Thai Green Curry and Spicy Soup as I desired (coconut milk is so low fat good for you!?), Millie S, more sensibly took to the stir fried chicken with chilli and Thai basil option.  We very jollily enjoyed many a tasty lunch and dinner feasting on our fragrant and spicy ‘oh so healthy’ diet choices and became experts in our favorite dishes.  Only when I returned to England and my Dad commented on how ‘well’ I looked did I question my Thai diet.  Perhaps coconut milk wasn’t as low fat as I’d thought.

It took me a long time to work out a recipe that lived up to my well practiced Thai green curry palate and this one is now an absolute fave.  It’s fragrant, salty, tangy and spicy – don’t be put off by the list of ingredients, it’s very easy once you’ve compiled them.  I’ve adapted the list of what you need to make it slightly more supermarket friendly but have put in brackets the actual Thai ingredients in case you can get them, substitute as you wish.  The only obscure Thai ingredient that is essential in this recipe is kaffir lime leaves but you can get them dried in most supermarkets, frozen are even better.

THAI GREEN CURRY
For 8

WHAT YOU WILL NEED:
FOR THE PASTE:

2 red chillies with the seeds included (more like 5 if you want to make it Thai spicy)
2 tbsp roughly chopped ginger (1tbsp chopped fresh galangal)
2 lemongrass stalks, roughly chopped
2 tinned anchovy fillets (1/2 tsp shrimp paste)
1/2 tsp each of toasted and ground coriander and cumin seed
8 whole black peppercorns
A large pinch of salt
Zest of 2 limes (Zest of 2 kaffir limes)
Chopped stalks of a 28g pack of coriander – keep the leaves for later (1tbsp scraped and chopped coriander root)
1 tsp ground turmeric (1 tsp chopped fresh turmeric)
3 small shallots or 1/2 a red onion roughly chopped
5 garlic cloves
A glug of vegetable oil

FOR THE CURRY:
12 boned, skinned and cubed chicken thighs
500ml chicken stock
800ml full fat coconut milk
6 kaffir lime leaves, torn
Juice of 4 limes
1 long red chilli, sliced
4 tbsp fish sauce
2 courgettes, diced
1 bag of fresh spinach
2 handfuls of broccoli florets, chopped
1 bag of beansprouts
A large handful of chopped Thai basil leaves OR A large handful combined of chopped dill and fresh mint
A large handful of chopped coriander

WHAT TO DO

1. Blitz all of the curry paste ingredients together in a blender until smooth
2. Pour the coconut milk and stock into a large pan, add the curry paste and kaffir lime leaves, bring to a simmer
3. Add the chicken, lime juice and fish sauce to the pan and simmer until the chicken is cooked
4. Add all of the vegetables except the spinach and beansprouts and continue to simmer until the vegetables are tender
5. Then stir the spinach, beansprouts, sliced red chilli and herbs into the curry, check the seasoning (it may need more fish sauce or chilli) and serve with rice

Lahore Kebab House, Tandoori Marinade and Streatham

On Tuesday I had dinner with a some of my family. Having lived in Streatham for a considerable part of my life, I’m always happy to return there particularly when there’s the prospect of a good dinner. My brother and his girlfriend had been to the Lahore Kebab House on Streatham High Road for a takeaway a couple of months ago. Oh how they had raved.

The decor of the place is reassuringly atmosphereless, neon lights in the window, grainy tv in the corner, long canteen style tables and you’ve gotta love a strip light.   This place is for eating, not romancing; more Lahore airport than Maharaja’s palace.

Out of the obscene amount of food that we ordered, a few things stood out: Thin, grilled, aromatic  lamb chops; crispy flat, tasty onion bhajia (no greasy boulders here!); exceptional jalfrezi, buttery paratha and hot and puffy naan, the bindi bhajia was also particularly good, fresh, spicy and delicious.  The raving was well founded.  Next time I’d stick to the lamb chops for a starter as they really are epic; the mixed grill we had was average in comparison and a bit outfacing and a bit bland even for our gannet like tendencies. The only curry that wasn’t for me was the ‘lamb on the bone’ – cinnamon is for puddings, not main courses in my view but that’s just me, others loved it.   The menu proudly advertises that it has ‘reduced prices due to popular customer demand’ and it is indeed a bargain. The place was stuffed with Asian families having dinner, not many English to be seen.  The waiters even bring you a bowl of fennel seed and sugar crystals and the end of dinner to aid your digestion. I’ve only ever seen that in India.  The difference at the Lahore Kebab House was that they used hundreds and thousands instead of sugar – very Pakistani/British, very neon lights.

I’d love to say that the following recipe was given to me by an Indian lady in Old Delhi who’d had this tandoori marinade passed down to her through the generations for hundreds of years.  She uses it every day on her street food stall to marinade paneer and chicken.  Not quite the case, I think I found it in a Sunday supplement about 2 years ago.  Regardless of where it came from I find it brilliant for firm white fish, chicken and lamb.  It’s one of my ultimate favorite recipes and is always a hit.

TANDOORI MARINADE
WHAT YOU WILL NEED:

2 tsp cumin seeds
2 tsp coriander seeds
3 tsp fennel seeds
1 tsp cayenne pepper
1 tsp turmeric
Juice of 1 lemon
75g natural yogurt
4 tsp grated fresh ginger
1 shallot finely chopped
2 tbsp chopped coriander leaves
2 crushed garlic cloves
1/2 tsp salt
1 red chilli, finely chopped (you can leave this out if you don’t like things too spicy!)

WHAT TO DO:

1. Toast the whole spices in a dry frying pan until fragrant and grind either in a spice grinder or a pestle and mortar
2. Toast the cayenne and turmeric then add to the rest of the ground spices
3. In a bowl, combine all of the ingredients together

It makes a real difference if you are able to smother your meat or fish in the marinade and leave overnight in the fridge before cooking.  Always then cook the meat or fish in the marinade (apart from if you are grilling or barbecuing).  My favorite ways of using the marinade are for the following meats

• Double the recipe for a lamb shoulder  – slow cook for about 5 hours at 140-160C and serve with Tzaziki, pitta bread and green salad
• Push the marinade under the skin of a spatchcocked chicken and roast as you normally would; serve with some herby cous cous and roasted vegetables
• With some firm white fish or chicken on a skewer, simply grill in the marinade or barbeque and serve with some mixed rice and stir fried broccoli