Ingredients

2 tbsp vegetable oil
1 clove of garlic, sliced
green leaves of 4 young leeks/ or spring onions, finely chopped
¼ red pepper, de-seeded and very finely sliced
10 cherry tomatoes, quartered
165ml coconut milk
1 tbsp fresh lemon or lime juice
a dash of fish sauce (optional)
salt and pepper
400g white fish, cut into small chunks or a mix of white fish and prawns (or chicken breast can be substituted for fish)

Spices and herbs
2 tsp whole coriander seeds, ground
1 tbsp whole cumin seeds, ground
1 tsp ground turmeric
2 walnut sized piece of fresh ginger peeled and finely grated
2 kaffir lime leaves*
1 stick of lemongrass, very finely chopped*

Recipe and photograph – Dr Joan Ransley

Method
Drizzle the vegetable oil in a wok or large frying pan and gently fry the garlic slices until they begin to brown and then discard. Add the chopped green leek leaves to the garlic flavoured oil and sweat these until they are soft but not discoloured.

Add the ground coriander, cumin and turmeric and ginger to the pan and cook gently for a minute. Add the chopped tomatoes and the lemongrass, if using followed by the coconut milk and kaffir lime leaves.

Mix the ingredients together well and allow to simmer gently for about 10 minutes (during which time you can cook some Basmati rice which takes about 12 minutes to cook).

Taste the sauce and adjust the seasoning by adding a little lemon juice,  pinch of sugar, salt and pepper. Add a splash of fish sauce too if you want to add more flavour to the curry. If your curry needs a little more liquid add a little water. You are then ready to add fish or chicken to the sauce.

If using fish or prawns allow 6-8 minutes to cook at a simmer. Chicken will take about 12 minutes and make sure the simmer is lively as chicken needs to be cooked well for it to be safe to eat.

Serve your curry with rice, strewn with a little chopped  coriander and spices to decorate the rice.

 

To serve
1 tbsp fresh coriander, chopped *if you do not have lemongrass or kaffir lime leaves you can leave them out. The curry will still taste good.

Back to Recipes