John's Thai chicken curry

1 of 5-a-day chicken dinner easy thai thai curry

N/A

Source

Ingredients

1 tbsp vegetable oil

400ml can coconut milk

1 tbsp Thai red curry paste (I like the ones that come in plastic tubs - Mae Ploy is a good brand)

2 garlic cloves , grated

thumb-sized piece ginger , grated

6 fresh or dried lime leaves

2 lemongrass stalks, bashed

1 chicken stock cube

1 tsp palm sugar

1 sweet potato , peeled and cut into chunks

1 tsp Thai fish sauce

handful coriander leaves

handful beansprouts

2 long red chillies , sliced

2 dried rice noodles nests (100g)

2 chicken breasts , cut into bite-sized pieces

Method

1 In a large, heavy-based pan, heat the vegetable oil with 1 tbsp of the coconut milk. When it’s hot and starting to splatter, add the red curry paste. Stir and cook gently over a medium-low heat for 1-2 mins – it should start to change colour. Add the garlic, ginger, lime leaves and lemongrass, and turn up the heat a little. Stir and smell it – it will start to change from the smell of raw garlic and spices to roasted ones. As it turns dark red, add the stock cube and the palm sugar – it will melt and become even darker and richer. Add the sweet potato and the fish sauce, then stir until coated in the paste. Add the coconut milk and 200ml water . Stir, bring to the boil , then turn down to a simmer and cook for 12 mins.

Meanwhile, mix the coriander, beansprouts and chilli. Cook and drain the noodles following pack instructions, then tip into in a large serving bowl. Taste the curry and season with some more fish sauce or sweeten with a little sugar if necessary. Turn up the heat and bring to the boil, then tip the chicken into the sauce. Return to the boil and simmer for 5-7 mins.

Remove the lemongrass, then spoon the chicken over the noodles and sprinkle with the coriander, chilli and beansprout s to serve.