Thai green chicken curry

There are dozens of variations on the ‘ best ‘ Thai green curry but one more isn’t going to hurt, so take a look at how I make mine. Prior to me visiting Thailand, I had never tasted a green curry because I am generally not a fan of creamy curries and sauces but after trying it for the first time, I have not looked back. The consistency of Thai curries is generally not too thick but I like to cook mine for a little longer so the sauce reduces slightly. I always use chicken thighs for my recipe to give extra depth the flavour, rather than chicken breast that can sometimes taste bland. If you are a breast only person then simply replace the thighs with 4 chicken breasts cut into large strips and reduce cooking time by half an hour.

Most supermarkets stock all of the ingredients you need but I always buy my spices and other hard to find ingredients from http://www.mattas.co.uk/. At Mattas you can but large bags of spices at least half the price of what you will pay in the supermarket plus you can get frozen Kaffir lime leaves, which do give a fresher flavour to the curry.

So, grab yourself a beer and start cooking

Ingredients

Serves 3-4

800g chicken thighs, with or without skin

2 tbs olive oil

2 lemongrass stalks

4 inch piece of fresh ginger or galangal (I prefer ginger)

2 fresh green chillies

2 medium shallots

2 cloves of garlic

1 tsp chilli powder

½ tsp cumin powder

½ tsp coriander seeds

1tbs dried Thai basil leaves

1 tbs fish sauce

1tbs palm sugar (replace with brown sugar if you cannot get palm sugar)

1 fresh lime

1 large tin of coconut milk

1 large green pepper, sliced

¾ pint chicken stock (just use ½ pint if you prefer a runnier sauce)

6 fresh kaffir lime leaves (replace with 10 dry leaves if you cannot get fresh)

Small bunch of fresh coriander

Method

1. First of all prepare your curry paste by adding the following ingredients into a blender and whizz until ingredients are fully combined and there are no large chunks:

1 chilli, garlic, roughly chopped ginger, roughly chopped shallots, chopped lemongrass, cumin, coriander seeds and half of the fresh coriander, sugar, basil leaves, chilli powder, 1 tbs of the oil and the fish sauce

2. In a large casserole dish add the oil and fry the chicken thighs until starting to brown. There will be a lot of fat and juice coming out of the thighs so take out the thighs, drain the pan and then put them back in. Don’t worry there will still be lots of juice that will come out when simmering, to give flavour to the sauce  If you are using chicken breast pieces just fry quickly for a minute or two to add some colour. I have tried basting the chicken with the paste before cooking but I always like adding some good colour and draining fat from chicken first of all.

3. Once the chicken has started to gain colour, add the sliced pepper to the pan and cook until starting to soften and gain a little colour.

4. Now, add in your curry paste and cook for a couple of minutes before adding your chicken stock and simmer 15 minutes

5. Turn down the heat and add in your coconut milk and lime leaves, stir and leave to simmer with lid for an hour. If using chicken breasts then you will only need to cook for half an hour.

6. If required, take of the lid and let some of the liquid evaporate to give a thicker sauce. Add in the juice of one lime and the remaining fresh coriander and give a little stir before serving with rice.

Spanish Chicken

I love Spanish food, particularly tucking into traditional tapas dishes, so you can get a taste of everything without getting too full. Tapas can take up a little bit of time and is great for dinner parties but to get the all the flavours of Spain in one pot, this casserole hits the spot for me. A simple, hearty dish, that can be prepared within half an hour and then be left in the oven for a couple of hours whilst you put your feet up or, more likely, get on with the housework. I love this dish because most of the ingredients can be found in your fridge or store cupboard and it is a great way of using up bits and bobs. For me, chicken thighs are much tastier ( and a lot cheaper ) but you can substitute with chicken breast if that is your preference but you will need to reduce the cooking time. I usually serve this dish with plain boiled basmati rice but it also goes well with potatoes.

Ingredients

Serves 4

800g chicken thighs, with skin left on

2 tbs olive Oil for frying

1 small chorizo sausages (approx 120g), sliced

1 large red pepper

1 large yellow pepper

1 red chilli, de-seeded

2-3 cloves of garlic

1 tsp dried oregano

1 tin of tomatoes

1.5 tbs smoked paprika

1 Medium onion

1.5 pints chicken stock

2 bay leaves

75g green olives

125ml white wine

25ml sherry vinegar

Handful of fresh parsley to serve

Method

1. Heat the oil in a casserole dish and fry the chicken until golden brown
2. Add in the chorizo and cook until browned
3. Add in peppers, onion and chilli and cook until softened
4. Add in garlic, paprika and oregano and stir
5. Now add in the wine, sherry vinegar, tomatoes and chicken stock, stir and simmer until hot
6. Place lid on dish and cook in a pre-heated oven at 180 degrees ( gas mark 4) for one hour
7. Remove dish from oven, add in the olives and return to oven for a further half hour. If the sauce looks as if it is drying up add in a cup of water also.
8. Add chopped parsley and serve

If you are in Liverpool and fancy some great Spanish food then check out http://www.lunya.co.uk/index.php or http://www.tapastapas.co.uk/

Spiced carrot soup

I really have to be in the mood for soup, it’s not something that I cook often but this quick and simple soup definitely hits the spot when I need a little chilli kick. I often use a lot of spices in my food so always have a good stock of fresh and dried, which comes in handy when I have leftover carrots from my veg bag (I get my veg bag from the brilliant http://www.windmillorganic.co.uk/ ). So if you need a simple lunch and have nothing in the fridge the follow my simple recipe and enjoy.

Ingredients

1tbs Olive oil

1 small onion, chopped

1 clove garlic, crushed

1 whole red chilli, finely diced (If you don’t like your food too hot then take out seeds)

1lb carrots, roughly chopped

1tsp ground cumin

1tsp ground coriander

½ tsp ground cinnamon

2.5 pints of vegetable stock

Small bunch of fresh coriander

Salt and black pepper

Method

1. Using a medium sized saucepan, fry the onions and carrots in the oil until onions start to soften
2. Add in ground spices, chilli and garlic and stir
3. Add in the vegetable stock and half of the fresh coriander, once the water is brought to boil simmer for around 20 minutes until carrots are tender
4. Carefully blend the soup either in a blender or with hand blender, be careful as the soup will be very hot so I always prefer to use a blender and do it in two batches
5. Return to pan and add in remaining fresh coriander, season and bring to desired heat.

I don’t like my soup too thick so, if you do prefer your soup thicker, you may want to reduce to just 2 pints of vegetable stock. This soup can be served with any type of bread really but I have just tried Dan Leopards’ Walnut bread, from his book ‘short and sweet’. Buy Dan’s book or visit his website http://www.danlepard.com/ for some delicious recipes and great easy to follow methods to give you great tasting bread.