Nothing soothes me more than when my face is submerged in a bowl of seafood.
Calming, healing, comforting, sometimes spicy enough to peel the skin from your skull, but always reassuring.
The calm reassurance of a bowl of Thai fragranced seafood for me, comes in two parts. The first part being the fresh, herbal yet suspiciously warm hit of the ingredients, but secondly due to the simplicity of the method.
Now the ease of this recipe borders on the embarrassing, but I’ve made a promise to myself to that I will never apologise for simplicity.
This recipe was the product of being in between craves. I wanted the heat, familiarity and comfort of a curry but I wanted a thinner, spoon-fed consistency and I did not want a long list of ingredients. Furthermore, I did not want the nursery of a soup. I needed something in between. So with Thai Green Curry Paste in the fridge and a smile on my face, here came the recipe.
I also don’t want to peg this meal on the authentic. I have always had grip with anointing a recipe as being authentic so despite my nerve to preface the title with Thai, please note that this is absolutely not a Thai recipe, but more a divine inspiration.
In a frying pan, pour in some flavourless oil. Into this cold oil, grate a clove of garlic, a small thumbsize piece of ginger and the zest of a lime.
Now grab a green chilli and using the tip if a knife, pierce it all over. This is trick I learned from my Queen Nigella for when you want to infuse your dish with heat but don’t want to set the whole thing ablaze. This is exactly what I want here. Throw the piercing chilli in the oil.
Put the pan on the hob and heat until everything is sizzling.
Now add a big dollop of Thai Green Curry Paste and stir into the ingredients until it begins to soften, liquidise and let out it’s oils. Once everything is bubbling gently, pour in about ¾ cup of coconut water. I get mine by buying a can of coconut milk and once it’s opened, I gently prod the thick cream at the top and move it over until I get to the creamy water underneath. I just put this in.
Side note – chuck the thick creamy coconut on the top of the can in the fridge overnight and then blitz it up with some almond milk and frozen pineapple for a really decadent Coconut & Pineapple Smoothie.
Anyway back to the Thai. Bubble the coconut on a high heat and once it’s aggressively bubbling, turn it down to a simmer and stir for a bit until everything combines.
Now put a sieve over a big jug and pour the frying pan contents over the sieve. Throw away the garlic/ginger bits and keep the pierced chili. Pour the clear, syrupy green Thai liquor back into the frying pan along with the pierced chilli and keep hot on a low heat.
Throw in a handful of cooked prawns and some freshly chopped coriander and keep on the heat just long enough to warm the prawns through but not too long or the prawns will shrink to nothingness.
Pour everything in a big bowl with another scattering of fresh coriander. You could serve this up with a big tangle of noodles or a bulging bowl of brown rice but I like to just attack this with some chopsticks or a spoon.
MIKEY AND THE KITCHEN. 