Prawn Red Thai Curry

Prawn Red Thai Curry – I got some delicious king prawns from Peterhead Fish Company this week {gifted} and so decided to make one of my favourites: a Prawn Red Thai Curry ! Thai curry has that amazing thing of being hot, sweet and sour all at the same time. This is best achieved by using authentic ingredients and of course making your own paste. Making your own paste is cheaper, healthier and so easy! It will also keep in the fridge for a good couple of weeks or you can freeze it for months. My favourite Thai ingredient has to be kaffir lime leaves. There are no substitutes to the unique flavour and I encourage you to get some for this recipe! The best place in Aberdeen to source Asian ingredients is Matthews Foods , an Asian supermarket right next to the Manchurian restaurant. It has so many treasures and is really cheap! I’ve used birds eye chilli to get it really hot but I know not everyone like it hot- simply use a milder red chilli- usually the bigger the chilli, the milder it is.

If you liked my Prawn Red Thai Curry then try out my recipe for Prawn Tandoori Curry

RECIPE

SERVES 2

Difficulty Level: Rookie

Ingredients:

For the paste:

• 2 red birds eye chillis
• 1 stick of lemongrass (peel the outer 2 layers and roughly chop the inside)
• 3 cloves of garlic
• 1 shallot
• Thumb size piece of galangal or ginger
• Teaspoon white pepper
• Teaspoon of both coriander seeds and cumin seeds, toasted for a couple minutes in a dry pan
• 2 tablespoons fish sauce
• Teaspoon shrimp paste
• Tablespoon palm sugar
• Teaspoon salt
• Around 20 prawns, cooked or raw
• Tin of coconut milk
• 5 lime leaves
• 8 baby sweet corn, halved
• Half a red pepper, finely sliced
• Half an aubergine, cut into cubes
• Thai basil, to serve (optional)
• Coconut rice to serve (see recipe here)
• Olive oil

Method:

1. Make the paste. Put all the ingredients in a pestle and mortar or in a food processor and blend until smooth.
2. Make the rice. Recipe here
3. In a large frying pan, drizzle a little olive oil and add the paste. Fry for a few minutes over a medium heat until fragrant and then add the coconut milk and kaffir lime leaves.
4. Add the pepper, aubergine and baby sweet corn to the pan and simmer until the vegetables are soft.
5. Taste the sauce and adjust to your liking: add more fish sauce for a sour taste, sugar for sweetness, white pepper for heat or fresh or dried chilli for more spice.
6. Add the prawns and cook until pink if raw, or warm through for just a minute or so if cooked.
7. Serve the Prawn Red Thai Curry in bowls with the coconut rice topped with toasted coconut. Scatter over some Thai basil.

Tips

• Make double or triple the paste amount and keep in the fridge for a few weeks or freeze. You can use it straight from the freezer.
• Swap the prawns out for chicken or go vegetarian and add more vegetables for a vegan curry.
• The sauce should be thin and soup-like
• Buy speciality Asian ingredients in Aberdeen at Matthews Foods . Ingredients such as Thai basil, palm sugar, kaffir lime leaves and Thai chillies will make all the difference to your dish.