"Thai Prawn Curry" - An illustrated guide...
Discussion
Following on from the "photo of your dinner" thread, I have decided to post up this step by step guide of my favourite ever dish. I can't tell you how addicted I am to eating this, it just tastes divine. Anyone can make it, the secret of the flavour is in the proportions of ingredients.
Firstly, here is what you will need. The picture shows everything that will be used other than good old salt and pepper:
The Ingredients
(quantities of which can vary depending on how much you want to make)
-Tin(s)Coconut Milk
-Pataks Madras or Vindaloo Curry Paste
-Fresh Garlic Clove
-Barts Ginger
-Barts Chilli
-Fresh Red Bird Eye Chilli's
-Fresh Coriander
-Lime(s)
-Prawns (ideally grey to cook in the sauce, but you can use cooked)
-White Basmati Rice
-Salt and Pepper
Method
Firstly sort your garlic out by crushing the clove into a wok. I love garlic so will use an entire clove, but you can do less if your not mad on garlic.
Once this is done, simply add the following ingredients into the wok to accompany the garlic; Bart Ginger, Bart Chilli, Curry Paste and some pepper. The photo shows the proportions I have used of each. Squeeze the lime(s) into the mix aswell being generous with the juice.
The curry paste is the key though, too little and the dish won't have any depth, too much and you can spoil the coconut milk altogether.
Once you have added all these together, add a little heat and stir it all up adding more pepper and a touch of salt. This is the base of the dish which you will add the coconut milk to. Stir it on some heat for around a minute. All you want is to infuse the mixture, not cook it, so easy on the heat. It will end up like this:
Now it is time to add the coconut milk. Add with heat off. If you feel you have too much paste then simply spoon some out and put it in a side dish. It is easy to add later, but once in you can't take it out. I just about got away with what I used with 3 tins of coconut milk.
Once the milk is added, turn the heat on and stir well for a couple of minutes. Turn heat off once done.
In a perfect world it should look like this once strirred and warmed through. The paste slightly bubbles red against the milk. It should also smell great now.
Now, take your Coriander and chop it into the mixture, stirring again:
Have a pan of water on the side ready for the rice and you should basiclly be there. Whenever you want to eat the meal, all that is left to do is to warm the mixture through and add the prawns, which takes the same time as cooking the rice. The mixture can be left for hours if you want to pre prepare.
Have your prawns ready to go in a bowl. Add them to the sauce around 2 minutes prior to serving when the sauce is piping hot. Make sure you stir the sauce regularly when heating. Chop the brid eye chillis into a small side dish ready to sprinkle onto the plate of food.
There. Thats it! Serve the curry with a ladle and the rice with a strained ladle, and always go back for seconds! I will be eating mine soon
Firstly, here is what you will need. The picture shows everything that will be used other than good old salt and pepper:
The Ingredients
(quantities of which can vary depending on how much you want to make)
-Tin(s)Coconut Milk
-Pataks Madras or Vindaloo Curry Paste
-Fresh Garlic Clove
-Barts Ginger
-Barts Chilli
-Fresh Red Bird Eye Chilli's
-Fresh Coriander
-Lime(s)
-Prawns (ideally grey to cook in the sauce, but you can use cooked)
-White Basmati Rice
-Salt and Pepper
Method
Firstly sort your garlic out by crushing the clove into a wok. I love garlic so will use an entire clove, but you can do less if your not mad on garlic.
Once this is done, simply add the following ingredients into the wok to accompany the garlic; Bart Ginger, Bart Chilli, Curry Paste and some pepper. The photo shows the proportions I have used of each. Squeeze the lime(s) into the mix aswell being generous with the juice.
The curry paste is the key though, too little and the dish won't have any depth, too much and you can spoil the coconut milk altogether.
Once you have added all these together, add a little heat and stir it all up adding more pepper and a touch of salt. This is the base of the dish which you will add the coconut milk to. Stir it on some heat for around a minute. All you want is to infuse the mixture, not cook it, so easy on the heat. It will end up like this:
Now it is time to add the coconut milk. Add with heat off. If you feel you have too much paste then simply spoon some out and put it in a side dish. It is easy to add later, but once in you can't take it out. I just about got away with what I used with 3 tins of coconut milk.
Once the milk is added, turn the heat on and stir well for a couple of minutes. Turn heat off once done.
In a perfect world it should look like this once strirred and warmed through. The paste slightly bubbles red against the milk. It should also smell great now.
Now, take your Coriander and chop it into the mixture, stirring again:
Have a pan of water on the side ready for the rice and you should basiclly be there. Whenever you want to eat the meal, all that is left to do is to warm the mixture through and add the prawns, which takes the same time as cooking the rice. The mixture can be left for hours if you want to pre prepare.
Have your prawns ready to go in a bowl. Add them to the sauce around 2 minutes prior to serving when the sauce is piping hot. Make sure you stir the sauce regularly when heating. Chop the brid eye chillis into a small side dish ready to sprinkle onto the plate of food.
There. Thats it! Serve the curry with a ladle and the rice with a strained ladle, and always go back for seconds! I will be eating mine soon
, I won't ask how many pictures you took to choose those.
Dizeee said:
Im sure it can be improved upon, I have never tried lemongrass, might give it ago next time. All I know is I love it...
if you do don't cut it, break it with the flat edge of the knife as you need to bruise it to get the flavour out - take it out before serving and you can add some kaffir lime leaves to garnishit's worth trying raw prawns and de-vaining them too
bishbash said:
What's that bart's ginger stuff? Is it just crushed ginger in a jar, if so wouldn't it be better to use fresh, and as fresh ginger costs next to nothing probably cheaper too.
I know, but the crushed stuff in a jar is a good substitute when you're in a hurry. I use it a lot. Mainly because I am lazy...OnTheOverrun said:
Looks excellent, but pouring coconut milk into a madras doesn't make it Thai.
It needs a paste made from lemongrass, fish sauce, galangal, lime leaves, thai basil, shrimp paste, palm sugar and some kaffir lime skin.
Exactly what I was about to say!It needs a paste made from lemongrass, fish sauce, galangal, lime leaves, thai basil, shrimp paste, palm sugar and some kaffir lime skin.
If you want to use ready-made curry-paste (and I do, a lot of the time, as during the week I've not the time to stand there making it from scratch), then:-
- Red Dragon do some good (if spicy!) Thai pastes (have seen Red, Green and Yellow)
- Asda (!) do a very passable (& less-spicy) Green-curry paste, although you do need to add some other fresh ingredients to make the curry properly aromatic.
For a quick "in the pan" Giang Kiew Wan Gai for 2 people, I use:-
~5 heaped teaspoons Asda Green curry paste
1 red chilli, de-seeded and sliced thinly
1-2 'broken' lemongrass stalks depending on size
some grated/crushed fresh ginger (& garlic if desired)
~250-300ml coconut milk
2 small chicken breasts, diced
Pea- or round-aubergines (~plum-sized), if you can find them. Alternatively 1 green pepper, diced, or some Mange-Tout would do - any suitable fry-able green veg to give colour and some texture to the dish would do!
Small handful Thai basil or kaffir-lime leaves (if I've got them to hand)
Prep time ~15-20 minutes.
Cooking time ~10 minutes.
havoc said:
- Red Dragon do some good (if spicy!) Thai pastes (have seen Red, Green and Yellow)
- Asda (!) do a very passable (& less-spicy) Green-curry paste, although you do need to add some other fresh ingredients to make the curry properly aromatic.
Tesco do a red or green one too both able to produce much better results than premade sauces from a jar.- Asda (!) do a very passable (& less-spicy) Green-curry paste, although you do need to add some other fresh ingredients to make the curry properly aromatic.
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