Jill's Quick Vegetarian Thai Curry

Ingredients

 1 can coconut milk

Red Thai Curry paste (see below)*

1 can chickpeas - drained

1 or 2 stalks of lemon grass - cut into 2 or 3 pieces and 'bruised'

4 - 6 Kaffir lime leaves - scrunched to release flavour

Piece of fresh ginger about size of tip of thumb - finely chopped

Thai fish sauce

Palm sugar or brown sugar

1 pack of stir fry vegetables

 * difficult to gauge amount as I like quite a kick and use about a heaped dessert spoon full.  You might start with a teaspoon full and taste and add as you like.

Method

·       Empty coconut milk into wok or frying pan.  Add some water to tin (about a third) and rinse out then add to pan too!

·       Add curry paste, lemon grass, lime leaves and ginger.  Bring to boil and then simmer for 5 - 10 mins.

·       Add vegetables and chickpeas and continue to simmer for another 10 mins.  

·       Towards the end of the cooking time add 1 scant dessert spoon of fish sauce and a small teaspoon of palm or brown sugar.  Taste and adjust.  Be careful with the fish sauce, it's powerful stuff!

Serve with something like brown basmati rice, which you need to start cooking as you start the curry as it takes 25 minutes.

TIP - Milton Produce, behind the Co-Op at Bailiffs Cross keeps an extensive range of Thai products.