Thai curry means coconut milk, lemon grass, kaffir lime leaves, ginger and coriander, and that’s for starters! This recipe has all of these and more. It tastes wonderful and is stupidly easy to cook.

As it is a real life recipe you won’t see the scarily white coconut milk in the picture. The mushrooms ‘muscle-in’ in terms of colouring a recipe and after all this is real food with real photos.

Broadly speaking as there are so many vegetables in this recipe (8 to be exact!) it’s safe to say there are lots of vitamins, minerals and beneficial phytonutrients. This also means good levels of fibre. There is protein in the veg in the lentils of course and a smidgeon in the rice.

Don’t be put off by the list of ingredients, it is very simple to put together. The amounts given for the spices are guides. Chillies vary so much, so do ask when buying how hot (or not!) they are. Plus you can add more of any particular flavour you enjoy. Have a play; it’s your curry!

Prep time: Lots of chopping so around 15 minutes Don’t forget to put the brown rice on first (around 40 minutes).
Cook time: If the rice goes on before prepping around 40 minutes all in all.

Ingredients for 4

  • 1 Dessertspoon Coconut butter (try to use this, it adds to the flavour)
  • 2 Onions, chopped
  • 2 Large flat Mushrooms, peeled, and roughly chopped
  • 2 Red Chillies, deseeded and finely chopped
  • 1 Dessertspoon of Ginger, finely chopped or grated (which is better) (fresh or frozen)
  • Lemon grass, 4 – 5 stalks 2 cm long or a couple of whole ones.
  • 1 Dessertspoon of Kaffir Lime leaves, chopped frozen , or 1 heaped teaspoon of dried kaffir leaves
  • 1 Large can of Coconut Milk 400 ml
  • 250 ml Water
  • 4 Cloves Garlic, crushed
  • 1- 2 Dessertspoon of Coriander, finely chopped fresh or frozen
  • 1 Teaspoon Bouillon powder
  • 1 Large can of ready cooked Lentils, rinse off and drain
  • Some fresh coriander leaves for decoration
  • Fresh vegetables, we used:
  • 6 Flat Beans, chopped
  • 6 – 8 Green Beans, chopped into smaller lengths
  • Small Purple Kohlrabi, peeled and diced
  • 4 – 6 Baby corn chopped into quarters (just not too small)

Method

  1. If you are using brown rice, put this on first as per manufacture’s instructions.
  2. Melt a dessertspoon of coconut butter in an open pan. You can use cold pressed rapeseed oil.
  3. Turn up the heat but not so that it is smoking hot. Cook and soften the onions, mushroom and chillies for 5 minutes.
  4. Then add the ginger, lemon grass, kaffir lime leaves,and cook for a few minutes, keeping everything moving.
  5. Add the coconut milk and 250 mls of water,garlic, chopped coriander and a teaspoon of bouillon powder and maintain a simmer (not boiling).
  6. Keep a gentle simmer and add the chopped veg: Flat beans, green beans , kohlrabi, baby corns, and the can of lentils.
  7. Put a lid over the pan so that the steam can escape and simmer for around 15 minutes depending upon how crunchy you like your veg.
  8. Serve with some fresh sprigs of coriander and brown rice.

N.B. Remove the lemon grass at the end of cooking, either yourself or leave your guests to find them!