My 'Mean Thai Green Curry'

My blog got it's 1000th hit today so to celebrate that i will be posting the recipe of something that is so close to my heart and my most favorite of  all curries. No, i am not talking about India this time, it's the Thai Curry that i am talking about. I absolutely love Thai food. The flavors are fresh  and so delicious. They took their inspiration from two culinary giants in the world, China and India and came up with this absolutely delicious and fragrant Cuisine which made it's mark all across the world map. At the same time, it's not complicated or time taking to make this curry. I am going vegetarian today but meat lovers feel free to add meat of your choice or seafood even.Before we get into the ingredients , i would like to thank that some one who keeps following my blog in Russia very often. I do not know who you are but thanks a lot for being my regular follower and i hope that you are liking it.

Ingredients for the Curry Paste( to make 4 portions)...

Spring Onions-4

Ginger- 2 inch piece

Garlic- 4 cloves

Lemon Grass- 2 sticks

Lime Leaves- 5

Basil Leaves- 20

Coriander Leaves- 1/2 bunch

Galangal(if you could get hold of it its ok if you cant)- 5 pieces

Green Chillies- 2

Limes-2(juiced)

Coriander powder-1 tbsp

Cumin Powder- 1 tbsp

Light Brown Sugar/ honey/ caster Sugar- 2 tsp

cut all the ingredients into small pieces( except powder,sugar and limes) and blend them all in the food blender adding a bit of water to make a fine paste.As simple as that.

For the Curry....

Baby Corn- 4 nos

Brocolli- 200 gms

Mushrooms- 100 gms

Red Peppers -100 gms

Cherry Tomatoes- 6 -8

This is just my idea of veggies, you can add any other vegetables that you like. 

Thick Coconut milk-400 ml

Salt- to taste

I also used a little bit of pak Choi lettuce but then you can replace it with spinach or any leafy veggies of your choice.

This is how i do it......

Heat the wok with some oil in it. Once the work is very hot add all the vegetables(except for the leafy ones) and quickly stir-fry them for about 3 minutes.

Remember! Never over cook the vegetables or cook them till very soft. They still have to be crisp when you bite into them. 

Once the veggies are stir-fried add the green curry paste and cook it along the veggies for about 5 mins until the ginger and garlic in the curry paste does not taste raw anymore.

Then get the green leafy vegetables into the wok and then lower the flame and fry for about 30 seconds.

Then, its time for that creamy coconut milk to jump into the wok.

Once, the cocnut milk it is, simmer the heat and just bring the curry to a slow simmer which would take about 2 mins.

Time for the salt  and a final tasting and if you are happy...DONE!

The cooking part will not take more than 10 mins and the prep not more than 15 . So, in less than half an hour you can make an absolutely fragrant, fresh and delicious Thai Green Curry. If you want you can make the curry paste in big quantity and freeze it and what you need to do next time is just cook of the meat/seafood/vegetables and add the curry paste and finish it off with coconut milk which will take you not more than 15 minutes. Fresh and healthy and quick and easy as i always like my recipes to it.

I am a regular to Thai Restaurants and have tried Thai Green Curry wherever i went but it's only when i cooked it myself i realised how different is the freshly  ground paste to the one that we get in a jar from a store.

Try it and you will know what i am talking about.

HAPPY COOKING!!!!

Curried Chicken and Sweet Pepper Roll

This dish, I  had to make it in a rush as me and my flat mate were starving and wanted something easy and delicious. All we had was some Chicken, Spinach , Sweet Peppers, Onions, Ginger, Garlic , Spices and Tortilla wraps. I thought of Chicken Curry to begin with but then i wanted to use all that fresh veggies and herbs in the fridge and empty it out. So, i decided to go for tortilla wraps instead of rice and curry and have a bit of Mexican influence but chapatis or parathas work great too. To this i added some mint yogurt as a cooling agent. Without wasting any more time let's get the party started.

What do we need.....

Chicken Thighs -4
Red Onion sliced-1
Tomato sliced-2
Red Chili chopped-1
Red,yellow and green peppers-200g
Baby Spinach leaves- 20
Coriander leaves-2 stalks
Mint leaves- 2 stalks
Yogurt- 100 ml
salt -to taste

Chicken Rub....
Coriander Powder-1tsp
Cumin Powder- 1 tsp
Turmeric Powder-a pinch
Ginger and Garlic Paste-15gm
Mix these ingredients well and rub the chicken with the marinade.
Chop some mint, add it to yogurt and mix well.Keep it in the fridge.
What do we do..
Get a frying pan on the stove.Get some oil.
When the oil is hot add red chilies and onions.(save a few slices for garnish)
Cook till onions become soft and transparent.
Add the peppers and half cook them.
Add tomato slices( save some for garnish).
Now, what we do is something different than normal. Push all the veggies in the pan to a side so that you have a half empty pan and then drop the chicken in that empty half, just like in the photo.

Get some Coriander leaves on the pepper-onion mix.
The chicken cooks in the juices that came out of the pepper and onion mix and take in all that flavors.
Turn the chicken from time to time ensuring that all the pieces are in contact with heat and they are not sticking to the pan.
It will take not more than 5-6 mins to cook the chicken.
During this 5 minutes get the tortilla wrap and heat it up on a pan for about a minute.You can use Chapatis too.Left over chapatis and curry can be used to make these amazing rolls too.Then, we start building the roll.

In the center, we spread spinach leaves first (any lettuce can be used as substitute) and then we lay some tomato and onion slices on spinach. Think of colors when you build this roll. Green, red, white and then some mixed peppers that have been cooked in then pan. It's a riot of colors on the tortilla.Then ,cut the chicken thighs in half and rest them on the pepper mix.

The final ingredients to go on them will be a nice spoonful of mint yogurt and coriander leaves.
That will be the lovely filling and all we have to do now is roll it.Make sure you fold the sides in when you are rolling so that nothing of that good stuff runs out of the roll.
Get the roll on a cutting board and then cut it in half on an angle.Get the rolls on the plate and just one last thing that's left to do and that is 'EAT'. There will be a burst of different colors and flavors all in one single roll and you just cant beat it.It had meat, veggies, yogurt, herbs, salad and a whole wheat tortilla. Everything that your tummy needs , just in 20 minutes.

Buy local, try international....

It's almost the end of Summer and there is one event that i look forward to every year at this time of the year. Yes, it's the weekend of 'Brighton and Hove Food and Drink Festival'. It's the time where all the best local produce gets displayed by the local farmers and at the same time the most famous restaurants that serve not just British food but also International food supporting the local produce and farmers also get to show off their talent.This year they even had a separate venue to organize 'Kids food festival' and i think this is just great. I emphasize so much on parents getting kids involved when it comes to cooking and food. They need to be educated on what's good food and what's not so good. So, having a kids food festival and parents bringing their kids to it is an amazing sight. I really appreciate all the restaurants and local suppliers who took time to have their stalls up to educate and entertain kids and wonderful that the organizers did not let any fast food junk chains to have their stalls there.


Now, supporting your local farmers and buying local produce is not really a new concept. This is being done for centuries now and even before the money exsisted. Local farmers always exchanged their produce in return of something else from other farmers which was called 'Barter System'. Coming back to where we are at the moment  there has been lack of this support a few years ago when big super market giants completely took over the market and farmers had to face a really tough competition.Shopping at a supermarket became more fashionable for a lot of reasons.Luckily the council realized how important it is too keep the local producers in the business for a number of reasons and started organizing such events.Some of the main reasons are the local produce is fresh, brought and sold in the market almost same day. Next, they create employment opportunities when their business is supported by all the restaurants and hotels.Other important reason would be that the crop is seasonal and keeps changing accordingly and helps the chefs to think out of the box and create new dishes on the menu with seasonal produce.Main reason being it helps the environment a lot.

Me with Rachida,supervisor at The Chilli Pickle

 Coming to the restaurants, there was a lot of participation from Brighton's best international restaurants. The Chilli Picke (where i used to work before) is not just Brighton's best Indian but i would say entire south of UK if we exclude London.Last year we did some live cooking shows as part of the festival but i wanted us to have a stall there to give the crowd a glimpse of the restaurant and the food. But it did not happen. This year they went ahead and had a food stall and it was really good to see them as a part of the festival.Because i worked at The Chilli Pickle before i know for sure that all our vegetable , dairy, fish and meat suppliers are local.They supply every single day and the produce is all so fresh. This is one reason why the menu keeps changing so many times at the restaurant because of the seasonal availability.
The suppliers are so easily accessible as well when they are local and used to bring us the supply even at a short notice. That's a great advantage as well.These days if you see any good restaurant menu, they always mention where does the meat come from, the fish and the vegetables as well.The chefs take pride in doing that as this is to let the customers know that everything comes fresh which is a great marketing technique to pull more customers.Half of the battle is won when the supply is fresh.

Many more famous restaurants like Moshi Moshi, Sabai ,Wagamama, Terre a Terre , Carluccio's and many more that serve food form all over the world also took part in this event and extended their supply to the local producers and suppliers.The relationship between the restaurants, local suppliers and farmers is like hand-in-glove.You support them and in return they supply you with best seasonal availability.
No matter i work for an International Brand or just one restaurant that served best International food , I always and will always support local shops and visit more often than a super market. That doesn't mean that i will just try local food. I love what world has to offer when it comes to food but it always tastes best when the fresh local produce is used. So......BUY LOCAL AND TRY INTERNATIONAL.