With this recipe, you can do away with those jars of green Thai curry paste! I know it requires some ingredients which aren’t necessarily part of your weekly shop, but if you can find an Asian supermarket in your area you should be able to get your hands on them. It’s aromatic, packed full of veg and given a hit of protein with a few pieces of chicken. We’re always being told to eat less meat and it’s something I have taken into account in my diet. Since being at uni and being able to cook for myself I have experimented a lot more with vegetarian cooking. I, like many people, used to think food without meat would be like a song without a chorus. But I found quite the opposite and I now have meat-based dishes only if there’s something I particularly want to make or if I’m out for a meal. However, meat is such a great source of protein, and I now go to the gym so it’s important to keep up my protein intake. From a health perspective, then, lean meat every now and then (no more than two times a week) is a key part of a healthy diet. As it only needs one chicken breast and they tend to be sold in packs of two as a minimum, keep it in the fridge or freezer and keep an eye out for another Flavours of Frankie recipe to use it up…

BUT if you’re vegetarian/vegan then by all means make this recipe without the chicken.

Serves 2.

Equipment

• Blender

Ingredients

For the curry paste:

• 1 stick of lemongrass
• 8-10 kaffir lime leaves
• 3cm piece fresh ginger, chopped
• 1 tsp coriander seed
• 1 onion, chopped
• 3 cloves garlic
• 1 green chilli (or as much as you like. Green Thai curry is traditionally quite spicy so they probably use even more than 1. Take the seeds out if you want to make it even milder)
• 1 tbsp coconut oil
• 1 tsp salt

For the curry:

• 2 carrots, chopped
• half a sweet potato
• 1 pepper, red or yellow or a combination of both
• half a courgette
• 1 chicken breast, cut into small chunks
• 1 tin of coconut milk
• fresh coriander and lime to serve

Method

To make the paste, put all the ingredients in a blender and whizz until as smooth as it’ll get. This will keep in the fridge for a while, and you could probably freeze it too!

For the curry itself, drizzle some oil into a large frying pan and add the veg. Cover and turn to a medium heat, stirring regularly to make sure nothing gets burnt. This is the quickest way for cooking the veg while keeping all the flavour in, but if you have more time try stir frying them without the lid on for about twice the amount of time.

After about 5 minutes, or until the veg has begun to take on some colour, stir in a tablespoon of the curry paste. If you want a particularly rich curry you can use a bit more of the paste – experiment and find out what suits you best! Fry for a further 2 minutes.

Next, add the coconut milk. Throw in the chicken, making sure it’s all covered in all the lovely coconut goodness. Cover and cook for about 5-7 minutes. Turn off the heat and serve with Thai Jasmine rice, fresh coriander and a squeeze of lime.