Thai Red Curry with Prawns

Ingredients

• 3 tbsp Thai red curry paste
• 400 ml full-fat coconut milk
• 1 tbsp oil
• 400 g raw prawns, peeled
• 1 red pepper, sliced
• 150 g green beans, halved
• 2 tbsp fish sauce
• 2 tsp palm or brown sugar
• juice of 1 lime
• 4 lime leaves, torn
• a handful of Thai basil

Method

1. Split the coconut cream

   Spoon the thick cream from the top of the tin into a hot pan and cook until it splits and the oil rises. Shaking the tin first is the common mistake — you need it separated.

   4 min

2. Fry the paste

   Add the oil and the curry paste and fry in the split cream until it darkens and smells fragrant rather than raw. This step is most of the flavour.

   3 min

3. Build the sauce

   Pour in the rest of the coconut milk, add the lime leaves, pepper and beans, and simmer until the vegetables are just tender.

   7 min

4. Add the prawns

   Slip in the prawns and cook only until they turn opaque and curl loosely. A tight curl means they are overdone.

   3 min

5. Balance it

   Season with fish sauce, sugar and lime, then taste. Thai curry is a balance of salty, sweet, sour and hot — adjust until no single one dominates.

6. Serve

   Tear in the basil off the heat and serve with jasmine rice.