Prawn Thai red curry

I have to admit that the last few times I've made Thai curry, I've bought the curry paste rather than making it. However, I would keep thinking of the time when I did make the paste at home and how much more I had enjoyed the taste. It had also given me a great sense of accomplishment to have made something so tasty completely from scratch! So I made a list of the ingredients and got everything I needed to make the paste. The tricky part is making sure you have all the ingredients as some of these just aren't the same if substituted - e.g galangal - so do try to find authentic Thai ingredients if possible. These should be available in most supermarkets these days. 

I made a prawn curry because I absolutely love love love prawns but you could use chicken, fish or make a vegetarian curry using courgette, baby corn, snow peas, aubergine etc.

Ingredients

200 gms raw prawns, shelled and cleaned
1 tbsp coconut oil
1 400g can of coconut milk
1/2 tsp sugar

6 tbsp of the red Thai paste (See below for recipe)

Salt to taste

Coriander to garnish

For the red Thai paste

8-10 dry red chillies 
1 tbsp white peppercorns
1/2 tsp cumin 
1/2 tsp coriander seeds
1 tbsp galangal paste
2 tsp lemongrass paste
4 small shallots 
3-4 keffir lime leaves
5 to 6 sprigs of coriander (leaves with stems)
1/2 tsp fish sauce (you can skip this if you're making a pure vegetarian version)  

10 – 12 cloves of garlic

The paste can be stored in the refrigerator for a few days.

Method

Grind all the paste ingredients together until combined, to form a paste. Keep aside.

In a pan, heat the coconut oil and fry the paste for a couple of minutes until the divine aroma starts wafting about.

Add the coconut milk and bring to a boil, stirring occasionally. Reduce the heat, add the salt and sugar and simmer for 3-4 minutes until you see the oil separate.

Add the prawns and cook for 2-3 minutes until the prawns turn pink and are cooked.

 
Garnish with coriander and serve with rice.  

Simple Houmous (or Hummus)

Houmous with pita is one of my favourite things to snack on and I always have some houmous in the fridge. Although houmous is available in every supermarket and some of these are really quite tasty, I wanted to attempt it at home. So when we had gone to a Turkish restaurant for dinner the other day, I savoured every bit of the houmous, making a mental note of all the ingredients I could taste and came up with this recipe. You can reduce the amount of garlic to just 1 clove but I personally love the garlicky taste. 

Ingredients

1  400 g can of chickpeas

2  tsp tahini paste

2  garlic cloves, crushed

3  tbsp extra virgin olive oil

1  tbsp fresh lemon juice

1/4  tsp ground cumin

2  tbsp water

1/2 - 1  tsp salt

Chilli powder (optional)

Method

Drain the chickpeas and add to a food processor along with the tahini paste, crushed garlic, lemon juice, salt, ground cumin and about 2 tbsp of water.

Turn on the food processor and slowly pour in the oil until it is combined. Check for seasoning.

Remove in a serving dish, drizzle with some extra virgin olive oil and sprinkle some chilli powder.

Frozen Banana, flaxseed and almond smoothie

Although I love bananas I almost always end up with too many in the fruit basket. But now, since my smoothie craze has begun, as soon as I see them ripening I chop them, put them in a freezer bag and freeze them. I absolutely love the creamy, velvety texture that frozen banana gives the smoothie. This almond and banana smoothie is my current favourite. It's  like eating a dessert and yet it's actually quite healthy! 

Ingredients

1 banana, chopped and frozen

1 cup almond milk

1 tbsp almond butter

1 tbsp flaxseed meal

1 tsp maple syrup (optional)

Method

Add all the ingredients to a powerful blender and blend away till it all comes together.

Puffed rice chocolate nests

This is probably the easiest Easter recipe ever! All you need is chocolate, puffed rice or you can use corn flakes too and some mini chocolate eggs or marshmallows to put on top. You can get the kids involved in helping you decorate the eggs :)

 Ingredients

120 g puffed rice

175 g dark chocolate, chopped roughly (you can use milk chocolate)

Mini chocolate eggs

Method

Put the chocolate pieces in a heat proof glass bowl and place it on a saucepan of simmering water. Stir gently until the chocolate melts.

Once the chocolate is melted remove from the heat, add the puffed rice slowly and combine well. 

Spoon the mixture into cupcake cases and press gently to form a well in the middle (which I haven't done as I was distracted by the chocolate but thought I should specify in the recipe ;)) to create a nest shape. Don't forget to lick that spoon! 

Refrigerate the chocolate eggs for a couple of hours and then place a few mini chocolate eggs on each nest. 

I decorated my chocolate platter with the rest of the mini chocolate eggs and maltesers bunnies. These bunnies are so cute!

Have a fabulous weekend!