Red curry of tiger prawns, wild ginger, green peppercorns & sweet basil

Sit me anywhere with a huge stack of curried prawns and I’m a happy man. This is a relatively simple dish once you have the curry paste (which you can buy fresh from me in case you have missed my previous posts). Something magical happens when simmering prawns in curry as the prawn brains melt into the curry, sharing their delicious, sweet, flavour with the spicy, salty, sweet, sour and bitter notes already having a party in the pan. I know the idea of eating brains sounds like something out of a zombie movie, however in this instance its a serious flavour additive and the dish is not the same without it. So make sure to get whole prawns, with the head still attached.

Ingredients (feeds 2)

100g red curry paste (our Payst is available for next day delivery, UK wide)

10-12 whole tiger prawns, de-veined & peeled, I like to leave the head & tails on

400ml coconut milk

200ml fish or prawn stock

50g, krachai, peeled & sliced

1 handful Thai basil leaves, picked from stem

10g pea aubergines, picked from stem and washed

1 apple aubergine, chopped into 8

20g fresh green peppercorns

20g palm sugar

20ml fish sauce

50g coconut oil

2 makrut lime leaves

1 lime, chopped into 2 cheeks

Jasmine rice for 2

Method:

Firstly, cook out the curry paste. Begin by gently melting the coconut oil in a large, non-stick frying pan. To this add the pea aubergines, green peppercorns and the makrut lime leaves and allow to sizzle in the oil for 30 seconds or so.

Now is also a good time to get your rice cooking. With Jasmine rice, I always use a rice steamer for best results. You can get cheap, small ones which are well worth the money.

Next add the curry paste to the pan, being careful not to splash any of the bubbling coconut fat on yourself. Gently fry this paste out, moving and scraping constantly so the paste has no chance to stick and cooks evenly. After around 5 minutes the paste should become very fragrant and fill the room with the smell of red curry, visually the oil will also begin to bubble up through the paste as a sign of its readiness.

Now add the seasoning (if using our Payst, this is pre-seasoned so you can skip this bit), add the palm sugar and continue to stir until all sugar has melted, it will begin to caramelise and darken too. Next de-glaze the pan with fish sauce and turn the heat down to a low simmer. Make sure to use the fish sauce to scrape any flavour off the pan that may have stuck during the frying process.

Now the paste has been cooked out and seasoned its time to let it out. Add the stock and half the coconut milk and bring to a simmer. Once simmering add the krachai and all the prawns, gently move the prawns around until all are submerged in the curry. Continue to simmer for 5-6 minutes until all prawns are thoroughly cooked, if you have a lid to your pan, you may prefer to use this at this point.

Once all prawns are cooked, add the rest of the coconut milk and gently stir into the curry, have a taste, adjust the seasoning if needed. It should be a delicate balance of sweet, salty, spicy and aromatic from the array of dry spices in the curry paste.

To serve, throw in the handful of Thai basil just before serving into bowls and dish up half the prawns into 2 bowls, upon steamed Jasmine rice and accompanied by a cheek of lime. Stick a sprig of fresh Thai basil on the top if you are feeling it.