Article: The Express. Chef's recipe for Thai green curry is easy to follow with one rule - 'fresh is best!'

This was written by Phoebe Cornish and published by The Express. Click here for the full article.

Thai cuisine is easy to recreate with ready-made sauces and pastes, but those looking to cook a dish from scratch may find it more complicated.

However, according to Michelin, award-winning chef and founder of Farang London, Sebby Holmes, it doesn't have to be a difficult task.

Speaking exclusively to Express.co.uk, he claimed that mastering the art of Thai food - in particular, his green mussel curry recipe comes down to a handful of fundamentals - the ingredients, balance of flavours, and time spent working on the dish.

He said: "Thai cuisine uses many different techniques, and some dishes are cooked very quickly at high temperatures, like stir-fries. Others require love and patience, like a curry.

“This means it's imperative to prepare and organise before starting the cooking process. Make sure to have all your herbs picked, vegetables chopped, proteins prepped, and pantry ingredients measured out."

Sebby continued: "Fresh is best when it comes to vegetables, fruits and herbs in Thai cooking. It’s becoming easier and easier to source fresh, Thai and Asian ingredients, readily available in the UK.

“In terms of meat and fish, we have some seriously delicious stuff here in the UK. If you're unsure, ask your local grocer, fish monger or butcher what has recently landed in-store/what is the freshest and base your dishes around these ingredients."

And while his green curry recipe uses ready-seasoned Payste rather than standard paste mixtures, he warned against the over-use of additives like fish sauce.

He said: "Always remember, fish sauce is your friend - dubbed the 'salt of Thailand' it adds a delicious, savoury, umami depth to your food. You can always add but you cannot take away so season cautiously.

"I recommend using seaweed sauce instead of fish sauce if you are vegan or vegetarian as it’s the most similar in flavour profile. To counterbalance the salty fish sauce, also remember the Four S’s, sweet, salty, sour and spicy. If you combine these four s’s in the right way your guests are going to have a good time."