Delicious Jamie

When hosting dinner parties the temptation can often be serve very rich food, I guess this is usually because you want to serve the tastiest food to your friends and we usually associate great taste with unhealthy indulgent food. However if you're trying to stay on the health wagon or trying to lose weight this means that dinner parties can be difficult to navigate.

But dinner party food doesn't need to be unhealthy to be tasty. A great example of this was the wonderful thai green curry I was served on the weekend which was both delicious and healthy. It was served with a choice of brown and white rice, very thoughtful of the host for the health conscious amongst us, as well as extra vegetables - super healthy, super tasty. So I thought I'd share it with all of you.

Turns out it was another wonderful recipe from the Jamie Oliver - the King of simple but tasty recipes. Ours was served with chicken and the red chillies on the side for those that liked it hot!


SERVES 2
INGREDIENTS
A large bunch of asparagus
1/2 a fresh red chilli
1tbsp groundnut oil
1tbsp sesame oil
400g king prawns, raw, peeled
1 x 400ml tin of coconut milk
A handful of mangetout
1 lime

FOR THE GREEN CURRY PASTE
2 stalks of lemongrass
4 spring onions
3 fresh green chillies
4 cloves of garlic
A thumb-sized piece of fresh root ginger
A large bunch of fresh coriander
1tsp coriander seeds
8 fresh or dried lime leaves (optional)
3tbsp soy sauce
1tbsp fish sauce

METHOD
TO MAKE YOUR GREEN CURRY PASTE
Trim the lemongrass stalks, peel back and discard the outer leaves, and crush the stalks by bashing them a few times with the heel of your hand or a rolling pin.
Trim the spring onions. Halve and de-seed the green chillies. Peel and roughly chop the garlic and ginger. Set aside a few sprigs of fresh coriander, and whizz the rest in a food processor with the lemongrass stalks, spring onions, chillies, garlic, ginger, coriander seeds and lime leaves (if using), until everything is finely chopped - the smell will be amazing!
While whizzing, pour in the soy sauce and fish sauce and blitz again until you have a smooth paste. If you don't have a food processor, chop everything by hand as finely as you can - it may take a while but it will be so worth it.

TO MAKE YOUR CURRY
Snap the woody ends off the asparagus and discard them. Run the stalks through a runner bean slicer, or finely slice them lengthways with a knife. Finely chop the red chilli and put to one side.

Push down on the lime and roll it around to get the juices going, then cut it in half. Squeeze the juice into the pan - this will give your curry a lovely tang
Place a large pan or wok over a high heat. When it's really hot, add the groundnut and sesame oils, swirl them around, then carefully drop in the prawns. Add the asparagus and your green curry paste and stir-fry for about 30 seconds. Pour in the coconut milk and add the mangetout.
Give it all a good stir, bring to the boil and cook for a few minutes. Have a taste and add a bit more soy sauce if you think it needs it. Push down on the lime and roll it around to get the juices going, then cut it in half. Squeeze the juice into the pan - this will give your curry a lovely tang.

TO SERVE YOUR CURRY
Pick the leaves off the remaining coriander sprigs. Serve the curry sprinkled with the coriander leaves and the chopped red chilli, and some fluffy lime and coriander rice.