The green colour comes from the green chillies in this recipe. The first time I made it, I added spinach purée to the curry and it ended up going luminous green. So don’t make the same mistake.
Ingredients
750g skinless free-range Manor Farm chicken thighs
groundnut oil
400g mixed mushrooms
1 x 400g tin of light coconut milk
400ml boiling water
1 organic chicken stock cube
6 Kaffir lime leaves
200g whole mangetout
sea salt and freshly ground
black pepper
½ bunch of fresh basil
¼ bunch of fresh coriander
1 lime
for the curry paste
4 cloves of garlic
2 shallots
5cm piece of ginger
2 lemon grass stalks
4 green bird’s eye chillies
1 teaspoon ground cumin
¼ bunch of fresh coriander
2 tablespoons fish sauce
Method
1 First make the curry paste. Peel and roughly chop the garlic, shallots and ginger and place in a food processor.
2 Trim the lemon grass, remove the tough outer leaves, then finely chop and add to the processor.Trim the chillies and add along with the cumin and the coriander (stalks and all). Blitz until finely chopped, then add the fish sauce and blitz again.
3 Slice the chicken into 2½cm strips. Heat one tablespoon of oil in a large pan on a medium heat, add the chicken and fry for 5–7 minutes, or until just turning golden, then remove the pan from the heat and transfer the chicken to a plate.
4 Tear the mushrooms into even pieces. Return the pan to the heat, add the mushrooms and fry for 4–5 minutes, or until golden. Transfer to a plate using a slotted spoon.
5 Reduce the heat slightly and add the curry paste. Cook for 4–5 minutes, stirring occasionally, then pour in the coconut milk and boiling water, crumble in the stock cube and add the lime leaves.Turn the heat up and bring gently to the boil, then simmer for 10 minutes, or until reduced slightly.
6 Stir in the chicken and mushrooms, reduce the heat to low and cook for a further 5 minutes, or until the chicken is cooked through, adding the mangetout for the final 2 minutes.
7 Season to taste with sea salt and freshly ground black pepper. Pick, roughly chop and stir through the basil and coriander leaves. Serve withlime wedges and steamed rice.