15-minute Thai Green Curry

As the winter approaches, my stomach always rumbles for my favourite cold weather classics. At the top of the list is Thai Green Curry, which becomes a weekly staple between September and March. It uses coconut milk instead of cooking oils to cut out hydrogenated fats and provides plenty of slow-release energy when served with brown rice. In this example, I use chicken as my main protein, but you can also make it with king prawns or lean beef strips to mix it up! Let’s get started…

Prepare your ingredients

Keep all the following to hand:

• 2 chicken breasts, cut into strips (or alternative protein source)
• Coconut milk (I tend to avoid the low fat ones as they can be too watery. Plus, coconut milk is a great source of lactose-free calcium, so it does far more good for your body than bad!)
• Nam Pla fish sauce
• Green curry paste
• Brown rice (Uncle Ben’s 10-minute bags are a quick and convenient way to prepare your carbs)
• Button mushrooms, halved
• Green beans or courgettes, sliced into strips (Another choice you can make up to add variety to what will surely become one of your favourite meals!)
• Salad onions, sliced into long strips

Pan-fry your chicken

1. While your rice is boiling, begin by heating one tablespoon of paste in a non-stick pan. If you’re a real spice-lover, go on an add another half a spoonful!

2. Once the paste starts to spit (stand back), turn down the heat on the hob and add the chicken. Fry over a medium heat until the chicken is fully coated and sealed.

3. Now pour in the coconut milk. I like a nice soupy curry so I use about 3/4 of the can, but stick to half if you like a drier mix! Add in a spash of Nam Pla, too. Again, I like it quite salty and put almost a full tablespoon in but you should moderate to your liking!

Stew your curry

4. Add your mushrooms and salad onions and let the curry stew gently on the hob for about five minutes, or until all the chicken is fully cooked and the veggies have softened.

5. Meanwhile, steam your beans or courgettes and begin to prepare your dinner plates… you’re nearly done!

Tuck in!

Spoon your curry mix over your rice and add the steamed beans on top. Garnish with a few raw salad onions and cheers your dinner partner to a job well done. This recipe serves two. Although I do confess I’ve been known to polish off the lot on my own… a girl gets hungry!