Curry Paste

This is entertaining made easy and it’s extra tasty.

Ingredients:

2 tbsp vegetable oil

Red curry paste to taste (I used roughly 100g)

1 butternut squash, peeled and cubed

1 can of coconut milk

Fresh coriander

1 tbsp lemon grass paste

500g tagliatelle pasta

Method:

Heat the oil in a large pan or wok.
Add the curry paste, squash and lemongrass. Fry for 2-3 minutes on a medium heat.
Pour in the coconut milk, stir well and bring to the boil.
Allow to simmer for about 25 minutes. Add extra paste and coconut milk if sauce becomes too thick.
When the squash is almost done, cook the pasta according to packet instructions, then drain well.
Pour half the sauce from the pan into a big bowl and mix with the pasta.
Plate up and place remaining squash and fresh coriander on top.
Add siracha if you fancy some extra spice, which I always do.

Firstly let me just say, that I am really into Japanese style food at the moment. Secondly and I’m just going to put it out there, this is probably one of the best dishes I have ever made. The only thing that could have made this better was if I had used a pestle and mortar instead of a blender to make the broth paste. (Arthur our lovely ginger cat decided he didn’t like it anymore and smashed it on the floor.)

Also ASDA AKA Walmart is totally rubbish for all things Japanese, so I had to make substitutions left right and centre to make this work. It’s ok though because the bearded one absolutely loved it! \M/

We have six rescue cats by the way so whenever we are taking pictures that are not just purely of food, you’ll see a couple here and there. 😛

Here’s what you’ll need:

1 carrot, peeled and chopped.
4 large leaves of savoy cabbage, chopped.
Lemon grass herbs or paste.
10 black pepper corns.
1 large red onion.
5 cloves of garlic.
1 red chilli pepper.
A peeled slice of fresh ginger the length of your little finger.
250ml water.
Sea salt to add for your taste.
Half a head of fresh broccoli, chopped.
A handful of fresh coriander, chopped.
1 tin of coconut milk.
Sugar snap peas, de-podded.

The method:

Get your wok out and place a small amount of oil in it. Turn up the heat and place the chopped red onion and peppercorns in the pan.
Stir fry for about 3 minutes and then turn the heat off.
In the meantime deseed your red chilli and place it in a food processor with the garlic and ginger. Now add about 100 ml of water and wizz it all up to form a paste. (You may need to pulse blend here depending on how good your blender is. I’m not like other food bloggers. Vitamix has yet to endorse me, but hey if you’re listening guys, I don’t mind. :P)
Place your paste into your wok and crank up the heat again for another 3 or 4 minutes to reduce it down a bit.
Now it’s time to start adding ingredients one by one, each time stirring and covering in the tasty mixture you just made. I started with the carrots and and worked my way through the rest ending in coconut milk.
Make sure you have mixed everything in well.
Turn down the heat and allow to simmer for another 5 minutes so that the vegetables aren’t entirely raw.
Serve with some fresh coriander and chop sticks.