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20 July 2012

Resident gourmand Mark Wallbank introduces a heartwarming alternative to your repertoire of winter recipes.

It’s time to spice up those chilly nights with one of my favourite Thai curries. The green curry is as hot as its fiery red curry sibling, but with a slight sweetness that makes it more refreshing. The perfect accompaniment to fish, I use monkfish because its fleshy texture means that it’s perfect for baking. Get out your mortar and pestle and start pounding.

Ingredients:
4 monkfish fillets (I prefer to keep them whole)

For the green curry paste:
14 fresh green chillies
5 cloves garlic
150g chopped shallots
1 tablespoon chopped lemon grass
3 slices of galangal
1 teaspoon ground tumeric
Zest from 1 kaffir lime
6 to 8 fresh coriander roots
Fresh ground white pepper
½ teaspoon shrimp paste
1 teaspoon ground cumin seeds
1 teaspoon ground coriander seeds
Spring onion and coriander to garnish

For the sauce:
400 mls coconut milk
2 tablespoons fish sauce
2 tablespoons palm sugar
3 lime leaves
1 whole juicy lime
Handful of green beans

Method:
For the green curry paste:
You can combine this the old fashioned way using a mortar and pestle, or you can take the easy way out and put it all in a blender adding a little water to help it blend. You’ll only need three tablespoons of this paste, so freeze the rest and use it later.

For the fish and the sauce:
Gently fry 3 tablespoons of your green curry paste in a little oil over a medium heat. After a few minutes add coconut milk, fish sauce, sugar, lime leaves and beans, and leave to one side. Next, pan fry the monkfish until golden and then bake in the oven at 180°c for a few minutes, being careful not to over cook. When cooked, place the fish on a plate and bring the curry back to a simmer before adding the crucial ingredient  – the juice of 1 lime. Ladle the sauce over the fish, top with spring onion and lots of coriander. Serve with white rice.