This Nigella recipe is taken from her popular Channel 4 series Nigella Bites, based on her popular book How To Eat.
I use the term 'TV dinners' loosely. The recipes aren't written just with sofabound slumping in mind. It's a good idea to have something up your sleeve that you can cook quickly, and simply, when you've got friends coming over to supper midweek after work. This is that something.
Don't let the length of the list of ingredients put you off. You really could go to the supermarket at lunchtime and buy everything you need. What's more, most of it keeps: salmon, raw prawns, lime leaves and lemongrass in the deep-freeze (and all but the salmon can be used from frozen); curry paste in the fridge; the coconut milk, fish sauce, fish stock concentrate and turmeric in the cupboard. In other words, one shopping expedition, many curries.
1.Skim the thick creamy top off the tin of coconut milk and put it, over medium heat, into a large saucepan or casserole with the curry paste. Let it sizzle and, using a fork, whisk or wooden spoon, beat milk and paste together until combined. Still beating, gently, add the rest of the coconut milk, fish stock, fish sauce, sugar, lemongrass, lime leaves and tumeric. Bring to a boil and then add the pumpkin.
2.Cook on a fast simmer until the pumpkin is tender, about 15 minutes, although different sorts of pumpkins can vary enormously in the time they take to cook; some squash take as little as 5 minutes.
3.As I mentioned, you can cook the curry up till this part in advance, maybe leaving the pumpkin with still a tiny bit of bite to it (it will soften and cook as the pan cools). Either way, when you're about 5 minutes away from wanting to eat, get ready to cook the seafood.
4.So, to the robustly simmering pan, add the salmon and prawns (if you're using the prawns from frozen they'll need to go in before the salmon). When the salmon and prawns have cooked through, which shouldn't take more than 3-4 minutes, stir in the green veg you're using - sliced, chopped or shredded as suits - and tamp down with a wooden spoon.
5.When the pak choi is wilted, squeeze in the juice of half a lime, stir and taste and then add the juice of the remaining half if you feel it needs it. Take the pan off the heat or decant the curry into a large bowl, and sprinkle over the coriander; the point is the coriander goes in just before serving.
6.Serve with more chopped coriander, for people to add to their own bowls as they eat, and some plain Thai or basmati rice.
© Nigella Lawson, How To Eat, The pleasures and principles of good food - Chatto & Windus, 1998
Buy the book
Recreate all your favourite F Word dishes
Don't waist time, join the Cook Yourself Thin club today!.jpg)
Your Comments
Post your comment
Please note: In order to post a comment you need to be registered and logged in to Channel 4:
Sign In Here or Register Here
Comments closed
Comments are closed at the present time
Comments
Thank you for your comment!
Your message will be reviewed and the best ones will be published below.
If you intended to make an official comment to Channel 4 please contact us.