What's for dinner? The Currabinny Cooks' Thai green curry, made from scratch
Thai Green Curry: a warming, flavourful favourite. Pics: Bríd O'Donovan
Ginger, galangal and turmeric are all rhizomes meaning they are subterranean elongated plant roots.
Along with the rhizomes, other edible aromatic ingredients include garlic, lemongrass, tamarind, onions, chillies and celery. The point of aromatics is to add deep, rounded flavour to food without relying on fat, sugar or salt.
The main ones we have been obsessing over lately are the more eastern ones such as ginger, turmeric and lemongrass. Their transformative power in flavouring and enhancing food is truly amazing. They also allow you to create incredibly healthy dishes because they make dishes flavourful, punchy and delicious without the use of fat, sugar and salt.
This week's recipes all showcase the wonderful power of aromatic ingredients when you use them properly. Think of the simple effectiveness of a slice or two of ginger and a wedge of lemon when made into a tea with boiling water. Ginger brings with it a subtle warmth rather than heat — a sort of addictive gentle kick.
— probably the most versatile of the aromatics in that you can literally add it to anything and it will only enhance. It is hard to imagine anything you couldn’t pair with ginger. When coupled with garlic, ginger provides the backbone to so many Asian dishes from China, India and down into South East Asia. It is wonderful also when pickled as used in Japanese cuisine.
— a small narrow root, a little like paired-down ginger. When peeled it is wickedly golden in colour and will stain anything it touches. Ground turmeric is a major component in curry powder giving earthiness and colour. Fresh turmeric is refreshingly bitter, subtle, earthy and peppery. It goes well with sweet flavours as well as with citrus or sharp ingredients like lime.
— looks rather like a bunch of very dried out spring onions. Its flavour is unique, being both lemony and sweet, almost perfumed. It is quite woody and difficult to break down but bashing it with a pestle will release some of its flavour. For people who dislike coriander, lemongrass is often a great alternative for adding that aromatic, citrusy element to a dish. To prepare lemongrass, you simply remove any particularly dry outer leaves from the stalk. Trim the very top and then the lemongrass can be mashed, finely chopped, grated or blitzed as you please.
We have made a lot of different versions of Thai green curry in the past. Some contain nuts, some are very spicy and some are very gentle and light. This version is on the light side but it is also very punchy flavour wise. The lemongrass, ginger and green chillies give it a good whack of flavour so you don’t need to beef it up with any fats or too much salt or sugar. We hate bandying around the term 'healthy' but this is really a good option for those trying to cut back on their salt, sugar and fat without compromising on flavour.
1 medium aubergine, cut into chunks
2 courgettes, cut into chunks
Good handful of plum or cherry tomatoes, sliced in half
300g thin green beans
300g tenderstem broccoli
1 400ml tin of coconut milk
150ml of vegetable stock or water
1 tbsp of soy sauce
1 tbsp of fish sauce
Lime wedges, to serve
Fresh coriander leaves, to serve
Brown basmati rice, to serve
- 4 fat cloves of garlic, peeled
- 1 large onion, roughly chopped
- Small handful of fresh coriander
- Small handful of basil
- 2 small green chillies, deseeded
- Good-sized thumb of ginger, peeled
- 2 lemongrass stalks, outer leaves removed and tops trimmed
- 1 tsp of ground coriander
- 1 tsp of ground cumin
- Juice and zest of 1 lime
- A small pinch of sea salt
Make the paste by placing all the ingredients in a food processor and blitzing until smooth.
Heat a large frying pan or casserole to medium-high on the hob. Add the paste, stirring it around the pan. Splash a little water into the pan if it becomes to dry or the paste starts to stick.
After five minutes, add the coconut milk, stock, aubergines and courgette. Bring to a simmer and cook for around 10 minutes. Next add the tomatoes, beans and tenderstem broccoli. Cook for a further eight minutes until the beans and broccoli are tender. Add the soy sauce and fish sauce and let simmer for another minute or two.
Serve with brown rice, lemon wedges and fresh coriander leaves.
We came up with this recipe sort of by accident. We were testing out oat pancakes for Pancake Tuesday and figured that they were far better when eaten with something savoury and punchy. The ginger dressing is a testament to how a good punchy dressing can in fact be the most important element to a salad or dish.
- 400ml oat milk
- 1 tsp dried yeast
- ½ tsp of sugar
- 225g oats
- 80g wholemeal spelt flour
- 80g plain white flour
- Good pinch of salt
- Rapeseed oil for frying
- 1 cucumber, seeds scooped out, finely cut into small pieces
- 2 tablespoons of white wine vinegar
- Juice of 1 lemon
- Pinch of sea salt
- 1 tsp caster sugar
- 2-3 good handful of chopped herbs (we used parsley, basil, mint, dill, chives and tarragon)
- 100g feta, chopped up
- Zest and Juice of 2 limes
- 1 green chilli, finely chopped
- 1 shallot, peeled and finely chopped
- 1 tsp of soy sauce
- 1 tsp of cider vinegar
- 1 tsp of honey
- 1 thumb of ginger, peeled and grated
- 2 cloves of garlic, peeled and grated
Mix all the ingredients for the dressing together in a bowl and leave aside.
Place the chopped cucumber in a bowl and add the vinegar, lemon juice, sea salt and sugar. Cover and leave to pickle for around 30 minutes in the fridge.
Place the chopped herbs in a separate bowl and the feta in another, leave aside.
To make the pancakes, blitz the oats in a food processor until you have a rough flour. Heat the oat milk gently along with 400ml of water until warm but not too hot. Mix a few tablespoons of this with the yeast in a small bowl and add the ½ teaspoon of sugar. Leaves this for 10 minutes until lightly frothy. Place the blitz oats in a large mixing bowl along with the 2 flours and salt. Make a well in the middle and add the yeast mixture. leave for another 10 minutes and then whisk in the rest of the warm oat and water until you have a runny but quite thick batter.
Heat a little rapeseed oil in a frying pan and add a good ladle of batter to the pan. Flip after four minutes and cook on the other side for another 2 minutes. Place the cooked oat pancakes on a warm plate. You should be able to make around 8-10 from the batter.
To serve, place a spoon of cucumber salad, chopped herbs and feta in the middle of your pancake and drizzle generously with your ginger dressing. Simple, healthy and delicious.
This is an ancient Indonesian tonic that dates back almost 4,000 years. It has become a constant feature in our fridge. We make it weekly and bottle it. A small shot of it every day wakes you up and has amazing benefits for your immune system and circulation. There are many different recipes for Jamu, but they all feature turmeric. Be careful when handling turmeric it will stain your hands, clothes, chopping board and anything else it touches.
- 125g fresh turmeric root, peeled and roughly chopped
- 50g ginger root, peeled and roughly chopped
- Juice of 2 limes
- 2 tbsp of honey
- 1 heaped tsp of cinnamon
- 1 lemongrass stalk, peeled and bashed
Place the chopped up turmeric, lemongrass stalk and ginger in a good food processor along with 1 litre of water and blitz until smooth.
Heat this mixture, gently in a saucepan until gently simmering but not boiling. Take off the heat and stir in the honey, cinnamon and lime juice. Pass this mixture through a fine sieve or even better some cheesecloth so that you have a smooth orange juice.
Pour the juice into a sterilised glass bottle and keep it in the fridge.
