Frank Wilson’s Thai Penang Chicken Curry
1 green capsicum
2-4 green chillis, deseeded (optional, leave out if hot food does not suit)
1cm fresh galangal or ginger
1/2 medium onion
5 cloves garlic
1/4 tsp fennel seed
1 tsp ground coriander seed
1/4 tsp grated nutmeg or mace
2 stalks lemongrass
Zest of one lemon
One bunch of fresh coriander (preferably well washed, roots and all)
One bunch of Thai (or normal) basil
2 tbsp canola or rice bran oil
2-4 tbsp water
Curry:
2 x 375ml cans of plain or coconut flavoured Lite & Creamy Evaporated milk (or 1 can
Lite & Creamy Evaporated milk plus 1½ cups reduced salt chicken stock)
1/2 tsp coconut essence Cook’s note: if you use the coconut flavoured Lite & Creamy Evaporated milk you don’t need to add the essence
500g Tegel Lean & Lite skinless breast fillets
2 tbsp fish sauce
2 tbsp brown sugar
1 medium carrot, sliced
2 courgettes, sliced
1 red pepper, cut in strips
Juice of 1 lemon
8 kaffir lime leaves
2-3 tbsp chopped coriander leaf
To make the paste, put the first 10 ingredients into a blender. Blend until finely chopped, then add the roughly chopped herbs, oil and 2 Tbsp water. Blend again (scraping down the sides if necessary) until you have a smoothish paste, adding the remaining water if required.
To make the curry, preheat a large, heavy based pot. Add the curry paste and cook, stirring frequently for 4-5 minutes, then stir in the evaporated milk (or evaporated milk and stock) and the coconut essence. Heat, stirring occasionally, until the mixture boils.
While the mixture heats, cut the Tegel Lean & Lite chicken breast into chunky (3cm) cubes. Stir this into the boiling curry mixture, along with the fish sauce and brown sugar. Allow the chicken to simmer for 5 minutes.
Add the carrot, courgettes and red pepper and simmer gently until the vegetables are just cooked. Stir in the lemon juice, lime leaves and coriander leaf.