Thai Vegetable Curry

Ingredients

For the curry paste

• 2 shallots, roughly chopped
• 2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
• 1 tablespoon freshly grated ginger
• 1 stick lemongrass, finely chopped
• 2 green chillies, deseeded and chopped
• zest of 1 lime
• small bunch fresh coriander
• 1 tablespoon sunflower oil
• 1 small aubergine, cut into chunks
• 1 red pepper, deseeded and cut into dice
• 8 chestnut mushrooms, halved (or quartered if large)
• 400 ml can coconut milk
• 6 okra, cut on the diagonal into 3 pieces
• 8 baby corn, cut on the diagonal into 3 pieces
• 150 g canned bamboo shoots, drained
• handful of sugar snaps, cut in half on the diagonal
• 2 handfuls of beansprouts
• soy sauce
• palm or soft light brown sugar to taste

To serve

• fresh coriander leaves
• jasmine rice
• lime wedges

Method

Prepare the curry paste first. Place the shallots, garlic and ginger in a food-processor. Add the lemongrass, chillies, lime zest and coriander stalks (reserving the leaves) and whizz the mixture until finely chopped. You can also make this paste using a pestle and mortar if you prefer.

Heat the sunflower oil in a large sauté pan. Add the curry paste and cook over a medium heat for 1 minute until the mixture smells fragrant.

Add the aubergine, red pepper and mushrooms and cook for 1 minute stirring frequently until starting to become tender. Add the coconut milk to the pan with 150ml of water and bring to the boil. Add the okra, baby corn and bamboo shoots and continue to cook for a further 5 minutes or so until the veggies are tender.

Finally add the sugar snaps and beansprouts to the pan and cook for another 30 seconds.

Taste and add a dash of soy sauce or teaspoon of sugar if needed. Serve the curry in bowls, garnished with coriander leaves and with jasmine rice and lime wedges to squeeze over.