Thai green curry

[brightwell]

Does anyone one have a tried & tested easy recipe for thai green curry for either chicken or king prawns....TIA!

Yes, this is a staple in our house. It helps if you have an oriental / southeast asian grocer nearby. First, you need to make a green curry paste (don't be put off if this looks like a faff, it's actually quite quick and you only do this bit once as it will store for a while so that when you next fancy it, it is an easy 10 minute meal): A mixer on a stick is ideal for this purpose. Put the following ingredients in a bowl:
8 shallots
2 sticks of lemongrass
one 'lump' of fresh galangal (about the length of your thumb, chopped down a little
green chillies to taste (I usually use about 5 'fingersized' ones)
4 cloves of garlic
a tea spoon of coriander seeds
4-5 fresh, de-spined kaffir limeleaves ( I buy mine frozen and keep in the freezer for when making this dish)
a small amount of shrimp paste (about 1/2 a teaspoon is plenty; this adds a distinctive salty, twisty flavour regardless of whether you will make the dish with chicken or seafood, don't miss it out as it becomes pretty bland without it)
the zest of one lime
a palmful of chopped fresh coriander
a tablespoon of chopped basil
For extra colour you can add a small piece of turmeric root or a dusting of turmeric powder (it sort of brightens the green-ness).
I'm pretty sure I haven't missed anything out. Once it's all in the bowl, pour in a bit of oil to aid blending and go to it with your stick. Blend until it's as smooth as it can get, it's bound to be a bit 'fibrey' with the lemongrass, but thats OK. As it can splash (and stain...) I put my bowl inside a plastic bag and stick my 'blending-stick' (I'm sure they've got another name...) through a hole in the bag.
Once the paste is made, you can either freeze it in icecube pots (bag once frozen; 3 cubes serves 2) or store in jar in fridge for a few weeks).
To make the actual curry, decide which vegetables you will have with the meat / fish you are using and chop / slice these (the finer / thinner the better for 'hard' ones such as carrots in order to shorten cooking time).
Next, heat a little oil in a deepsided pan, and add a dollop (1 tbsp to serve 1 seems about right) of curry paste. Let it sizzle for a short while (poke it around) until you sort of smell the fragrance rising from the pan. You can seal your meat at this point.
Now add 1/2 tin of coconut milk and a cube of appropriate stock dissolved in a cup of water and stir.
Add a couple of fresh kaffir lime leaves. (A small glug of soy sauce is optional at this point.)
Add your vegetables in order of 'hardness' and cook quickly so that everything is cooked yet still fresh and springy (the meat has to be checked of course).
We eat this with either noodles or rice. Suitable condiments include a sprinkiling of fresh coriander, a splash of fish sauce, sweet chilli sauce or soy sauce. Enjoy!

Looks like I need a trip to the local Asian supermarket.

I made a great one using this Guardian recipe but I used two chillies rather than the 20 recommended . Even the woman at the Thai supermarket I went to was horrified by that number.

By the way, you can freeze the lime leaves, galangal and lemon grass - I also make up quite a big batch of paste and freeze little portions to use later.