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Red curry of roasted autumn vegetables
Thai curry pastes are a staple in my kitchen. Shop around to find the ones you like but you will find that most of those made in Thailand are very good. It is a therapeutic and fun process to make your own curry paste but you will end up with a kitchen full of dried spices that, unless stored very well, will lose their intensity and have to be thrown out after a few months. The vegetables here are very earthy and distinctive, sweet and nutty and the parsnip has that delicious slightly bitter edge. Thai basil is more intensely anise flavoured than other varieties. It may be hard to find so try a few leaves of fresh tarragon if you can't get hold of it. It sounds odd but the flavour works.
Serves 4
4 small new potatoes (such as Nicola or chats), halved
1 large carrot, cut into bite-sized pieces
1 tbs light olive oil
400g pumpkin, peeled and cut into
2-3 cm pieces
1 parsnip, peeled and cut into batons
1 Spanish onion, cut into 8 wedges
400ml coconut milk
2 tbs red curry paste
2 tbs brown sugar
2 tbs Thai fish sauce
250ml chicken stock
a handful of fresh basil leaves (preferably Thai basil)
boiled jasmine rice, to serve
Preheat the oven to 220C (425F) Gas 7. Put a baking tray in the oven for 10 minutes to heat. Put the potatoes and carrot on the hot tray in a single layer, drizzle with the oil and roast in the preheated oven for 10 minutes. Add the pumpkin, parsnip and onion to the tray and roast for a further 20 minutes.
Meanwhile, put 250ml of the coconut milk in a heavy-based saucepan and cook over high heat until boiling. Add the curry paste and stir well. Let the mixture boil for 4-5 minutes, until the oil starts to separate from the milk. Add the sugar and fish sauce and stir-fry for 2 minutes, until the mixture is very dark.
Add the remaining coconut milk and chicken stock to the pan. Bring to the boil then stir in the roasted vegetables and basil leaves. Cook over a low heat for 5 minutes to heat through, then serve with boiled jasmine rice.
Next time: Prawns, pumpkin and basil make a great flavour combination. Add 20 large raw, deveined prawns to the curry with the roasted pumpkin and basil leaves and cook over low heat for 5 minutes until the prawns are pink, curly and cooked through.