Thai green curry with prawns
Some time ago I came across a method to start cooking without recipes (also see receptloos.nl). Ik was eigenlijk direct enthousiast over het idee erachter. Ik heb in de loop der jaren inmiddels een enorme collectie aan recepten verzameld en ik heb me altijd verwonderd over hoe iemand dat nou ooit verzint. Hoe kom je aan de goede ingrediënten en dan vervolgens de goede kookmethode erbij kiezen. Ik heb me dat in de loop van de jaren, door veel recepten te lezen, verslaafd te zijn aan kookprogramma's en vooral heel veel te doen wel een beetje eigen gemaakt, maar toch voelde het altijd erg onwennig en het volgen van een recept voelde altijd veel relaxter. Maar nu dus met de kennismaking met receptloos koken en het boek goed te hebben gelezen wilde ik het toch weer proberen.
This is the first dish that I cooked his way, and I still used the exact ingredients of an example in the book (that will be the next step :)), without the exact amounts was already exciting enough, and then I followed the described roadmap with the following result. About the process, I noticed that I was pretty nervous at the start, especially making a curry paste without exact measured ingredients took some getting used to. When I remembered there is always a pizza in the freezer in case I cook something inedible, I could let that go. Actually it became a very relaxing experience. There is no exact timing anywhere, so you start without the expectation of finishing within a certain amount of time, on top of that you don't have to hurry to be ready for the next step in the recipe. I noticed that very quickly it's a lot easier to cook on intuition, does cutting vegetables take a bit longer, reduce the heat. How does it look, or how does it smell that's the sign to continu or to finish, how does it taste and adapt to your own taste.
Of course this time I used the given ingredients and followed the roadmap (to the letter), but if I see how my attitude towards cooking already changed during the cooking of this recipe trusting more on my own senses instead of exact times and amounts of a recipe, I think it will be easier in the future. Below approximately an idea of the ingredients and the steps I took, but in the good spirit of cooking without a recipe, use the idea of the ingredients and the instructions, and make it your own, adapt and make something tasty.
- 2 stengel spring onion
- 1 teentje garlic
- 3 cm fresh ginger
- 1 - 2 green chili pepper (dependent off the heat you want)
- 1 stengel lemongras
- 0.25 bosje coriander (only the stems)
- 0.5 lime (grated peel)
- 0,5 tl cumin seeds
- 0.5 tl coriander seeds
- 1 el oil
- salt
- 1 leek
- 400 ml coconut milk
- 250 g green beans
- 300 g prawns
- fish sauce (to taste)
- limejuice (to taste)
- brown caster sugar (to taste)
- fresh coriander (garnish)
- 40 g cashew nuts (garnish)
- 300 g white rice
- oil
Create the curry paste by chopping all the ingredients for the curry paste in rough chunks and then mix it finely into a paste in a food processor or blender. Cook the rice according to the instructions.
Heat a splash of oil in a skillet and bake the prawns shortly, they don't have to be completely cooked yet. Get the prawns out of the pan and bake the curry paste on a low heat, add a little bit of oil if the paste sticks to the pan. Meanwhile cut the leek into thin slices.
Move the curry paste to the side of the skillet and bake, over medium heat, the leak in the center of the pan, if necessary add a bit of oil again. Add a bit of water to stop the baking process, and scrape all the bits sticking to the pan of the bottom.
Now add the coconut milk and mix everything together. Add the green beans and and when the green beans are almost cooked add the baked prawns. When the green beans and prawns are cooked, flavour the curry with fish sauce (salt), lime juice (sour) and/or brown caster sugar (sweet). Garnish the curry with coriander leaves and cashew nuts. Serve with the rice.
Source and inspiration: Receptloos