Thai Red Curry, the it'll do way.

My husband and I both love the Thai green and red curries, so it's been in my agenda for a while to learn how to make them from scratch. I could buy a jar of paste, but there are often added ingredients that I'd rather not be eating, like sugar and preservatives. Making from scratch means you can also make it vegetarian/vegan if you want.

I’m not the most organised person going, so quite often I'll be missing ingredients needed for a recipe I want to make. I also try to use as much as possible from my garden or that others have gifted me from their garden. So if I haven't got an ingredient, I'll replace or omit it and see how it goes. Most of the time the results are good, although I'm sure it wouldn't work quite so well with baking.

Some of my ingredients which were looking more photogenic.

Here's a recipe I found for Thai Red Curry. The original ingredients are in italics and I'll add next to it what I replaced it with, if I did, or if I omitted it.

• 1 shallot (or 1/4 cup chopped purple onion) [I used quarter of a standard onion]
• 1 stalk fresh lemongrass (minced, or 3 tbsp. frozen prepared lemongrass; available at Asian stores) [My lemongrass was small, so I used a couple of stalks]
• 1 to 2 red chilies (or 1/2 to 1 tsp. cayenne pepper, or 2 to 3 tsp. Thai chili sauce) [I used 5, deseeded]
• 4 cloves garlic [We like more garlic than that!]
• 1 thumb-size piece galangal (or ginger, sliced) [I used a teaspoon of dried ginger]
• 2 tablespoons tomato ketchup (or good-tasting tomato puree) [I use the puree]
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin [I used the same]
• 3/4 teaspoon ground coriander [it goes into the blender, so I used a teaspoon of whole seeds]
• 1/4 teaspoon ground white pepper (available in most spice aisles) [fresh ground black pepper is better in my opinion]
• 2 tablespoons fish sauce (or for vegetarians 2 tbsp. soy sauce, plus salt to taste) [I used the fish sauce, because someone bought some at some point]
• 1 teaspoon shrimp paste (or for vegetarians 1 tbsp. Thai golden mountain sauce, both available at Asian stores) [I omitted this part, but added some extra salt]
• 1 teaspoon sugar [no sugar needed]
• 1 1/2 to 2 tablespoons chili powder (from the spice aisle, depending on how spicy you want it) [omitted, because I added extra fresh chilis]
• 1 to 3 tablespoons thick coconut milk (depending on how thick you want the paste; reserve remaining for cooking the curry) [not actually necessary if you aren't using it for cooking straight away]
• 2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lime juice [I used one lemon]
• Optional: 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon (or add 1 cinnamon stick to your curry pot) [I've yet to try it with this in]

Throw all the ingredients into a blender and blend to a paste.

I usually use chicken for this curry, but any protein of your choice can be used, or even just vegetables if you prefer. Fry up the protein in some oil, then add the paste. Heat through then add a can of coconut milk. Once it's thoroughly cooked through, add vegetables of your choice. I like the vegetables to be heated through, but still fairly crisp and not too soft.

Serve with rice.

The curry worked out well, just as good we usually get at a restaurant. It's a light, refreshing curry, good even on a hot summer day. I love a recipe which adjusts well to the resources available.

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