A Thaitanic Friday Night Meal | Thai Green Curry & Pad Thai Recipe

On Friday night I was feeling pretty tired, I'd had a long old week at work and been squeezing as much studying in around it as possible. All the while trying to maintain my social life and spend time with my family too, sometimes life is exhausting! So I decided I needed a night in, lounging around in my pyjamas with some good food and TV. My parents have been away on a long weekend in Spain so I invited my friend over to keep me company and watch some old Grey's Anatomy episodes. I decided to whip up some Thai food I'd been craving all week.

Ingredients

1 tbsp Oil

2 tbsp Thai Green Curry Paste

2 tbsp Dark Brown Sugar

2 Thick Stalks of Lemongrass

2 Chicken Breasts (cut into chunks)

 4 Kaffir Lime Leaves

400ml Coconut Milk

1 tbsp Thai Fish Sauce

Handful of Coriander

1/2 Lime

I heated some Oil in a pan, before adding the Thai Green Curry Paste and Brown Sugar. I bashed the ends of the Lemongrass with a rolling pin to break it up and help release the flavour before stirring it in. I chopped up the Chicken Breasts into quite large chunks and once I'd reduced the heat, I added it to the mixture. I chucked the 4 Kaffir Lime Leaves in as well and stirred until the green paste was covering everything. By the way, if you can't get hold of Kaffir Lime Leaves (I found mine in Waitrose) you can always use the zest of the lime. Just make sure you don't throw it away after as you'll need the juice later on!

It was then time to pour in the Coconut Milk and add the Fish Sauce to the mix I increased the heat slightly and allowed the food to simmer for around 30 minutes. Having checked that the chicken had cooked through and that the liquid has thickened enough I then added a handful of chopped Coriander and squeezed in the juice of half a Lime. If you choose to cook this make sure you do a little taste test  at this point, you may want to add more fish sauce! I allowed my curry to sit for a bit whilst I prepared my noodles, this lets it get a bit creamier!

My favourite Thai dish is definitely Pad Thai, I love all the flavours mixed together with super soft noodles. The one at Wagamamas always goes down a treat! The ingredients I used for the Pad Thai are:

180g Cooked King Prawns

2 Red Chillies (chopped)

1/2 Lime

Handful of Coriander

Oil

1 Chicken Breast 

1 Bunch Spring Onions (chopped)

1 Small Onion (chopped)

3 Cloves Garlic

Packet of Stir Fry Veg

150g Flat Rice Noodles

2 tbsp Soy Sauce

1 tbsp Fish Sauce

1 tbsp Oyster Sauce

1 tbsp Brown Sugar

2 tsp Taramind Paste (I couldn't get hold of any of this so I used Asdas Pad Thai paste as it has Taramind in it!)

1 Egg

Handful of Sesame Seeds

75g of Crushed Peanuts

I began by putting the Prawns into a bowl and tossing them with the Chillies, Lime Juice and half of the Coriander. I put them in the fridge to let all the flavours sink in. Meanwhile, I began heating the oil in the pan and added the Chicken which I'd chopped into small pieces. I stir-fried this along with the Spring Onion, Garlic and Onion until the chicken was cooked. The packet of Stir Fry Vegetables was then added and I continued to cook them for around 4 minutes before I placed the Noodles into the pan.

Then it was time to add the sauces, using my measuring spoons I added the Soy Sauce, Fish Sauce, Oyster Sauce, Brown Sugar and Taramind Paste. After having made sure this was all well-stirred into the mixture I added one beaten Egg and stir-fried for another 2 minutes. I then turned off the heat completely and stirred the prawns into the mix along with some Sesame Seeds and the Crushed Peanuts.

I warmed up my Green Curry and served them both with some fragrant Jasmine rice, so good! This made more than enough for 2 people, I've got some left for lunch tomorrow :)