Thai Green Vegetable Curry

Once you've got the paste sorted, this is probably the easiest meal on the planet. Personally, I find Thai one of the simplest cuisines to cook. I like the quick, no-nonsense stir-fry approach. Just remember a few golden rules:

1. Get everything chopped up and prepped before you start cooking
2. Don't overcook
3. Aim for a balance of 5 flavours:
- Spicy
- Salty
- Sour
- Sweet
- Bitter

That's it, really.

Cost: 2.60 zl per person (50p)
Serves: 2

So, let's get everything ready first.

For the paste you'll need:

- 2-3 shallots or 1/2 a bunch of spring onion (leaves)
- a handful of basil leaves
- a handful of coriander leaves
- chopped up coriander root from the coriander leaves
- 3 green chillies
- 2 inch of ginger
- 2-3 cloves of garlic
- zest of 1 lemon
- juice of 1/2 lemon
- a pinch of salt
- tsp black pepper corns (dry roasted)
- tsp cumin seeds (dry roasted)
- tsp coriander seeds (dry roasted)

1. Dry roast the spices for 1-2 minutes on low heat until they smell nice.
2. Whizz everything up in a coffee grinder so you end up with a paste which looks like this:

For the stir fry you'll need:

Well, you can use any veg you want, really.

I've used:

- 1/2 carrot cut up into juliennes
- 1 small courgette sliced
- a few florets of broccoli

3. Chop up the veg as shown.

For the sauce:

4. Have it all ready to hand!

- a nice glug of fish sauce
- a nice glug of soy sauce
- a cup of coconut milk (dissolve 1/4 of a bar of creamed coconut in hot water)

5. Heat up the wok. Add some coconut oil.

6. Stir fry the veg for a minute

7. Add 3 tsp of the paste you made earlier. Stir fry for another 30 seconds

8. Glug in the soy and fish sauce.

9. Add the coconut milk

10. Cook for another minute or so and serve with rice. Enjoy!

The cooking time should be minimal - you want the vegetables to have a nice crunch to them.

Costing:

- Veg: 1 zl

- Paste ingredients: 2.50 zl

- Rice: 1.20 zl

- the rest: 0.50 zl

Total: 5.20 zl

Serves: 2

Per person: 2.60 zl