Triump from Adversity

Yesterday I was a bit disorganised for dinner, I grabbed some prawns and fish stock from the freezer before heading to Waihi beach with Murphy, it was a splendid evening. When I got home I decided on Thai curry. I have a book……… called Curry, uninspiring for sure, it has been ignored on the shelf for an un-remember-able number of years until recently when I gave it a crack and made the best curry EVER……  But that recipe is sacred, as I am going to slay them all in the next round of our Waikanae Masterchef competition with it. So I consulted this now exciting book, but was sadly lacking a few key ingredients, notably coconut cream and coriander for a Thai curry, the pandemic shopping was obviously not that well considered.  I had a big crop of coriander in the summer most of which went to seed as it always does, so I have a jar full of seeds I had saved….tick. I then went out to the garden to investigate the remaining plants with the misguided idea that those dried up old tops had some useful roots… NOT. So I spread the remaining seed on the garden and threw the stalks away, I did a bit of a weed and bugger me I found a few baby plants so managed to pick a some leaves for the garnish. To the freezer again for lemongrass which is an arse of a thing to prep but frozen is the go, this has become my preferred option, better than a jar. Then I found the mussel oil in the fridge, left over from some magnificent smoked mussels from Egmont Seafoods, things are getting good now! I am back at the stove, into my paste.................... but the seeds in the jar are fusty, it is obvious that they needed more drying prior to being cooped up in a jar, GRRRRRRR. Shit, shit, shit, I had to go outside and grovel the ones out of the dirt I had just broadcast on the garden! So this is what eventuated.

Oh and the glossary rider: T = tablespoon, t = teaspoon, C = cup, D dessertspoon, g=grams, L = litres.

Thai Prawn Curry for Two

1 t coriander seeds

2 Curry leaves

¼  t Szechuan peppercorns

½ A red bell chilli

2 Cloves garlic

Thumb sized piece of ginger

1 t Preserved lemon

2 D Jaggary AKA palm sugar

1 T Frozen lemongrass

¼ t Shrimp paste

¼ t Mace

1 t Tamarind pulp

300ml Fish stock

¾ C Rice

3 T Mussel oil

1 t Turmeric

300g Prawns, shell off

½ an Onion sliced

2 Silverbeet leaves finely sliced

1 D Chana flour AKA chickpea

1 T Lime juice

A few green betel herb leaves AKA coriander

Heat the stock and add the tamarind to it, and gently simmer. Toast the first three ingredients in a hot pan, then pound in a mortar and pestle, peel the garlic and ginger and finely slice along with the lemon and jaggary, add to the mortar along with the shrimp paste and mace and pound it all to a paste, this takes some tenacity, you could opt for the food processor, but the mortar & pestle is far easier to clean.

Roll the prawns in the turmeric and fry quickly for about three minutes in a tablespoon of the hot mussel oil, remove and hold. Fry the spice paste for a couple of minutes in the rest of the oil, add the onions, once they are slightly browned stir in the flour and then pour in the stock. It will turn saucy pretty quickly, add the silverbeet and the prawns to the pan, stir about until silverbeet is wilted.

Somewhere along the way you should have cooked the rice!Serve with the rice and finish the curry with the green betel leaves and lime juice.

FYI coriander is never referred to by its correct name in our family, as Wikedstepmother hates it and swears it tastes like green beetles, but she cannot spell so it is betel I reckon.

I got up early today and processed some quinces, some for jelly and I pickled a couple of jars from Diana Henry’s Salt, Suger, Smoke, which is the second most important book for people that preserve, after Digby Laws Pickle & Chutney Cookbook which you now cannot buy, so if you ever see a second hand copy grab it. You can get Diana at Paper Plus Hawera like I did.

 
Then I made a new variation on Jo’s bread that went like this.
 

Grainy Bread

1½  C of warm water

1 sachet dried yeast, or 8g loose

Large t honey

2 cups of white flour

1 cup wholemeal flour

1/3 cup each of linseed, sesame seed and pumpkin seed

1 T chia seeds

Large t salt

A splash of oil

Dissolve the honey in the warm water and sprinkle over the yeast, give a quick stir and leave for 10-15 minutes until the yeast has activated. Add the other ingredients, I  got it to a consistency where you could just mix it with your hands. Cover and leave in a warm place until it has risen. Knock back and transfer to a tin, cover, prove again and then cook at 180 for about 40 minutes. I had it hot with butter, smoked salmon and cream cheese.

I tried to do Emma's tricky stylie photo thingy again with the loaf, needless to say the result is regrettable and un-publishable.