Try your hand
SAIGON SEAFOOD CURRY
Southern India and South-east Asia have many delicious coconut-milk-based seafood curries, but this Vietnamese version is one of my favourites. You can use any combination of seafood and serve with rice, noodles or chunks of crusty baguette – as they do in Saigon. 4 garlic cloves, roughly chopped
A large thumb-sized knob of ginger, roughly chopped 2 fresh red chillies, deseeded and roughly chopped 1 tsp Orsay Sea Salt
150g peanuts, roasted and coarsely ground
A handful of coriander leaves
Grated zest of 2 limes (reserve the juice) 2–3 tbsp peanut, light sesame or vegetable oil
2 onions, roughly chopped
2 lemongrass stalks, trimmed and finely sliced
1 tbsp jaggery or light muscovado sugar
2 tsp shrimp paste
1 tbsp fish sauce
1 tbsp curry powder or garam masala
2 × 400ml tins coconut milk
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper 2 medium-sized squid sacs and tentacles, cut diagonally into 4–6 pieces.
Roughly 8 shelled scallops
Roughly 8 shelled prawns
2 fillets fresh haddock, cod, ling or coley, cut into chunks A bunch of fresh basil leaves
Method •
Using a mortar and pestle, pound the garlic, ginger and chillies together with the salt to form a coarse paste. Add half the peanuts, the coriander and lime zest, and pound to an almost smooth paste. •
Heat the oil in a heavy-based pot and stir in the onion, until it begins to colour. Stir in the ginger, chilli and peanut paste for 2 mins, then add the lemongrass, jaggery, shrimp paste, fish sauce and reserved lime juice. Add the curry powder and coconut milk. Bring to the boil, reduce heat and simmer for 10 mins. Season. • Bring the liquid to the boil once more and gently toss in the seafood, starting with the squid, then the scallops and prawns, and adding the white fish at the last minute when the prawns turn opaque. Gently toss most of the basil leaves, sprinkle the rest over the top with the reserved ground peanuts and serve immediately.