A Cheating Cook

I am on tenterhooks as I write this, as Mr B and I are in the middle of negotiating to buy a house.  I'm blogging so I don't have to think about it too much and to prevent me from pacing the floor... Just imagine, soon I might have a shiny new kitchen to play in!  Oooooh! And it also means I can unpack all the fabulus kitchen things we were given by our lovely wedding guests as we don't have enough space in our current kitchen.  Added to that excitement is redecorating, picking furniture, discovering a new part of London.  Anyway, before I get carried away - back to food...

As the title of this post suggests, today's recipe includes a few cheats, and is probably not the most authentic Thai curry you'll ever eat, but by gum, it's tasty and hits all the right buttons when you need a bit of spice.

Red Prawn Thai Curry (serves 2)

200g cooked, peeled prawns

50g creamed coconut

1 heaped teaspoon of red Thai curry paste (or more if you fancy a bit more of a kick)

1 shallot, finely sliced

1 inch ginger, finely chopped or grated

1 red pepper

3/4 pint milk

1/4 pint water

Rice or noodles to serve

1) Add the creamed coconut to a pan on a medium heat and stir until melted and turning brown, then add the curry paste and stir for another couple of minutes until fragrant.

2) Add the ginger and shallots, and stir fry for a minute or so.  Then add the peppers.

3) After 3 minutes add the milk and water and leave to simmer softly for around 10 minutes.

4) Meanwhile, cook your rice or noodles according to the instructions

5) At the last minute, throw the prawns into the curry sauce.  You only need to heat them through - don't re-cook them or they will go horrible and rubbery.  You could always use fresh prawns, but this was a fast throw together meal for me and I didn't have them.

Serve with rice or noodles and eat whilst piping hot!