Red Prawn and Mango Curry

I'm back! I can't say how regularly I shall be posting as work is still keeping me busy, although things are definitely starting to ease off now, but at least I am trying to get back in the groove :)

Thanks to my dear friends Carlott@ and George over on Violets' Pantry I unexpectedly found myself eagerly checking my local post office earlier this week for a parcel containing a copy of Nigella's brand new book, Nigella Express. In all truth I was going to hold off ordering this book as reviews have been mixed, and I'm not altogether sure that "express" is my way of cooking. At first glance the book is very similar in style to Nigella Bites but with lots more photos. The recipes are simple but for anybody living outside the UK, like me, many of the "express" ingredients are surely impossible to source locally. Also, although these ingredients make it possible to greatly shorten preparation and cooking time, it makes the resulting dish rather more expensive than if you prepared it from "scratch". So really a book for people poor on time, who can source the express ingredients, and don't mind spending a bit more than necessary to put a tasty plate of food on the table. A nicely presented book though that I am more than happy to add to my collection and look forward to working my way through.

Even before I had the book the recipe for Red Prawn and Mango Curry caught my eye, so that is where I decided to start my foray into the world of "Nigella Express".

Well to start off, packets of butternut and sweet potato cubes are not to be found here as unfortunately there isn't a branch of Waitrose in my local village. Luckily I had a started butternut in the fridge so could cut off a slice weighing about 200g. However the sweet potatoes I had in the house were all too big at about 400g each and therefore I had to go and buy a very small one so that the combined weight of butternut and sweet potato would be approximately 350g as specified in the recipe.

For the coconut milk and chicken stock, I put 50g of coconut cream and half a Kallo stock cube into a heat resistant jug and poured over 450ml of boiling water ... well, actually, what I did was place the jug with the coconut cream and stock cube on the digital scale, put it back to zero, and poured in 450g of boiling water. Much more exact! To this I added the fish sauce, so all prepared for the second part of the procedure.

The recipe also calls for mango cubes, diced. Now I don't know whether you can buy packets of mango cubes in the UK but here you most definitely cannot. The average-sized mango I bought was far more than the 150g required so I used half of it and hope the other half will keep alright in the fridge, wrapped in clingfilm, to be used up tomorrow in a smoothie.

I didn't have wok oil so I used 1 tablespoon of safflower oil and then added a dash of sesame oil, and a pinch each of powdered ginger and garlic salt to the broth as it was simmering with the vegetables.

Mr. P pronounced it delicious! Well considering that we polished the whole lot off served on basmati rice, I suppose we must have liked it :) Though please tell me, with that list of ingredients how could it fail to be a winner. Nigella suggests that chickpeas could be substituted for the vegetables and pineapple for the mango ... ummmm, maybe something to try next time.

For me, this had a nice rounded taste but could have been a bit spicier, so I think I'll use more paste next time. Using the recipe as a template I think it would also work with chunks of white fish. Don't think I can give it a Quick Midweek designation though unless I move country.

Red Prawn and Mango Curry

1 x 15ml tbsp wok oil
1 x spring onion
1 and a half 15ml tbsp red Thai curry paste (or according to taste)
200ml coconut milk
250ml chicken stock (made from concentrate)
2 tsp fish sauce (nam pla)
1 x 350g packet butternut squash and sweet potato cubes
200g packet frozen king prawns
1 x tsp lime juice
150g mango cubes, diced
3-4 x tbsp chopped fresh coriander

1. Heat the wok oil in a large, heavy-based frying pan and fry the sliced spring onion for a minute and then add the curry paste.

2. Whisk in the coconut milk, chicken stock and fish sauce and bring to the boil.

3 . Tip in the butternut squash and sweet potato cubes and simmer, partially covered for about 15 minutes or until tender.

4. Drain the prawns under running water to remove excess ice and tumble them into the pan. Let the sauce come back to the boil and when it does add the lime juice and diced mango, then cook for another minute or so until the prawns are cooked through.

5. Sprinkle with the chopped coriander as you serve over plain rice or wide rice noodles, or even both.