Thai Green Curry with Prawns and Sugar Snap Peas

Ingredients

• 500g raw king prawns, peeled and deveined
• 200g sugar snap peas
• 2 lemongrass stalks, bashed and bruised
• 20g fresh ginger, finely grated
• 3 garlic cloves, finely grated
• 400ml full-fat coconut milk
• 2 tbsp fish sauce
• 1 tsp light brown sugar
• 1 tbsp coconut oil
• 3 tbsp Thai green curry paste
• 150g baby sweetcorn, halved lengthways
• 1 lime, juice only
• 1 small bunch fresh Thai basil leaves
• 300g jasmine rice
• 1 red chilli, thinly sliced, to serve
• 3 spring onions, thinly sliced on an angle, to serve
• 1 small bunch fresh coriander, leaves picked, to serve
• 1 lime, cut into wedges, to serve
• Prawn crackers, to serve
• Quick cucumber pickle (ajat), to serve

Method

1. Rinse the jasmine rice under cold water until it runs clear — this washes off the surface starch and stops the grains gluing together. Cook according to packet instructions, usually 12 minutes, then keep covered off the heat until ready to serve.
2. Heat the coconut oil in a large, deep frying pan or wok over a medium-high heat. Add the curry paste, lemongrass, ginger and garlic and fry for 2 minutes, stirring constantly, until fragrant and the paste turns a shade darker at the edges. Watch the garlic — once it's pale gold and smelling sweet, move on. Burnt garlic and scorched paste turn the whole curry bitter.
3. Pour in the coconut milk and stir to combine, scraping the paste off the base of the pan so the coconut breaks it down into the sauce. Add the finely chopped spinach, fish sauce and brown sugar, then bring to a gentle simmer for 3 minutes until the sauce deepens to a proper jade green and the spinach melts into the base.
4. Drop in the baby sweetcorn and cook for 4 minutes until just beginning to soften but still with snap.
5. Add the sugar snap peas and cook for a further 2 minutes until bright green and squeaky — you want bite, not mush.
6. Pat the prawns dry with kitchen paper and season with a pinch of salt — water means steam, and steam means rubbery prawns. Slide them into the simmering sauce in a single layer rather than tipping them in as a heap. Crowd the pan and they poach in their own released liquid; spread them out and they cook in 3–4 minutes flat, turning pink and curling into tight commas. Fish out the lemongrass stalks.
7. Stir in the lime juice off the heat. Taste the sauce now — most of the salt comes from the fish sauce, but a final splash of fish sauce or a pinch of salt ties it all together. Taste, season, taste again. Adjust now, not at the table.
8. Spoon the rice into warm bowls and ladle the curry over the top. Scatter with the sliced red chilli, spring onions and picked coriander leaves, tear over the Thai basil, and tuck a lime wedge alongside. Serve with prawn crackers and a small bowl of cucumber pickle for crunch and cool-down.