Cheat’s green curry

I knew Thai basil was a major flavour in Thai cooking, but you don’t see it much in other cuisines. I wanted to see if you could make a curry with a classic basil pesto instead of buying a jar of green curry paste only for half of it to go in

Ingredients (SERVES 3)

For the curry paste:

z ½ onion, roughly chopped

z 2 tsp minced ginger

z 2 garlic cloves, crushed

z 30g low-fat basil pesto

z Juice of ½ lime

z 1 tsp curry powder

z 2 tbsp water

For the curry:

z 1 tbsp coconut oil

z 1 carrot, sliced

z 3 spring onions, sliced

z 1 red pepper, sliced

z 50g mangetout

z 500g chicken breasts, sliced

z Black pepper

z 1 tsp brown sugar

z 400ml light coconut milk

z 1 tbsp fish sauce

z Fresh basil, for garnish

METHOD

1. Add all of the ingredients for the curry paste to a blender and blitz.

2. Heat a wok or large frying pan on a the bin – green pesto is much more versatile. But I couldn’t see that anyone had really given it a go, so this was a bit trial and error to begin with. Anyway, I think I nailed it cooking for my family – see what you think.

high heat, add the coconut oil and all the vegetables and fry until they start to lightly char.

3. Add the chicken slices, season with black pepper and cook until there aren’t any visible pink bits – it doesn’t need to be fully cooked through at this stage.

4. Add the curry paste and fry for a further minute.

5. Reduce the heat to medium and add the brown sugar, coconut milk and fish sauce. Simmer for about 10 minutes until the sauce has reduced to the consistency of cream.

6. Serve garnished with fresh basil.

z Nutritional info, per serving: calories 461cal, protein 54g, carbs 14g, fat 21g.