Chicken meatball coconut curry

SERVES FOUR INGREDIENTS

1 tbsp neutral cooking oil 700g skinless, boneless chicken thighs (or minced chicken or turkey)

2 tbsp good quality Thai red curry paste

4 spring onions, finely chopped 600ml full-fat coconut milk 1 clove of garlic, crushed

2 tsp fish sauce (or a good pinch of salt)

6 lime leaves, torn

1 stick of lemon grass, whole, bashed flat with a rolling pin

½-1 tsp dried red chilli flakes, to taste

½ tsp ground coriander

½ tsp ground cumin

½ tsp ground turmeric

100g long green beans, trimmed

150g asparagus, trimmed and split lengthways

100g baby corn, split lengthways

1 head pak choi, leaves split lengthways, cut into bite-sized pieces Steamed rice or Thai noodles, to serve

METHOD

Heat the oven to 200C/190C fan/Gas 6 and grease a large roasting pan with the oil.

Place the chicken, red curry paste, three quarters of the spring onions and a pinch of salt into a food processor and blitz to mince the chicken (if using mince, just mix everything together). Shape the mince into 20 meatballs, about the size of ping pong balls. Bake in the roasting pan for 10 minutes. Remove from the oven and turn each ball with tongs, then bake for 10 minutes more.

Meanwhile, in a large bowl, mix together the coconut milk, garlic, fish sauce or salt, remaining spring onions, lime leaves, lemon grass, chilli flakes and ground spices.

Remove the roasting pan from the oven and add the vegetables. Pour over the coconut mixture, then toss everything together. Arrange the meatballs and vegetables roughly in a single layer in the dish, making sure the lime leaves and pak choi leaves are submerged.

Bake for five minutes, then remove to shake everything around and turn the meatballs one last time. Return to the oven for a final eight minutes. Taste the broth for seasoning. Serve with the rice or noodles.

Recipe from LEON Happy Curries by Rebecca Seal and John Vincent (Conran Octopus, £16.99)