Meals Matter

Thai Yellow Pumpkin & Seafood Curry

Contributed By: pina
Nigella Bites/Nigella Lawson

"I use the term 'TV dinners' loosely. The recipes aren't written just with sofabound slumping in mind. It's a good idea to have something up your sleeve that you can cook quickly, and simply, when you've got friends coming over to supper midweek after work. This is that something. Don't let the length of the list of ingredients put you off. You really could go to the supermarket at lunchtime and buy everything you need. What's more, most of it keeps: salmon, raw prawns, lime leaves and lemongrass in the deep-freeze (and all but the salmon can be used from frozen); curry paste in the fridge; the coconut milk, fish sauce, fish stock concentrate and turmeric in the cupboard. In other words, one shopping expedition, many curries."

Ingredients

400ml (14 oz) tin coconut milk

1-2 tbsp Yellow (or red) Thai curry paste

350ml (1 ½ c) fish stock

3 tbsp Fish sauce

2 tbsp Palm sugar or caster sugar

3 Lemon grass stalks, each cut into three and bruised with the flat of a knife

3 Kaffir lime leaves, de stalked and cut into strips

½ tsp Tumeric

1 kg (2 ¼ lb) pumpkin (or butternut squash), peeled and cut into large bite- sized chunks

500g (1 ½ lb) salmon fillet, preferably organic, skinned and cut into large bite- sized chunks

500g (1 ½ lb) peeled raw prawns

Pak choi or any other green vegetables of your choice

Juice of half-1 lime

Small bunch of coriander (cilantro) chopped, to serve

Preparation

Skim the thick creamy top off the tin of coconut milk and put it, over medium heat, into a large saucepan or casserole with the curry paste. Let it sizzle and, using a fork, whisk or wooden spoon, beat milk and paste together until combined. Still beating, gently, add the rest of the coconut milk, fish stock, fish sauce, sugar, lemongrass, lime leaves and tumeric. Bring to a boil and then add the pumpkin. Cook on a fast simmer until the pumpkin is tender, about 15 minutes, although different sorts of pumpkins can vary enormously in the time they take to cook; some squash take as little as 5 minutes.

As I mentioned, you can cook the curry up till this part in advance, maybe leaving the pumpkin with still a tiny bit of bite to it (it will soften and cook as the pan cools). Either way, when you're about 5 minutes away from wanting to eat, get ready to cook the seafood.

So, to the robustly simmering pan, add the salmon and prawns (if you're using the prawns from frozen they'll need to go in before the salmon). When the salmon and prawns have cooked through, which shouldn't take more than 3-4 minutes, stir in the green veg you're using - sliced, chopped or shredded as suits - and tamp down with a wooden spoon. When the pak choi is wilted, squeeze in the juice of half a lime, stir and taste and then add the juice of the remaining half if you feel it needs it. Take the pan off the heat or decant the curry into a large bowl, and sprinkle over the coriander; the point is the coriander goes in just before serving. Serve with more chopped coriander, for people to add to their own bowls as they eat, and some plain Thai or basmati rice.

Cook's Notes

If substituting pumpkin for butternut squash, it will cook much faster than pumpkin.

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Recipe Details

Total Preparation Time: 15 to 30 minutes
Ingredients: Salmon
Shellfish
Vegetables
Actual Cooking Time: 45 minutes
Number of Servings: 4
Origin: Asian
Special Features: Quick to Prepare (under 30 minutes)
Meal Type: Entree