Jungle curry

 

Ingredients 

• 400g boneless chicken thighs
• 250g green beans
• 250g mini Thai eggplants (from Asian grocers)
• 100g Thai pea eggplants (from Asian grocers)
• 200g fresh baby corn
• 1/4 cup (60ml) vegetable oil
• 3 tsp raw sugar
• 2 1/2 tbs fish sauce
• 5 makrut lime leaves
• 600ml basic broth (recipe, p 79, or use store-bought chicken stock) or water
• 4 sprigs Thai basil (optional)
• Glutinous rice or white rice, to serve

Curry base

• 2 lemongrass stalks
• 70g fingerroot (krachai, from Asian grocers, substitute ginger)
• 40g red curry paste (recipe, at left, or use store-bought)

directions

• Prepare the curry base. Remove bottom and hard outer layers of the lemongrass and finely slice the centre section. Reserve the scraps for cooking the curry. Thinly slice the fingerroot. Pound using a mortar and pestle and set aside.
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  Cut the chicken into even-sized pieces.
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  Tail the beans and cut in half. Cut the mini Thai eggplants into quarters. Remove the Thai pea eggplants from their stems. Cut the baby corn in half.
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  In a casserole, heat the oil and fry the red curry paste, pounded lemongrass and fingerroot, stirring often, for 2 minutes. Add the sugar, fish sauce, lime leaves and chicken.
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  Pour over the broth, add the green beans and cook, stirring occasionally, for 8 minutes. Add the Thai eggplant quarters and continue cooking, stirring occasionally, for 2 minutes. Add the baby corn and Thai pea eggplant and cook, stirring occasionally, for 3-5 minutes. The quartered eggplants and green beans should be tender, and the baby corn and pea eggplants should be slightly crunchy. Taste and adjust seasoning, if necessary. Thai basil leaves can be added before serving with rice.