Thai Green Chicken Curry

We have a few 'big league' dinners coming up this week, so we're filling in the in-between days with some simpler, classic dishes. This is a Marcus Wareing recipe from his book 'One Perfect Ingredient'. Now, friends of ours know we like a good curry. This was fantastic! I mean, the balance of heat to coconut coolness to herby magnifcence. It's all in here and relatively healthy. Don't be stingy with the cilantro, it's key. Also, I added about 6 kaffir lime leaves and an extra Thai chile too the spice paste, which was the X factor.

CURRY
vegetable oil
1 can coconut milk
2 carrots, peeled and cut into chunks on the diagonal
250 g tenderstem broccoli
200 g mangetout, halved on the diagonal
6 chicken thighs, skinless, boneless
150 g beansprouts
1 small bunch cilantro, leaves only, chopped
sea salt

SPICE PASTE
2 green chillies, roughly chopped with the seeds
1 stalk lemongrass, thinly sliced
1 bunch cilantro
80 g fresh root ginger, peeled and chopped
2 garlic cloves, quartered
1 onion, cut into eighths
5 tablespoons fish sauce
50 g caster sugar
1 teaspoon fine salt

Blitz the spice paste ingredients to a chunky puree in a blender or food processor. Heat a little oil in a large frying pan and stir-fry the paste for 5 minutes. Pour in 200ml cold water, stir, and bring to the boil. Simmer for 15 minutes. Stir in the coconut milk and bring back to the boil, then strain into a clean, large pan. Bring to a gentle simmer and taste for seasoning - you may want to add more fish sauce, sugar. or salt. Keep the pan of sauce over a low heat.

Bring a large pan of salted water to the boil. Blanch the vegetables separately - boil the carrots for 3 minutes, the broccoli for 2 minutes, and the mangetout for 1 minute. As each is blanched, remove with a slotted spoon and refresh under the cold tap. Set aside.

Heat a little oil in a frying pan over a medium to high heat and sear the chicken for about 10 minutes until golden brown on all sides. Add to the sauce and simmer for about 10 minutes until almost tender. Add the blanched vegetables and simmer for a further 4 minutes. Meanwhile, toss the beansprouts briefly in a dry frying pan over a medium heat until hot. Add the chopped coriander, sprinkle with oil and sea salt, and toss to mix.

Remove the chicken from the sauce and slice into bite-sized strips on the diagonal. Serve the vegetables and chicken topped with the hot beansprouts, with the sauce spooned over and around.