There’s plenty of good healthy light protein in prawns, and this is a nice way to eat them. Eat this dish with Thai fragrant rice, a good way to present them is to keep the head and tail on, and only shell the middle. It makes the dish look more stylish!

Ingredients  for Two People
8 Prawns
1 Tablespoons Red Curry Paste
2 Tablespoons Fish Sauce
1/2 Teaspoon Sugar
100 ml Coconut Milk
50 ml Water
2 Red Chillies
2 Kaffir Citrus Leaves
2 Tablespoons Oil

Preparation
1. Clean the prawns, take off the middle shell leaving the head and tail intact. Cut the prawn down the back and remove the black thread ‘gut’ which is very off-putting.
2. Fry the shrimp in oil for 30 second and remove onto a plate.
3. Into the same pan, put the curry paste and oil and fry for a few seconds to release the flavours.
4. Add the coconut milk, sugar, fish sauce, and water and fry on a low heat while mixing, it only takes a few minutes to make.
5. Chop the chillies into halves, and add to the frying pan.
6. Serve the prawns by arranging them on a plate and pouring the curry sauce over them. Garnish with slices of the kaffir leaves. When you eat it, east some of the kaffir leaves too, they’re part of the flavourings.

Serve With
Thai Fragrant Rice

This is a dish of scrambled, curried eggs served with shrimp and spring onion. Thailand has China to the north and India to the west and this dish is the Thai merging of those two traditions. Here I’ve used shrimp, you can also use crab and other seafood.

Ingredients  for 2 People
75 gms Shrimp
1 Egg
1 Spring Onion
1 Sprig Coriander
3 Garlic Cloves
1 Teaspoon Curry Powder
1 Teaspoon Sugar
1 Teaspoon Salt
2 Tablespoons Condensed Milk
2 Tablespoons Light Soy Sauce
1 Tablespoon Oyster Sauce
4 Tablespoons Oil
50 ml Water

Preparation
1. Chop the garlic and fry in the oil.
2. Clean the shrimp put into frying pan with garlic.
3. Mix the curry powder with the water, sugar, salt, light soy sauce, and oyster sauce, and add to the frying pan.
4. Fry for 1/2 minute.
5. Chop the coriander and spring onion and add to the pan.
6. Scramble the egg and add it to the pan.
7. Add the condensed milk, fry for 2 minutes and serve.

Serve With
Hot Rice or Snacks

Shrimp Sour Curry is a traditional food of Central & Southern Thailand. Think of it as curried soup. Although the ingredients are the same for the two refions, the south of Thailand variation tastes more spicy because they add more dry chilli during cooking. The Central Thailand version is closer to sweet and sour soup and is the one given here. This is medium hot.

Ingredient  For 2 People
50 gsm Sour Curry Paste.
800 ml. Water.
50 gms. Tamarind
8 Shrimp
50 gms. Pak Kra Chate (Or Green Vegetable)
50 Long Beans (Or green beans)
4 Oyster Mushroons
4 Tablespoons Fish Sauce.
2 Tablespoons Sugar.

Preparation
1. Clean the shrimp, ensure you cut the shell and remove the entrails which can spoil the appearance of the dish.
2. Clean the oyster mushrooms, pak kra chate, and long beans and chop into 3 cm pieces, set aside.
3. Mix the tamarind with water, squeeze until the water goes brown and taste sour. For this curry we need the sour tamarind water but not the tamarind, seive the mixture to remove the tamarind and place the sour water into a pan.
4. Add the sour curry paste to the pan and stir over the heat until the water boils.
5. When water start boiling, add the fish sauce and sugar in and taste it. You are aiming for sweet, sour, salty, spicy taste, you can adjust the sugar, salt and curry paste to achieve this.
6. Add the vegetables and shrimp and cook over the heat for 2 minutes.