The British Museum Curator for South East Asia, Dr Alexandra Green cooks a Thai Curry
I loved cooking with Dr Alexandra Green S. P. Shaw Curator for Southeast Asia at The British Museum. I follow @britishmuseum on instagram and honestly think their account is one of the most brilliant and witty on all of instagram, which is why I got in touch and asked if there was anyone at the museum who might like to cook with me for my podcast. Alexandra put her hand up, said she liked cooking curry and would I like to travel to Oxford and cook with her in her kitchen. Of course I would. I have never met, let alone cooked with a museum curator before. I have traveled in quite a few South East Asian countries over the years, Malaysia, Thailand, Laos and Cambodia, and I’ve cooked various recipes from all these countries at home here in the UK, so I was very much looking forward to seeing how Alexandra wanted to make a curry. An American, Alexandra has lived in Malaysia and has considerable knowledge of South East Asian cooking. Alexandra was cooking from one of her favourite cookbooks that she’s owned since it first came out in 1991. The cookbook is called Thai Vegetarian Cooking written by the chef Vatcharin Bhumichitr.
INGREDIENTS
Big bunch of coriander, leaves and stalks separated
I heaped tsp of black peppercorns
2 cloves garlic
3 tbsp neutral cooking oil
1 tsp unsmoked paprika
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp ground coriander
1/2 tsp ground turmeric
1 tin of full fat coconut milk
800g potatoes, I used Cyprus, diced small
700g chickpeas, drained or not, depending on quality of the liquid
10 cherry tomatoes, halved
1- 2 tbsp fish sauce, or use soy sauce to keep it vegetarian
1/2 tbsp palm sugar, or use soft brown sugar
Small bunch of mint, or use Thai basil
Juice of 1 - 2 limes, depending on size
METHOD
Using a pestle and mortar or use a small blender, pound the garlic, coriander stalks and peppercorns together to form a coarse paste.
Add the oil to a saucepan and add the paste. Fry over a moderate heat for a couple of minutes to unlock flavour. Add the ground spices and pinch of salt and cook for 1 minute more. Add the coconut milk and bring to a simmer.
Add the potatoes, chickpeas and some water, around 100mls should do, put a lid on the pan and cook over a moderate / low heat or in the oven at 180C for around 30 minutes, until the potatoes are cooked through. Add the cherry tomatoes, and continue cooking for around 5 minutes to just soften.
Remove from the heat, add the fish sauce, or use soy sauce, to taste. Add the roughly chopped coriander leaves and mint and the juice of the lime, to taste.
Serve with steamed rice or rice noodles.