Gingalangalgoolie.....

Had inspiration to cook up some fish yesterday with some Thai Green Curry sauce alas when I looked in the larder it was bare.....I'd run out of the pre-made paste I normally buy from my favourite Asian supermarket.

Luckily we have a rather well stocked spice cupboard so I got to work on making my own and I have to say that even though I was missing some Lemongrass (which any cook would normally consider integral to this paste) I was very pleased with the result....dare I say it was even better than the shop bought Thai import.

By far the most interesting ingredient for me was the dried Galangal that I'd bought a while back from Waitrose. I'd never really taken the time to analyse it before and I really liked it's citrus aroma which somehow seems to also have a savoury aspect to it.

It comes from the same family as Ginger so I can now see where that smell and taste comes from. There is even a Polish Vodka flavoured with the stuff which I simply have to get my hands on and not just because I think it'll be good for shots but because I think it'll make for a fantastically boozy fruit flan or trifle. Incidentally did you know that the Italians refer to trifle as "English soup"?

So anyway I took three slices of the dried Galangal and put them into my mortar along with one clove of garlic, one shallot, a couple of dried Kaffir lime leaves, a tablespoon of coriander seeds, a dozen or so fennel seeds, a splash of lemon juice, a second splash of vegetable oil, a third of fish sauce and finally a pinch of salt and a grind of pepper. Grind all these up until you have a nice paste then you are ready to use it.

Once the paste is made it'll last for quite a while so you can increase the number of ingredients accordingly but this was more than enough for two.

The sauce when done can be served with virtually anything you like, it'll work equally as well with fish as it would with chicken or beef and it really couldn't be easier.

In a pan over a medium/high add a little oil and then the curry paste. Cook this out for a bit so that all the spices, onion and garlic heat up to release their flavours and at the same time allow the texture to soften. Give it a couple of minutes the pour in the contents of a small can of coconut cream. Combine the whole lot as it bubbles away and that's pretty much it. The long you leave the sauce cooking the thicker it'll get and it'll also change colour becoming darker, the darker it gets the more nutty the flavour will become.