There’s few better feelings in the world then when you turn on the television on a rainy Sunday afternoon, caught in that listless limbo between weekend and work, wanting to ‘get something going’ while simultaneously thinking,’what’s the point?’ and you find that the Indiana Jones trilogy is on. Back to back. And you’ve come in at the start of it.
Suddenly Sunday has a purpose! I’m thinking of Indiana Jones because I can remember when I was younger, that people used to imitate the man who says ‘chilled monkey brains’ so lasciviously in Temple of Doom, in the same way that I really enjoy shouting ‘Diplomatic Immunity’ in a fake South African accent a la Lethal Weapon. And the reason I’m thinking about that is because of our often grossout attitudes to food from other cultures and the things that they are prepared to eat.
If i had to, I’d far rather eat a chilled monkey brain than a Richmond Irish Sausage ‘without bits’ as advertised on television. Wake up people, it just means that they’ve ground up the bits a bit more! And why would you eat something if the producers were either a/ unsure what it was or b) too ashamed to say. Seriously, give me chilled monkey brains any day. I’ll face the firing squad with my eyes open, ta very much.
I live near an amazing Chinese supermarket and although I know that they sell things like whole roasted duck and the amusingly named ‘shrimp balls’, they are also a kickass cornucopia for a lot of alternative proteins. Why spend upwards of £3.00 in a health food store when you can get the same or better for half the price in an ‘ethnic’ shop? And this is what brings me to today’s little recipe, for green thai curry: Tofu, and specifically five spice tofu by Tofu-king.
It tastes quite close to smoked chicken and has a sturdy texture which means you can slice it quite thinly and it holds its shape. It reminds me of the the grilled chicken breast with green curry sauce that you can get at Busaba Eathai. And it is categorically without bits or chilled monkey brains.
Green thai curry recipe (deadly easy)
Coriander, a bunch
half a lime
sesame oil
fish sauce – 2 tblsp
1 clove garlic, sliced
2 red chillis
1 tin coconut milk
1 pinch of cumin
thumbnail of ginger chopped up
Veg of choice: pak choy, choy sum, spinach, courgettes, pea aubergines, pepper thinly sliced, whatever really …
Combine all the ingredients aside from the veg in a blender or Nutribullet. Blend it up.
Heat wok. Add blender contents. Then add veg of choice. Low simmer until the veg is at your preferred crunchiness.
Meanwhile thinly slice 3 square of Tofu-king five spice tofu.
On a separate board, chop up a chicken breast.
Take out half of the green curry and spoon into a bowl – arrange the tofu on top, all pretty like.
Meanwhile toss the chicken into the curry mixture and cook till done.
Depending on the amount of veg you’ve used, you may wish to bulk this out with rice.
This was really excellent but because of the mini revelation which is five spice tofu, I’m going to give the victory to the Vegans. Again.
Tofu-king update: Sadly, about five hours after eating, the tofu did give me the burps, so I’m calling this one a draw. I’m nothing if not fair.
I'll have what she's having 