This is a lovely recipe - it's a BBC Good Food recipe, shared with me by a friend and the original recipe is HERE if you'd like it.
I love the sauce made with red curry paste, orange juice and zest - so good, and such a great idea.
I did adapt it a little and because I hate precise measurements (and don't think they're needed with this way of cooking) I've made them a little bit easy-going :)
What else did I just adapt a little?
First, the noodles - the recipe calls for sen lek - lek means small so the original uses thin noodles. I prefer the wider rice noodles so that's what I used - my message as always is to use what YOU choose.
Whichever you choose, soak or prepare the noodles according to your pack instructions, so they're ready to stir fry. Always run your soaked noodles under a cold tap until they're completely cold to stop them going gloopy and sticky.
Oh and beansprouts - I don't really like them so left them out, but I'll add here in my recipe where to add them if you're using them.
The only other thing is basil - in my opinion this should say Thai sweet basil (horapha) as Mediterranean tastes totally different and won't work at all. So I'd say if you can get Thai sweet basil, then that would be amazing, but if you can't just leave it out, and don't use Mediterranean basil.
And the coriander - I know a lot of people don't like it so if you don't, don't let that put you off this delicious, simple dish - just don't add coriander! It's still going to be very, very good.
OK, so I thought I'd try this one out just for me to see how I got on with it before I make it for anyone else, but now I can't wait for tomorrow dinner to cook it!
For my one portion, so just double for two, I used:
Some lovely rice noodles, soak or prepare ready for stir-frying, according to pack instructions
Zest and juice of half an orange (zest first before halving - not being patronising, just making sure no-one else is sometimes as dizzy as me)
1/2 - 1 tablespoon red curry paste, depending on the strength of your brand of curry paste (you don't want it overwhelming but you do want to taste it)
1 tablespoon fish sauce
1 teaspoon Demerara sugar (I didn't have any so just used white granulated)
1 tablespoon water
2 teaspoons cooking oil, or cooking oil spray (I used 20 sprays)
A small piece of fresh ginger, about thumb-sized, peeled and grated (it makes about 1 teaspoon)
I large garlic clove, squashed and minced
1/2 red pepper, sliced
a handful of mange tout or sugar snap peas, halved lengthways
a handful of beansprouts - optional, if liked
a few prawns, however many you want to eat, I had 7
a handful of Thai sweet basil, chopped - if you can get it - if not, just leave out
a handful of coriander leaves, chopped - optional, if liked
Stir together the orange zest and juice, red curry paste, fish sauce, sugar and water to make a sauce and set aside.
And get the other ingredients ready to go.
As I'd used the grater for the zest, I used it again to grate the ginger - which I prefer to having larger pieces, but am usually too lazy to get the grater out! (and yes I realise that that really IS lazy) - anyway that's why my ginger and garlic has little flecks of orange in with it!
Put a pan or wok over a medium heat, add the oil and then 2/3 of the ginger/garlic and fry, stirring all the time for 30 seconds or, as all Thai recipes say, 'until it smells good'.
I added a tiny splash of water too as garlic burns so quickly and wanted to make sure that didn't happen.
At any time in your cooking if it needs loosening a little, just add a splash of water. It's good to cook when things are moving fluidly and happily.
Add the red pepper and cook for another two minutes, stirring all the time.
Then throw in the sugar snap peas or mange tout and after stirring to ensure everything's mixed add the curry sauce mix.
I turned up the heat a little and added a splash more water and when it started to simmer, turned the heat back down to medium and added the prawns (add the beansprouts now too if you're using them).
Cook until pink - about two - three minutes - then throw in the last of the ginger/garlic, stir and add the noodles.
Stir to combine and make sure the noodles are hot, then remove from heat and serve, topping with coriander if using.
I really, really like this!
Great flavours - and one I'll be making again (and again).
