Don't Say Never Trust A Skinny Cook: Thai Red Curry

I've been wanting to make red curry for a while but have never gotten round to it as I wasn't sure what to put in the dish other than not wanting duck. Recently I got the Hairy Bikers diet book as it was part of a deal on Amazon and I couldn't spot another book I wanted in a hurry (it was 3 for £10). Well, I'm so glad I got it - the recipes are amazing and food that I'd want to eat regardless of the fact that it's healthy and good for me. They counted calories to lose weight so that's the only nutritional info given but you can see just by glancing through the ingredients that there's nothing bad in it. They say that this recipe is 286 calories without rice (50g of uncooked basmati rice is 176 calories so the total calories in the dish is 462), which is nothing short of miraculous for a thai curry. What's even more miraculous is the fact that it tastes incredible and very similar to regular thai curries, I might have to give my green curry the same treatment next time. For once, I don't think I've made any changes to the recipe, it's pretty much perfect just the way it is. Actually, i've changed the cornflour to water ratio as it's like concrete - whatever you do don't leave it alone before it goes in the curry or your spoon will be stuck!

Thai Red Curry Recipe

Serves 4

Ingredients

1tbsp sunflower oil

3 chicken breasts

1 red pepper

1 yellow pepper

400ml low fat coconut milk

250ml water

2tbsp red curry paste

6 kaffir lime leaves

4tsp fish sauce (soy sauce will do at a pinch)

1tsp caster sugar

150g mangetout, topped and tailed

1½tbsp cornflour

200g basmati rice

Method

Cook the rice.

Slice the peppers and chicken into strips.

Heat the oil in a non stick wok and then add the chicken and peppers, stir-frying them for a couple of minutes.

Add the coconut milk, water, curry paste, lime leaves, fish sauce and sugar and let simmer.

Leave the curry to cook for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally to get the curry paste to dissolve.

Add the mangetout and cook for a few more minutes.

While the curry continues to cook, mix the cornflour with 3tbsp water in a small bowl and immediately add to the curry.

Stir the cornflour mix into the curry and keep stirring frequently until the chicken has cooked through. It's amazing how much the sauce thickens up!

Serve the curry and rice, taking care to remove the kaffir lime leaves so they don't get eaten (they won't taste very nice!).