Thai curry again and again!

Y'know, there's been talk. I haven't been talking, but there has been talk* concerning my fantastic new green Thai curry recipe.

One of the best things about the Taste of London festival was the free brochure, featuring recipes from some of the attending restaurants. I've been interested in learning how to make a good green curry for a while (because I like it but find restaurant versions too hot for my preference). So I was pleased to see that the Blue Elephant had published their recipe in the brochure.

Of course, I shamefully adapted it and took a few ideas from delicious magazine's 'freeze ahead' version too. This recipe should make enough for four modest portions, so if you're cooking for two you can freeze one batch and easily heat it in the microwave later.

I make mine with chicken, so my first step is to cut two large breasts (no comment) into chunks and fry it over a low-ish heat in a big wok, with a bit of vegetable oil. Once it's starting to look a bit cooked, I add three tablespoons (45ml) of green curry paste. This is the only cheaty bit of the recipe: I use ready-made paste, to save all the effort of grinding and blending! The quality of shop-bought pastes varies quite a bit, as does the amount of chilli they use, so shop around until you find one you like.

Anyway - once the paste and chicken starts sizzling happily I add four or five chopped spring onions, half a chopped red onion and one stalk (stem?) of lemongrass cut very finely. You can also add some aubergine or other appropriate vegetables at this stage. After another couple of minutes, add a 400g tin of coconut milk and let the whole thing simmer for 5-10 minutes.

At this stage, add the juice of a whole lime, one torn kaffir lime leaf, a handful of basil leaves and a pinch of fresh coriander. Give it a stir - at this point it should be rather thin. My 'freeze ahead' addition here is to add 100g of ground almonds to thicken and make it go further, but this is a bit calorie-tastic! Without the almonds it may only make two portions rather than four, but it won't be as fattening. If it looks a bit gloopy once you've added the almonds, stir in a few splashes of water until it looks about the right consistency.

And that's you done: serve it with some steamed rice and Thai crackers.

*A bun for anyone who recognises the film reference and isn't ashamed to admit it!

Best possible taste

Sometimes we ask someone's opinion because we suspect they'll think the same as we do, and just want our own opinion verified. It's just nice to have some agreement and do that smug nodding.

Such was my attitude towards this year's Taste of London festival. I wanted to go along and confirm my opinion of certain restaurants. I checked the list of restaurants attending beforehand, read their menus and made a list of what I wanted to eat. Then I'd be able to go, "yes, just as I thought - Busaba Eathai does serve great chicken satay. Boy, do I know resrtaurants!"

Fortunately I left my list at home. Also some of the queues were a bit too long to handle and some dishes didn't look as nice as they had sounded. So I wandered blindly, checking the menu at each stall as I went and tasting a variety of different things from places I didn't know very well. In other words, got the best from the festival.

My highlights were sizzling wagyu beef on hot rocks from Cocoon, tunapica from Asia de Cuba, lemon tart with strawberries from Rhodes 24 and prawn pomelo with peanut from Busaba Eathai (ok, so a couple of old favourites sneaked in, and I was right ...).

The highlight of the festival overall, though, wasn't food-based. Cocoon restaurant also offered a sake tasting. We were led through six or seven types of sake by a very friendly and knowledgeable sommelier. Unfortunately it was over-popular, cramped and noisy (just in front of the food counter); it definitely merits its own stand or masterclass next year.

Biscuit princess

When someone asks, "what would you like for your birthday?" the correct response is always "biscuits".

I was lucky enough to receive some fantastic birthday biscuits this year. They came in a pretty pink tin, from Fortnum and Mason, which winds up and plays 'Happy Birthday To You'. The biscuits themselves are lemon curd, chocolate chip and shortbread varieties and are delicious with tea.

Truly biscuit royalty!

Tea time again

Remember I mentioned the Sikkim tea at Kim's Coffee House in Saffron Walden? What do you mean, no?!

I love this tea and I have sampled it several times when I have visited the coffee house. On our last visit we picked up a leaflet which gave some information about the supplier, the Kent Tea and Trading Company. We visited their website and were pleased to find that we could order the tea to be delivered to our very home, for enjoyment in our own little mugs and everything!

It's delicious - a second flush, so quite a lot of fruitiness and moisture, but with the distinctive Darjeeling edge. I always want to describe that as 'tobacco taste', no matter how unappetising it sounds.

Anyway, if you like your Himalayan silver tip teas, I'd recommend it. So, some good things do come out of Kent, then!

Next time you're in the Maldives

Ok, so this is a bit self-indulgent. Even if you are about to go on holiday to the Maldives it's unlikely you'd go to the same resort as I did. And it's not the sort of place where you can pop over to another island for dinner! Nevertheless, I was pleased enough with my Maldives restaurant experience to write about it.

The resort we visited (Komandoo island) has an a la carte restaurant called Aqua, which opened fairly recently. It gives the chef a chance to be a little bit more experimental and extravagant with food than he would in the 'all-inclusive' restaurant. Generally food for holiday-makers in the Maldives tends to be good, but unimpressive. It's healthy, well-cooked and often delicious but unmistakeably mass-produced and calculated to please all. So I was delighted to be offered an alternative, and I was very impressed and pleasantly surprised by what we found.

I ate an amazing seafood and pasta dish with tomato sauce, a lobster bisque, lemongrass and curry soup, reef fish served with potatoes and salsa, plus too many amuse bouches to mention. This is on several occasions, of course, rather than at one huge blow-out ...! The food has Maldivian, Indian and pan-Asian influences, with distinctly European presentation. I think I'd even give it one of my highest accolades: it's London restaurant standard!

So, if you are ever passing ...! Actually, I just noticed on the island's website that Aqua is "designed to offer our guests a culinary art beyond their expectation", which is more or less what I just said, but shorter!

If you can do without the MSG

Sticky beef with cashews

Go on then - have a recipe. Half borrowed from the June issue of delicious magazine and half improvised the night before last.

'Toast' some cashew nuts in a dry frying pan for just a moment, before adding some chopped ginger (according to personal taste - I add loads). Fry it for a couple of minutes, then add four dessert spoons of light soy sauce, two dessert spoons of tomato ketchup, a teaspoon of honey and a pinch of chilli flakes. You could try adding some sweet chilli dipping sauce, if you felt adventurous! Add 50ml of water and turn up the heat, then add some broccoli florets and cook the whole thing until the broccoli is done.

Separately, pan grill a sirloin steak until it's slightly underdone for your own preference (but I think you'll find medium rare is correct ...!). Leave it for a moment, then cut it into long, thin strips. At the last minute, stir the beef strips into the other ingredients. Serve it all on top of some egg fried rice with a squeeze of lime juice.

Stick a fork in me ...

Ready to bleat

There's been a bit of fuss lately in the free London 'newspapers' because some Pret a Manger sandwiches aren't made on the shop premises. They're put together at a larger branch and transported to smaller ones.

So? Does that make a difference? I mean, how fresh do you need?! They taste the same, you were oblivious two weeks ago and it's not as if they are stale or mouldy when they reach you. Really - just get over yourselves!

I don't care where they are made: I quite enjoy a nice Pret picnic somewhere nice in the warmer weather. What you want to worry about is when smokers come along and ruin your cosy spot!