A Stage manager's recipe
About a year ago I listened to a segment on Radio 4 (please, don't judge) where the speaker discussed setting yourself goals, however ambitious, that you want to achieve over a period of time. The premise of this discussion was that, by having a tangible result in mind, you will subconsciously work towards this goal until it is achieved. Upon arriving at Bristol, and even for some time before, I had decided that I wanted to end first year by heading up to the Edinburgh Fringe festival. I kept this goal in mind, and lo and behold, here I am! I’m lucky enough working with an amazing cast, a ridiculously enthusiastic director and one of the most hard working production teams I have ever met! Having a show that's on at 10.15am has its ups and downs, it's a struggle walking for 30 minutes through the centre of Edinburgh every morning ready to get ourselves set up in the venue. On the plus side, however, being a morning show means that we have ridiculous amounts of time to make the most of the festival and already the show tallies are building up. One of the highlights of the past week have been the meals that we have enjoyed, as a team, in the flat. This gives us time to talk about our day, what we have seen, what we would recommend and also time to plan so as to make the most of 2-4-1 bargains!! I am a notorious foodie so it is a given that my blog post would include a recipe of some sort so, here it is: Harden Place Thai Red Curry Serves 8 For the sauce: 6 Chicken Thigh Fillets (Skinned and Boned, preferably) 2 tsp Tandoori Spice Mix 1 tin Coconut Milk - pop this into the fridge overnight before you want to cook 1 Aubergine (sliced into 1cm thick half moons) 1 Red Pepper (chopped into squares) 2 Red Onions in thin wedges Vegetable Oil, to brush 1/2 jar Thai Red Curry Paste (Now is not the time to make your own!) 1 block Coconut Cream 1 tin Beansprouts 1 tin Bamboo Shoots Salt and Pepper For the rice: 2 mugs Long Grain Rice Salt 1/2 Bunch Coriander Method: Dice the chicken thigh fillets into smallish chunks. Toss in a non-reactive bowl with the spice mix and 2tbsp of the thick, white cream from the top of the chilled tin of coconut milk. If you have the time then it is well worth letting this rest, undisturbed, in the fridge so that the flavours have time to get to know each other. This is the secret to a really authentic tasting curry with depth of flavour. About 6 hours later, take the chicken out of the fridge. Pre-heat a griddle pan until it is smoking hot. Brush all the sliced veggies with a light coating of oil an sear on the griddle until branded with charred stripes and beginning to yield. In a large, heavy bottomed, pan, coated in a little oil, seal the chicken pieces and allow to brown. Stir the curry paste into the chicken and allow to sizzle until fragrant and heady. Add the remainder of the coconut milk, swish the tin our with some boiling water and chuck the creamed coconut in (it is helpful to have this slowly softening in a bowl of scaldingly hot water beforehand so that it dissolves more readily). Add the veggies to the pan along with the drained beansprouts and bamboo shoots. Season well, and leave to bubble away whilst you cook the rice. A foolproof method for this is to add double the volume of of boiling water to rice (so here, for 8 people, 2 mugs of rice needs 4 mugs of boiling water). Boil for 10 minutes with a generous pinch of salt. Then turn the heat off and immediately cover with a tea towel and a lid. Leave well alone for another 5 minutes. This will allow the rice to continue absorbing water, leaving it fluffy and cloud like. Chop the coriander and use a fork to fluff it through the rice. Spoon into bowls and top with the curry. Enjoy with a large glass of wine and whilst contemplating the merits of that piece of feminist interpretive dance you saw in the afternoon.
