There’s very little you can rely on in life. It’s vastly unpredictable, which is both a blessing and a curse in itself. There are a few things, however, that are a certain.
You can be sure that when we creep from September into October that the air will change. The stiffness of the always slightly simmering summer heat evaporates and a fresh briskness takes a hold of the atmosphere. Somehow, the leaves all evolve into their crunchy matter overnight, dusting the sides of the pavement. And everyone, yes everyone, gets slightly sick. What can start as a slight sting in your temple and scratch in your throat can turn into full melodramatic curtains-shut, scarf-on-in-bed Lemsip induced hysteria.
I am currently nursing a head cold that has been threatening to rear its, well, head, for several days. I refused to let it take sanctuary on Sunday and proceeded to go out the house with wet hair, adding fuel to the already fluey fire. Monday has come around and I feel useless, a sad sack huddled under my duvet, trying to work out what I have in the cupboard to cure this cold.
I’ve always found in a time of streaming noses and aching bones that broths and soups are the only thing that will do. I know this isn’t exactly a revolutionary concept, but the heat and steam that comes off a thick and comforting soup is almost enough to make you forget that your head feels like it’s being smashed between two cymbals. I’m an advocate for spice, adding hot sauce to hot sauce, and find nothing else quite hits my senses like a dose of scotch bonnet chillies – though any will do when you’re in a pinch.
A bad cold can knock all the flavour receptors out of your pallet, so I like to add a hefty dose of all the cold bashing features on my spice rack to try and knock some sense back into them. A rich, coconutty, spicy thai soup is often my go to in this instance, and I’m hoping its creaminess will offer me temporary comfort in my hour of need.
When you’re feeling rough, the last thing you want to do is spend ages prepping something. Whilst it’s true that the best curry pastes are made from scratch, in order to unlock a freshness to the bite of your dish, a jar of green curry paste saves yourself a lot of time that is better spent on the sofa watching bad straight to Netflix movies. I always love the crunch of onion in my food, so I start by frying it up in some olive oil, until the onions start to go soft and translucent.
Next, I utilise the most useful utensil known to man and mince 2 gloves of garlic over the pan. I love garlics pungent smell, and the heat that comes when it’s cooked is sure to add a depth to the dish that will awaken the dull thud in my head. I let it simmer away for a couple of minutes until golden brown, adding a handful of finely diced chilli to infuse the onion.
Once the smells begin to swell from the pan, I add two healthy dollops of thai green curry paste and coat all the ingredients until it’s sticky and fragrant, for around 2 minutes before chucking in a can of coconut milk. I prefer to user lighter to bring down the sat fat levels, but am totally aware that sometimes the creaminess of full fat cannot be replaced, and I do not judge you either way.
Then, I add the nutrient section of the dish. I know that some people claim you cannot beat fresh vegetables, and that frozen ones are processed and blah blah blah. Of course, fresh is best. But fresh, in my experience, is often more expensive and needs to be eaten quickly. The problem with seasonal sickness is that it’s hard to predict, and the chances you have all the vegetables you need in the fridge ready to be chucked in are slim. I always keep a great big bag of frozen vegetables in the freezer for this very reason – you can add them to anything to pack out those essential vitamins and minerals for the road to recovery. I do, always have, fresh spinach in the fridge however, which is my one non frozen ingredient here – but packed with vitamin D that one craves in these cold months. Vitamin D is a valuable nutrient for staving off season affective disorder and depression as well, so your doing both mind and body a favour. I chuck a couple of generous handfuls of both the spinach and the frozen vegetables into the pan, and bring to the boil before leaving to gently simmer for 5-10 minutes.
Once everything is bubbling away nicely, and the frozen vegetables are tender, it’s time to add the next layer of seasoning to add the kick you to get your sinuses working. I like to add a healthy slug of hot sauce in at this point. My poison is Scotch Bonnet sauce or Sriricha, but anything that packs the fire will do. I turn the heat off and squeeze over as much fresh lime as I have in the fridge; sometimes it’s a quarter which will do, but it’s best when I can throw two or three whole limes in. Then, I sprinkle over basil and coriander. Again, yes fresh is best, but let’s be realistic with what you’ve got –I always rely heavily on the pre-chopped dried herbs for this segment. I tend to sprinkle with more chopped chillies and some spring onion if I have it in to add that final blow your head off touch.
Any Thai fan worth their, well, salt, will tell you that this recipe is calling for some salty goodness, traditionally found in the form of fish sauce, and 2 healthy slugs of this will definitely get you there. However, if you’re opting for a vegetarian or vegan dish, which I do these days, I simply replace the fish sauce with a good quality soy sauce and season with some extra salt if I don’t feel the umami coming through in the soupy broth.
Now we’re all seasoned, you’re ready to serve up. The leftovers will keep in the fridge for a couple of days, or can easily be frozen. Enjoy with a glass of water the size of your head and a big old pot of lemon and ginger tea. Have several tissues on standby. Cry because there is nothing to watch and everything really hurts.
punching 