Thai Chicken & Mango Curry in 30 minutes!

A delicious creamy and sweet curry, this chicken and mango curry uses mango puree in the sauce as well as rich coconut cream. Simple to make in under 30 minutes from beginning to end, the Thai flavours sing in this delectable dish.

I picked up some great mangoes and snake beans at the market and decided to make a chicken curry with them. I think I was thinking along the lines of the Thai duck and lychee curries that I've eaten and how the fruit cools against the spicy coconut of the sauce and meat. I pureed some of the mango around the pip area as it was a bit too hard to cut it up into chunks and added it to the sauce. It ended up being so delicious that I decided that I just had to share it with you! This sweet and creamy curry is easily done in less than 30 minutes and makes enough to feed four hungry people.

One of the inevitable things about a new year appearing from around the curve is the oft-asked question, "So what is your new year's resolution?". I'm not a firm practitioner of the resolution but I will admit that there are certain things that I may want to do this year. But they aren't exactly your standard things like "lose weight, work out more (I would be setting myself up for a fail) and drink less."

Mine are more things like:
1) develop magic skills
2) visit Harry Potter world and Cuba
3) eat more food
4) see if it is too late to become a police detective

Perhaps I don't really understand this resolution stuff properly but this was all I could come up with while I was cooking and thinking (which is when I do my thinking apart from in the shower). I was so distracted that I didn't actually intend to blog this recipe which is why there is just a pic of snake beans that I thought were pretty enough to put on instagram (they weren't). I was merely playing around in the kitchen. I'm not even sure if this is an authentic Thai dish or not so the Thai is more in reference to the flavours rather than any claim to authenticity.

So tell me Dear Reader, do you do new year's resolutions? And if so, what are yours this year? Did you end up fulfilling last year's?

Thai Chicken & Mango Curry in 30 minutes

An Original Recipe by Lorraine Elliott

Preparation time: 10 minutes

Cooking time: 15-20 minutes

• Oil for frying
• 2 onions, peeled and chopped* I put them in a small food chopper with the garlic and ginger
• 4 cloves garlic, peeled and chopped
• 4 slices fresh ginger, peeled
• 3 tablespoons red curry paste
• 500g/1.1lb. chicken thigh fillets, cut into small pieces
• 2 cups coconut milk or coconut cream
• 2 cups chicken stock
• 1 large mango
• 1 bunch snake beans (or use green beans) chopped into 1 inch pieces
• Fresh coriander/cilantro and Thai basil to garnish
• Boiled rice to serve

Step 1 - First get the rice started because that will take about 15 minutes. Then place a few tablespoons of oil into a large wok or pot on medium to high heat. Add the onions, garlic and ginger and fry until golden. Add the curry paste and fry for a minute until very fragrant, then add the chicken pieces and coat in the paste. Add the coconut milk/cream and stock and place lid on and cook for 10 minutes until chicken has cooked through and the sauce has thickened. After 5 minutes, add the beans.

Step 2 - While the chicken is cooking, slice both cheeks off the mango and cut around the pip removing as much mango flesh as possible. Place the bits of mango flesh in the food chopper along with the the flesh from half of one cheek (remove the skin). Puree until smooth. Cut the rest of the 1.5 cheeks into small mango cubes.

Step 3 - Once chicken has cooked, add the pureed mango and taste for seasoning. As curry pastes vary I find that you may need to add fish sauce if it isn't salty enough, lime juice if it needs acidity or chilli if it needs spice. You shouldn't have to add sugar as the pureed mango gives the sauce additional sweetness. Once everything is cooked, add the mango pieces and top with the coriander/cilantro and Thai basil (go easy on the latter as it is strong). I pour a little of the coconut cream on top to make it a bit richer.