Thanks for your question. You’re right! I didn’t say anything about quantities. I’ve been cooking for years but only recently started writing down recipes. I’ve not quite got the hang of the discipline required yet. Sorry.

The quantity of green curry paste I made yielded about 5 tablespoons of paste. For a pork green curry for four you need 2 - 3 tablespoons, so you should be OK with the quantity I suggested.

Please be aware, though, that Thai food is normally served as a meal consisting of several dishes. Therefore quantities in recipes say things like “serves 4-6″ when they would only be large enough to serve one or two - if that was all you were having.

For example, it’s quite usual to have a Thai soup, a spicy salad, a curry, and perhaps another dish, all together at the same time. It’s easy to say that the curry serves four - but that’s because there are three other dishes there.

Also note that Thai green curry is quite soupy in consistency. It’s intended to flavour the rice you soak it up with. Quite often the curry on its own will taste quite strong, but once you’ve diluted the flavour with rice, it balances nicely.

Thai cooking isn’t difficult but it does take a little practice - and quite a lot of confidence in your own palate to get the balance of flavours right. Keep tasting it, and adjusting the balance. It if tastes good to you, there’s a good chance it’ll taste good to your guests too. Good luck!

Give me a shout if you get stuck and I’ll try to help.

The pea aubergines can be a bit of an acquired taste. I used to pick them out and leave them on the side of the plate. They’re a bit like a tough mini gooseberry. (That doesn’t sound very inviting!) I like them now, but would be wary of serving them to people who weren’t used to authentic Thai food. In the UK it’s quite common in so-called Thai restaurants - places which serve food blanded down and adapted for the farang palate - to use green peas instead. Nah!

Hope this helps.

Sawasdee Pee Mai Kaa (Happy New Year)

I am going to make your Thai green curry paste tomorrow ,…. and have got all the ingredients from Hoo Hing on the North Circular.

You don’t say what quantity the ingredients make … is it enough for curry for 4? 6?.

p.s I saw the pea aubergines and wondered what they are used for. Bought the tiny baby pale green ones instead. Next time will buy the Tpea ones and follow your pork recipe.

Jackie

Thanks for your comment. Funnily enough I’ve never fancied the broccoli soup enough to make it. It’s just made with broccoli and salted water - no stock or anything. It’s interesting to read that people like it, though.

The only Irish pub I can think of offhand that's anything like that is the Bleeding Horse in Dublin - but that's very much an exception to the rule and has buckets of distinctive character.

But you wouldn’t have thought so, to see the alarmist comments from some members of the public on the FSA's website.