Connie’s notes
The sausages are store-bought. It’s just the rice that I cooked. The trick here to save time is to cook both the sausages and rice at the same time. How?
The most basic way to cook the sausages is to prick them all over, simmer them in a little water then fry them in rendered fat. But that means checking in on them incessantly to make sure that the water does not dry out before the sausages are cooked through. It also means rolling and turning them in rendered fat for even browning.
It’s hard to mind the coconut curry rice if you have to keep one eye on the sausages. So, the better way is to prick the sausages, place them on a rack and grill them in the oven. Or use an airfryer which would do a faster job since it doesn’t need preheating. With the sausage component out of the way, you can focus on the rice.
Ingredients
- 1½ tablespoons palm oil
- ½ cup sliced scallions white and light green portions only
- 1 one-inch knob ginger peeled and thinly sliced
- ¼ cup chopped cilantro stems and roots
- ¼ cup chopped toasted nuts (cashew nuts are used here)
- 1 small carrot peeled and chopped
- ¼ cup sultanas
- salt
- pepper
- 1½ cups basmati rice
- 1½ tablespoons curry powder
- fish sauce
- 1½ cups coconut cream
Instructions
- Heat the palm oil in a wok or frying pan.
- Add the cashew nuts, carrot and sultanas, sprinkle in a few pinches of salt and pepper, and cook for a minute.
- Pour in the basmati rice and sprinkle in the curry powder.
- Stir and add two tablespoons of fish sauce.
- Pour in a cup of water, set the heat to low, cover the pan and leave to allow the rice to absorb the water.
- Pour in the coconut cream and stir.
- Taste and add more fish sauce, as needed.
- Cover the pan once more and leave until all the coconut cream has been soaked up.
- Fluff up the rice with a fork, taste and adjust the seasonings, if needed.
- Tip: Squirt in a little lime or lemon juice and toss before serving.
Thai hot and sour soup (tom saap)
