Far Eastern Curry

A quickie curry/soup thing.

(zen quantities, this will make about two bowls of curry)
Two chicken breasts (I used some port escalopes in mine, for something a bit different), cut into strips.
Egg noodles
200-300ml of coconut milk.
About two large ladles of chicken stock
Nam Pla
Groundnut oil
Tsp of sugar
A couple of cherry toms, halved and some mange-tout
Maybe some spinach leaves if you fancy

For the curry paste:
A couple of small red chillis
Two blades of lemongrass
Large pinch of Cumin
A large shallot
Two cloves garlic
Two limes
Tsp of paprika
Handful of fresh coriander leaves.

To make the curry paste, chop and deseed the chilli and place in a blender, add the spices, coriander leaves, garlic and the chopped shallot. Peel off the hard outer layer of bark from the lemongrass, and cut off the thinner part of the stem (this can sit in your curry, for extra flavour while it cooks), add to the blender. Grate the rind of one of the limes into the blender, then add the juice from both limes. Blitz into a coarse-ish paste and set aside.

Heat the groundnut oil in a pan and add the chicken/pork. Stir-fry for half a minute and then add the curry paste and the toms and mange-tout. Stir quickly to heat through and release some of the lovely fresh aromas. Then add the coconut milk, chicken stock, a healthy slosh of nam pla, and a pinch of sugar. Let this chunter away for about 10 minutes, being careful not to let it boil too vigorously, as this can cause the coconut milk to separate. Add the spinach if you like, and cook for another 2 minutes.

While the curry is cooking away, cook the egg noodles according to the packet. Drain and drop the noodles into the bottom of some bowls. To serve, pour the curry over the noodles and add a leaves of coriander to garnish.