There’s nothing wrong with taking shortcuts in your cooking. I do it all the time, especially during the busy week night evenings.
One of the shortcuts I often do is using a Thai green curry paste in my cookery. Although nothing beats one made from scratch, a paste can give a good base for a tasty, quick meal.
3 Ways to Boost Your Shop Bought Thai Curry Paste
The key is boosting it. I use three key things to boost my shop bought Thai green curry paste. Firstly, sweetness – in the form of full fat coconut milk, and plenty of it. Of course, you could switch it for the low fat stuff in this recipe if you like, but it just won’t taste as good.
Secondly, acid. A touch of rice vinegar in the soup lifts the entire dish and gives it a spark on the tongue that you wouldn’t otherwise get.
Thirdly, freshness. Chopped, fresh coriander brings the dish together and gives it a wholeness. Do use it if you can, and don’t skimp! If you are one of those people who can’t stand coriander, Thai basil would work as a beautiful substitute.
Curry Paste or Curry Sauce?
In my opinion, if you’re going to use a shortcut you should stick to the pastes rather than the sauces. With a paste, you can add just a few more ingredients to make it something really quite tasty.
Curry sauces, I find, are rarely redeemable. Plus, they are packed full of far more unwelcome ingredients. Best stick to the paste if you can.
Cooking Your Sea Bass
This recipe calls for pan fried sea bass, which couldn’t be easier to get right. You could also substitute for other fish if you like – salmon would work well – or stir some prawns into the soup instead of (or as well as!) the fish.
To cook the sea bass, you just need to make sure your non stick pan (and the oil in it) are nice and hot. When you put your sea bass, skin side down, in the pan, it should sizzle happily.
Cook skin side down for 90% of the cooking time. Let that skin get beautiful and golden before turning and just giving the flesh side a kiss of heat.
This will serve 2 (with extra broth left over) and takes 20 minutes max.
Thai Green Noodle Soup with Pan Fried Sea Bass
Save This RecipeIngredients
- 2 tbsps olive oil
- 50 g Thai green curry paste
- 2 x 400ml tins of coconut milk
- 200 g sugar snap peas
- 2 tsps rice vinegar
- Large handful fresh coriander
- 300 g medium straight to wok noodles
- 2 sea bass fillets
- Small handful peanuts
Instructions
- Put a large saucepan on a medium heat with half of the olive oil. Add the curry paste and cook for 2 minutes.
- Pour in the coconut milk and 200ml of water. Add the rice vinegar and bring to a gentle simmer.
- Meanwhile, cook the sea bass. Season both sides of the fillets with salt. Put a non stick pan on a medium heat and add the rest of the oil. Cook the fillets skin side down for 5-7 minutes until golden brown, then flip and cook flesh side down for 1-2 minutes until cooked through.
- Add the sugar snap peas and noodles to the broth – cook for 5 more minutes until softened. Stir in the chopped coriander.
- To serve, ladle the soup into bowls, top with the sea bass and then scatter over the peanuts. Enjoy!
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