My thai vegetable curry

Thomas is asleep, Abbie in nursery so I may as well get this one down too. Yet again, it includes chillies. This is an adapted recipe: I used to buy the paste, then make the paste following a recipe, then I designed my own, simpler version so I didn't have to read and cook (which keeps things cleaner in the kitchen, my poor recipe books are a bit messy!) I used to add king prawns (raw better than cooked I found), but after watching Simon Reeve's Indian Ocean programme I abandoned buying the poor creatures (and the industry) altogether, and don't miss them because the veggie option tastes great by itself - although you can meat things up with left over chicken, beef or lamb from sunday roast if you like. Again, the ingredients and measurements are in no way fixed, just follow what you can - you don't need to add everything.

Ingredients

1 stalk lemongrass, very finely sliced and chopped, outer leaves removed (not easy to find in all supermarkets, can be found in reduced section if few people buy them, so check there)
1 thumb sized piece of ginger, peeled and finely chopped (I tend to make half matchstick size pieces)
2 or 3 cloves of garlic, crushed or finely chopped (I can't stand cleaning the garlic crusher so tend to chop)
1 or 2 chillies, deseeded (red or green), finely chopped
Zest of 1/2- whole lime
1 onion, roughly chopped
1 tsp fennel seeds (or cumin or caraway)
Vegetables for curry, roughly chopped into similar-sized pieces, e.g., sweet potato, aubergine, any colour pepper, cauliflower, brocolli, carrots, green beans, potato (waxy best, so not floury king edward type), tomato, mushrooms, peas, chickpeas - choose up to about 5 vegetables and have an even amount of each
1 carton of coconut cream (UHT), not creamed coconut (coconut milk ok too, just don't add extra water)
1 tsp peanut butter
1 tsp paprika
1 tsp cumin or coriander powder
Dash of fish sauce (just add extra salt otherwise)
A few kaffir lime leaves
Juice of a lime
Fresh coriander

1 cup of rice (enough for 2 or 3) - white or brown, basmati or long grain
Plain natural yoghurt

Method

1. Boil water (about half a medium sized saucepan)
2. Add rice
3. Bring back to boil, add lid and turn down to simmer for cooking time, e.g., 9 mins white, 20 mins brown.
4. Strain water from pan when just/almost cooked.
5. Cover pan with tea towel and return lid over it and leave rice to sit until curry ready (makes it fluffy).
6. In a large pan, fry lemongrass, ginger, garlic, chillies, lime zest, fennel seeds and onion in the oil until soft on a medium/low heat
   
7. Add the root vegetables and aubergine (if using), or any other vegetables that take longer to cook, first and fry for 5 minutes, to give headstart
   
8. Add coconut cream and some water 1/4 pint or so, so vegetables have enough sauce created from it.
9. Add remaining ingredients (remaining vegetables, peanut butter to lime leaves)
10. Bring to simmering point so bubbles, but just gently, and leave to cook for 10 mins - enough so vegetables don't go too soft.
11. Chop coriander (about half a bunch, stems and all) to stir in at the end with the lime juice.
12. Check the taste - it may need more salt or some sugar adding if too bland / hot, depending on what combination of ingredients have gone in. Adjust to taste.
13. When curry ready, stir in coriander and lime juice (or sprinkle on each plate's serving) and serve with rice, dollop of natural yoghurt if liked (good cooling).

Again, any spare can go in the fridge for tomorrow's meal or frozen for another time. Serves 4 - 8 portions.