Made for Riesling: Thai yellow prawn curry

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Bangkok, Thailand. Photograph: Sven Scheuermeier

We asked our Head Chef Stewart Turner to come up with the perfect recipe to match off-dry Riesling: he came up with this sumptuous spicy prawn curry, inspired by the flavours of Bangkok

I’m a real fan of Thai food (well, I’ve yet to meet a cuisine that I don’t like…), but Thai is more subtle and aromatic than other cooking from that region. Addictively spicy, it’s so moreish.

This recipe is my take on a dish that I saw on a Rick Stein show, in which he met David Thompson in a Bangkok market. David is probably the western authority on Thai food and held a Michelin star for his restaurant Nahm in London, the first Thai restaurant to receive such an accolade.

This is a dish we served at our first fine wine and Thai dinner held in the cellars at No.3, and is perfect alongside Riesling. I’ve tried to incorporate some seasonal British ingredients with the classic Thai flavours.

Thai yellow prawn curryServes 4
  • 20 large tiger prawns – unpeeled
  • 4 heaped tablespoons of Thai yellow curry paste (see below)
  • 150g bok choy – leaves torn and bases cut into 5cm batons
  • 150ml coconut milk
  • 15ml lime juice
  • 15g palm sugar
  • 15ml fish sauce
  • 30g tamarind pulp
  • 100g fresh peas – blanched
  • 100g picked broad beans
  • 2 green bird’s eye chillies – thinly sliced

Peel the prawns, reserving the heads and shells. Place the shells in a pan with 450ml water and a pinch of salt. Bring to the boil, skim well and simmer for 20 minutes. Strain 300ml of this prawn stock into a clean pan. Add the curry paste and simmer for a minute. Add the bok choy bases and prawns. Simmer for another minute or two until the prawns have turned pink and are just cooked, then mix in the peas, bok choy leaves and broad beans. Add the coconut milk, lime juice, sugar, fish sauce and tamarind. Bring back to a simmer and serve. Spoon into a serving bowl and finish with the sliced green chillies. Serve with some jasmine rice and a bottle of off-dry Riesling.

Thai yellow curry paste

  • 3 dried red Kashmiri chillies
  • 1 red bird’s eye chilli – roughly chopped
  • 3 lemongrass stalks – roughly chopped
  • 25g galangal – peeled and roughly chopped
  • 50g fresh turmeric – peeled and roughly chopped
  • 50 shallots – peeled and roughly chopped
  • 30g garlic cloves – peeled and roughly chopped
  • 2 tsp shrimp paste

Soak the dried chillies in hot water for about 30 minutes. Drain them, reserving about 50ml of the liquid. Place all the ingredients, including the soaked chillies and water, in a small food processor or spice grinder and grind to a smooth paste.