This is creamy, salty and tangy with little jewels of soft juicy apricots. Definitely the best cookers of the soft summer fruits.
You will have too much spice paste but it will keep (covered with a film of oil) in the fridge for a week.
Wine Suggestion: A Pinot Gris will give you hints of sweetness to complement the heat from the chillies and enough weight to balance the rich coconut milk. It will also be slightly aromatic to match the lime and coriander on the nose.
Chicken with apricots and coconut milk – to serve 4
- 3 short stalks lemongrass
- 50g ginger
- 2 small hot red chillies
- 2 cloves garlic, peeled
- a bunch of coriander
- 2 limes, zested and juiced
- 1 tbsp groundnut oil, plus extra for the paste
- 200g tomatoes, roughly chopped
- 1 tbsp fish sauce
- 2 tbsp dark soy sauce
- 8 chicken thighs
- 8 apricots, halved and stoned
- 400ml tin coconut milk
Peel the outer leaves of the lemongrass and discard. Cut into short lengths and put into a food processor. Peel the ginger, slice into thin pieces and add to the lemongrass. Chop the chillies and add to the ginger with the garlic and roughly chopped stems and half the leaves of the coriander. Add the lime zest, then chop everything to a coarse paste, adding a little oil. Add the tomatoes, fish sauce and soy sauce and continue to blitz.
Warm the oil in a deep pan over a high-ish heat and brown the chicken pieces lightly. Lift the chicken out and pour away most of the oil, leaving about a tablespoon.
Add half the spice paste and fry over a low to moderate heat for a couple of minutes or until fragrant, then return the chicken to the pan. Pour in the coconut milk and leave to simmer gently over a low heat for 10 minutes.
Add the apricots and cook for another 10 minutes or until soft.
Check that the chicken is cooked, then add the lime juice and the remaining coriander, roughly chopped. Season to taste with salt and serve with rice.
(Original recipe from Nigel Slater’s The Kitchen Diaries II, Fourth Estate, 2012.)