Prawn and Mango Curry

I promised the girls I would share this quick and easy curry recipe. 

So here it is! 

Definitely a comfort food with lots of yummy broth.

 Ingredients

2 tablespoons vegetable oil

2 white globe onions finely sliced

3 tablespoons Valcom Authentic Thai Red Curry Paste

400ml can TCC Premium Coconut Milk

750ml Campbell’s chicken stock

4 teaspoons fish sauce

850gms butternut pumpkin and sweet potato peeled and cut into cubes

750gms large green banana prawns peeled and deveined (prepared weight is about 400gms)  If you are in a hurry you could opt for 400gms frozen prepared prawns.  I have done both.

300gms mango cut into cubes (One medium sized mango should do, not too ripe)

2 teaspoons lime juice or squeeze juice from ½ a lime

A good handful of fresh coriander leaves

 

Reunion dinner

Heat oil in a large, heavy-based pan and fry the sliced onion for a minute, then add the curry paste. Let this heat through for another minute.

Whisk in the coconut milk, chicken stock and fish sauce and bring to the boil.

Add butternut pumpkin and sweet potato cubes and simmer, covered, for about 15 minutes or until tender.

Add prepared prawns and gentle mix through sauce. Turn off heat and put the lid back on to cook through.  If using frozen prawns, drain the prawns under running water to remove excess ice and add to pan, let the sauce return to the boil before turning off heat and replacing lid.

Once prawns are cooked, gently fold through the mango cubes and lime juice.

Sprinkle with coriander as you serve over basmati rice.

A reunion

Recently I had a reunion.

It was the first time in a very, very long time we were all together – just as we were, just as it should be.

In volleyball line-up order: Meredith, Debbie, Virginia, Danielle, Tanya, Leearne and Vanessa.

This snap shot in our satin uniforms (not looking so cute in satin these days) is like Dumbledore’s pensive for me. A window in my mind is flung open, warm beams of sunlight stretch across the room, memories strung out like brightly coloured bras and knickers on a clothes line dance before me.

Sutherland Ward Young Women's volleyball team

  

These young women were my youth. They knew me when I was trying to work out who I was and who I wanted to be. We played volleyball together – well, to be really honest, and my memory DOES serve me correctly, we dressed-up in our uniforms and giggled a lot. We swam and ran in carnivals, we danced in festivals, we performed on stage, but what truly bound us in our years of becoming, was our faith. No matter where we are today in our lives, it is still these ribbons and threads softly spun about us that bind us together.

Dressed up for Church on Sunday

What would a reunion be without pouring over old photos? While most of us needed to grab our spectacles to do so, I did recognise the ability each one of us has developed to ‘see’ more clearly. To observe in ourselves and others things that perfect vision, laser surgery or a pair of glasses is not able to detect or rectify - vision that comes with age and experience.

 If there was a winner for the night from our photos, I think it might have to go to Debbie dressed in her sailor suit top with matching hat, or perhaps seeing a snap of Virginia wearing her adored rabbit skirt… only in the eighties! 

   

 

A night at the movies - note Virginia's rabbit skirt

We shared stories and relived adventures. We giggled and laughed like we were 14 again. We felt safe divulging the secrets of our heart and our vulnerabilities - that’s another gift that comes with age that I would not exchange for youth.   

 How innocent and naive were the day dreams and imaginings of the girls dressed-up in satin. I’m glad we dreamed, but I am also glad for the realities of the lives we’ve lived and the women we have become because of them.

Just one question ladies, when can we do it again?