Chicken and lemongrass curry

1. Place a large heavy-based saucepan over medium–high heat. Add the oil, shallot or onion, garlic and lemongrass and cook, stirring, for 2 minutes. Add the chicken, chilli, curry paste and sugar and cook for 4–5 minutes until the chicken is browned all over and well coated in the paste. Add the evaporated milk and fish sauce and stir to combine. Reduce the heat to low–medium, bring to simmering point and cook for 6–8 minutes until the chicken is cooked through.
2. Meanwhile, boil or steam the capsicum and snowpeas for 2 minutes until just tender, then drain and stir through the curry.
3. To serve, spoon the curry into bowls and garnish with the bean sprouts and fried shallots. Serve with steamed rice from your daily allowance if desired.

TIP: You can add any vegetables you have on hand to this curry - just cut them into similar sizes so they will all steam in the same amount of time. Alternatively, you could serve this with Braised Asian Vegetables which can be found in the Budget Recipe Book. If you can't find coconut flavoured evaporated milk, you can use light evaporated milk and 1-2 drops of coconut essence per every 100ml of evaporated milk.