Thai Seafood and Green Peppercorn Curry

Green peppercorns

Seafood, Pepper and Fresh Peppercorn Curry (see why I didn't use my pic before?)
Serves 4, 40 mins
I made this up the other day and it turned out really nicely. Feel free to adjust the chilli to taste and leave out the green peppercorns if you can't find them fresh. There's still plenty of flavour without.

The Paste:
3 cm piece of galangal root, thinly sliced
2 stalks lemongrass, white part only, thinly sliced
3 shallots, finely chopped
handful coriander (cilantro) stalks, finely chopped
2 tsp shrimp paste
3-4 dried red chillies, steeped in boiling water for a few mins, then chopped finely
2 tbsp raw peanuts (optional if you have allergies)
3 cloves garlic, bashed
4-5 lime leaves (dried or fresh) crushed or thinly sliced

Remaining ingredients:
400ml coconut milk (low fat is fine if you like)
500g mix large, raw prawns, deveined, squid tubes, scallops, mussels (or just prawns)
1/2 each red and green bell pepper, sliced thinly
2 ripe tomatoes, cut into quarters lengthways
5-6 twigs of fresh green peppercorns
3 tbsp fish sauce (nam pla)
Small handful Thai sweet basil leaves
Small handful coriander (cilantro) leaves

First, make the paste, either by using a large pestle and mortar and pounding away until you have a smooth paste OR, do as I do and use a small food processor. if you need to, add a tablespoonful of water to keep it moving. You want it to be free of large chunks and as smooth as possible.

In a hot wok, heat the coconut milk and simmer for a few minutes until a layer of fat appears on the surface. Add the curry paste and stir, cooking for a few minutes until fragrant. Stir in the peppercorns, tomatoes and peppers and continue to cook for 3-4 mins, keeping the mix moving from time to time. Add the seafood (or prawns) and simmer for a further 3-4 minutes until the seafood is cooked, sprinkle in the basil leaves and stir one more time before serving over plain steamed jasmine rice and scatter with the coriander leaves.
Thai Curry