Indonesian Yellow Curry

• 1 large tomato
• 500g turkey leg meat
• 250ml chicken stock
• 400ml coconut milk
• 2 leaves of green cabbage
• ½ - 1 lime
• 2 teaspoons palm sugar
• Pinch of salt

The Curry Paste

• 1 white onion
• 2 cloves garlic
• 1 thumb-sized piece of ginger
• 3 Bird’s Eye chillies
• 2 stalks lemongrass
• 1 teaspoon ground turmeric

The Garnish (optional)

1. The first step is to make the curry paste. Peel and finely dice your onion, placing the chopped pieces in a pestle and mortar to one side. Next, peel both the garlic cloves and ginger, then use the side of a large knife or cleaver to bash them into a mince-like texture. Roughly chop the results before placing the ginger and garlic together into the pestle and mortar alongside the diced onion. Now, remove the hard white roots and green woody end of your lemongrass stalks, again using the side of your cleaver to bash and bruise the remaining middle section before finely slicing it and adding to the pestle and mortar mix. Lastly, open up your chillies: insert the tip of a sharp knife roughly 1cm beneath the stalk, then run it down the length of the chilli to open it out in two. Repeat for all your chillies, then place them, with stalks, into the pestle and mortar too.

2. Grind the curry paste ingredients for a couple of minutes, and then introduce the ground turmeric. Mix well and continue to grind the ingredients until you form a coarse paste, approximately 5 minutes.

3. Now, prepare your meat and vegetables. Dice your turkey leg into large cubes, and roughly chop the cabbage leaves into equally large chunks, before placing them, in separate bowls, to one side. (Hint: if you do not have cabbage to hand, for this recipe you can use any hard vegetables you have in your fridge! So feel free to get creative.)

4. Lastly, prepare your sauce. Roughly chop the tomato into large chunks, then place it into a blender or food processor along with 250ml of chicken stock. Blitz until smooth, and then strain the mixture through a colander or large sieve to remove any remaining lumps. Leave to one side.

5. Coat the bottom of a deep saucepan with a generous helping of vegetable oil. Over  high heat, introduce your curry paste and stir it through the oil before reducing to medium heat and leaving the paste to sweat for approximately 10 minutes, or until the paste begins to caramelise.

6. When the paste has caramelised, bring your saucepan back to a high heat and add your turkey pieces. Move the turkey pieces around the pan, releasing the caramelised paste from the bottom of the pan and ensuring each piece of meat is well-coated. Sear for approximately 5 minutes, then add a pinch of salt and gradually introduce the coconut milk: pouring in roughly one-third of a can, stirring it through well and leaving to heat. When the coconut milk begins to boil, add one-third more and repeat the process until the whole can is used.

7. Now, bring the contents of the saucepan to a vigorous boil. Add the tomato and chicken stock sauce, mixing well, then reduce the heat and leave to simmer for approximately 30 minutes.

8. After half an hour has passed, add the cabbage pieces to the pan and season the sauce with palm sugar, a pinch of salt and the juice of half to a whole lime, dependent on taste. Simmer for a further 10 minutes, ensuring the cabbage has softened, then serve - garnishing with coriander leaves and matchsticks of chilli, if desired.