A Jungle curry is a Thai dish which traditionally would be made from foraged ingredients. This actually covers a very wide range of items, from river fish and wild boar to bamboo shoots and lotus shoots, but the main criteria for the curry is that it must be very hot! We have used our Indonesian Padang blend, with its strong flavour of lime leaves and coconut, and used pork, tinned bamboo shoots and pea aubergines, but the tinned section of your local large supermarket or Asian shop will have lotus shoots and water chestnuts Any game (pheasant, partridge or venison) will also work well. Or see below for some other suggestions! serves 4

2 tbsp oil
500g pork, sliced rather than cubed
1 carton Indonesian Padang blend
300ml ‘secret sauce’
1 tin coconut milk
400g tin whole bamboo shoots (not the thin slices) or lotus roots
200g pea aubergines (or ordinary peas if you like)

Heat the oil in a large pan and add the spices. Gently fry until fragrant.
Add the pork slices and fry until brown.
Add the secret sauce and coconut milk, bring to the boil and simmer for about an hour or until the meat is tender. Add a little water if you want more sauce, although some of the vegetables will add liquid (depending on which you go for).
Add any raw vegetables and cook gently until ready.
Add any tinned vegetables and heat through before serving.

Cook’s notes

If you want to keep this simple, chicken, peas, diced normal aubergine and sweet potato would also be excellent!
You could also add some fresh (or rehydrated dried) chinese or shitake mushrooms with the fresh vegetables.