On the east coast of Phuket, in Southern Thailand is a world renowned restaurant and cooking school known as the The Boathouse Restaurant and Culinary Workshop. It has been attracting students from all over the world for 15 years and is not a bad way of spending a couple of days if you can pull yourself away form the beaches and bars. The restaurant itself actually prepares contemporary Thai cuisine and draws upon many regions of Thailand and other parts of the world to create its unique selection. Contrary to most popular belief in the western world Thai food prepared in Thailand varies considerably; the only thing in common across the various regions of Thailand is that all food is chock full of flavor. As much as I love Thai Curries I have to say my favorite food is southern Thai food which mainly consists of seafood, many stir fries and soups (hmm Tom Yum Goong for breakfast), as opposed to the northern Thai food where the Thai curries are more common. In fact I find many of the traditionally prepared curried in northern Thailand almost inedible, the quantities of Thai Basil, Coriander and mini eggplants (which I don't think are a true eggplant at all) are just too much for my pallet to endure, and I grew up in South East Asia and am very accustom to the flavors. 

For the first time and certainly not the last I am actually going to stem away from traditional cuisine and go a little contemporary, introducing a Thai / Chinese fusion feast adapted from the recipe taught at The Boathouse Culinary Workshop. I have supplied a recipe for Red Curry Paste however would recommend buying pre-prepared ones which are cheaper made with local ingredients and a lot more convenient. This meal can be prepared in less than 15 minutes if you buy all the pre-prepared ingredients.

 For the full recipe see Thai Red Duck Curry

Take 1/2 a Chinese style roast duck and have it chopped into pieces for you, you will need to source this from an Asian butcher or seek out what are often termed BBQ restaurants. You can recognise these as they have Roast Duck, BBQ Pork, Roast Pork, Soy Sauce Chicken and an assortment of other meats hanging in the window, and usually server them with rice or noodles or in noodle soup.

Add 2 cups of chicken stock to 2 cups of coconut milk and heat. Stir in 4 tablespoons of Red Curry Past, 2 tablespoons of Fish Sauce, and 4 teaspoons of sugar and stir gently. Do not boil otherwise the Coconut milk will begin to curdle. Add 200g of eggplant and simmer gently until soft. Add a dozen cherry tomatoes, 2 kaffir lime leaves (cut up finely with scissors), 2 sliced red chillies, 10 torn basil leaves and the chopped up duck and simmer for another 3 minutes before serving. The Boathouse Restaurant also serves this with pineapple pieces and / or grapes, not being a fan of cooked fruit, I left it out and added a little more sugar in its place. If you wish add approximately 250g of fruit. Serve with Plik Nam Pla (sliced chilli and fish sauce, I like to add a little chopped limes) and of course piles of Thai Jasmine Rice.