We foodies have a penchant for making things complicated, but really the best recipes are often the simplest. Take for instance this Thai stir fry. It’s super quick and endlessly adaptable to whatever you have handy.

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Serves: Two

Weight: 700g

Volume: 750ml

Kilojoules: 3800

Cost: $6.50

Time: 20 minutes

Fuel: 125ml of white spirit or 50g of gas.*

* Based on an MSR Whisperlite or Primus Classic stove operating at sea level.

Ingredients

1tbsp olive oil

1 clove garlic finely chopped

1tbsp red Thai curry paste

2 carrots chopped into batons

100g green beans chopped lengthways

3 spring onions diced

100g savoy cabbage finely chopped

50g ground peanuts

2tbsp sweet Thai chilli sauce

1tsp fish sauce

1tbsp light soy sauce

1 cup Basmati rice

Method

Rice: I’m a rice snob. If you do great rice, then everything you put with it tastes better. The good news is it’s pretty easy to get it right. Here’s how: put the rice and 1.25 cups of water and a quarter table spoon of salt in a medium sized pot. Cover and bring to the boil then reduce the heat to a low simmer for 10 minutes. Lastly, switch off the heat and set aside for 10-15 minutes then when you’re ready to eat give it a fluff with a fork and serve.

Stir Fry: By comparison, the stir fry is a cinch (most of the instructions are in the name!). Heat the red Thai curry paste in the pan with the oil and garlic, then crank up the heat as high as it’ll go and add the veggies in order of density (i.e. carrots first, cabbage last) add the fish sauce, soy sauce and sweet chilli sauce while stirring continuously. Err on the side of undercooked – crispy is better than soggy – and serve with a sprinkle of ground peanuts.