I came to Thai food the wrong way. No family connection, no grandmother's kitchen smelling of galangal. Fifteen years later the water keeps getting deeper, and that is precisely why I haven't stopped.

The first thing you learn about curry paste is that it takes longer than you think. The second thing is that your arm will hurt. The third is that it's worth it by a distance that makes every other shortcut in cooking feel trivial.

Britain's relationship with chilli used to be simple. There was curry, which came in mild, medium or hot, and there was vindaloo, which existed as a dare. Then came the heat challenge era. That's not what chilli is for.

Green curry is the most misunderstood dish in Thai cooking, at least in this country. Most people in Britain have eaten it, or think they have. What they've eaten is a sweet, mild, pale green soup from a takeaway box. It is categorically not the same thing.