YOU can travel to the other side of the world, but nothing beats a good pork scratching, according to Dave Myers and Si King, aka The Hairy Bikers.

The lads had been cutting back on their favourite snack food, in a bid to lose weight for their latest TV series The Hairy Bikers’ Asian Adventure and accompanying book The Hairy Dieters. But they admit that it was hard to stick with the diet when they were on the road.

“What was interesting was that there were a couple of camera shots where we look at each other, and we’re bloated,” says King. “You take on so much water, and I’m thinking, ‘This is ridiculous, I’m not eating anything because it’s hot’.”

But it wasn’t just the water which bloated Myers out.

“I drank a lot of beer,” he admits, laughing. “I put on half a stone by the time we came back, but I knew I was doing Strictly, so I lost a bit more than that in total.

“It’s real life really, there’s no point pretending we didn’t go there. In Thailand, I wasn’t going to miss out on Thai food and Thai breakfasts. And somewhere like Korea, I [wasn’t going to miss out on Korean fried chicken. It’s the new KFC, it’s epic. It’s double fried and it’s taken over America.”

When it comes to work, the duo, who’ve only fallen out once in their 10-year friendship (in Namibia, over how to make mayonnaise), are clear about what makes their trips so memorable; the company.

“We’ve been lucky enough to share unique experiences,” says Myers. “It’s much better doing it with your best mate.”

Here is a recipe from The Hairy Bikers’ Asian Adventure Panang beef curry 2tbsp vegetable oil 750g lean stewing beef, chopped into 1cm cubes 5 lime leaves 2 stems of fresh green peppercorns or 1tbsp sweet brined green peppercorns from a jar 250ml beef stock 2-3 red bird’s-eye chillies 200ml canned coconut milk (low-fat is fine) 3 fresh tomatoes, skinned and roughly chopped 1 red pepper, deseeded and cut into small dice Fresh coriander leaves Steamed rice, sprinkled with roasted chilli flakes, for serving For the curry paste: 6 green cardamom pods 6 large dried red chillies 1tbsp coriander seeds 1 1/2tsp cumin seeds 20g galangal (a type of ginger), peeled and finely chopped 2 lemongrass stalks, white part only, finely chopped 4 garlic cloves, roughly chopped 10 kaffir lime leaves, finely shredded 5 large Thai shallots (or 2 banana shallots), 2.5cm piece of fresh turmeric root, finely grated or 1 1/2tsp ground turmeric 1tsp shrimp paste 4tbsp fish sauce 1tsp salt 1tbsp vegetable oil To make the curry paste, lightly crush the cardamom pods and split them open. Remove the seeds and put them in a spice grinder or a pestle and mortar (you can chuck the pods away).

Heat a small frying pan and dry roast the chillies for two to three minutes until slightly browned. Tip them into a small spice grinder or pestle and mortar with the cardamom seeds and return the frying pan to the heat.

Add the coriander and cumin seeds to the pan and roast them for a minute to release the flavours, then add them to the cardamom and chillies and grind or pound everything to a powder.

Add all the remaining ingredients and pound to make a paste, then set aside. If you prefer, use a spice grinder to blitz the spices to a powder, then transfer this to a food processor, add the remaining ingredients and process to a paste.

To make your curry, you’ll need a medium-sized casserole dish with a lid. Place the dish on the heat and add the oil. Brown the meat on all sides. When all the meat has been browned, tip it back into the casserole dish and add the curry paste. Stir to coat the meat with the paste and cook for two to three minutes.

Add the lime leaves, green peppercorns, beef stock and red chillies, then cover and leave to cook gently over a low heat for about one hour and 45 minutes. If you prefer, preheat the oven to 140C/Fan 120C/Gas 1 and cook the curry in the oven for a couple of hours.

When the curry is cooked, stir in the coconut milk, add the tomatoes and red pepper, then continue cooking for a further 10 minutes. Garnish with a sprinkle of fresh coriander leaves and serve with some steamed rice sprinkled with roasted chilli flakes.

  • The Hairy Bikers’ Asian Adventure is on BBC Two on Thursdays. The book is available now.