Thai Sour Curry Base Kaeng Som แกงสม Food

SOUTHERN THAI GAENG SOM RECIPE - SOUR FISH SOUP

Steps:

• Begin by making the curry paste. Peel the stems off all the chilies, then add them to a blender or food processor.
• Peel the garlic, and shallots, and cut the turmeric into pieces, and toss them all into the blender.
• Add about a cup of water, and blend for a few seconds until pureed.
• NOTE: Be warned that turmeric stains, so don't use a nice blender!
• To prepare the green papaya, first peel the outer green skin, rinse it in water to remove the sap, then shave off thin bite sized pieces of papaya so you have thin wedges. Cut the papaya like you're whittling a piece of wood. Then set aside.
• For the limes, slice and squeeze them into a separate bowl.
• Put a big soup pot on the stove and turn to medium heat, and add in all the curry paste you just blended.
• Add 2 liters of water to the soup, using some of the water to rinse out the blender, and add to the pot.
• Add the shrimp paste, and stir the soup to make sure the shrimp paste fully dissolves.
• Take the green papaya, add it all to the soup, stir quickly, then put the cover on to bring to a boil.
• Once the gaeng som is boiling, gently add the pieces of fish.
• But here's the Thai Aunty trick - don't stir the soup until the fish is fully cooked. If you stir the soup when the fish is still raw, your soup will taste fishy (according to Thai cooking practice).
• Boil the soup, without stirring, for about 5 - 8 minutes.
• When the fish is finished cooking, you can stir gently, and then turn off the stove pretty quickly so you don't overcook the fish.
• Once your heat is off, it's time to season with salt and lime juice. Add some at first, stir gently, taste test, then add more if needed.
• Taste test until your gaeng som is sour, slightly salt, and extremely spicy.

KAENG SOM (THAI SOUTHERN STYLE SOUR CURRY)

Steps:

• Using a mortar and pestle (food processor), grind all of the curry paste ingredients together very, very finely (it is important to do this well so you won't happen upon any large bits of chili in your soup!).
• Put the curry paste aside and prepare the soup ingredients. Thinly slice sour, slightly unripe pineapple. Dice the sour papaya into 1 inch cubes. Clean and cut some fish into bite-size pieces until you have about 1-1 1/2 cups.Set all of these aside. For your mise en place, you'll need a bottle of fish sauce, 4 sliced limes ready for squeezing, and some sugar.
• Bring about 4 cups of water to the boil, add about half of the curry paste and stir and simmer until the broth is fragrant. Add more curry paste if necessary, but don't add it all at once as it may be too much! Add the pineapple and the sour papaya. Simmer until they begin to soften, 3-4 minutes, and taste the curry. The pineapple and papaya should add a slightly sweet and sour flavor to the broth.
• Squeeze a few limes' worth of lime juice into the broth until you reach a tolerable state of sourness. Remember, it is called "sour" curry, so there should be a definite sour taste, followed by spicy, salty and sweet. Add some fish sauce if it isn't salty enough.
• Add your fish. Simmer until the fish is just done, 2-3 minutes, remove from heat, and you're done! Serve with rice.