Kaeng Pa (Thai Jungle Curry)

Thai food is absolutely delicious but if you don't like coconut then you may be a little hesitant in trying some of the most popular curries. However, this Northern Thail recipe has no coconut milk!

Ingredients
serves 4

400g butternut squash, peeled and chopped into bite-sized pieces

300g aubergine, cut into bite-sized pieces

200g tofu, firm, cut into large bite-sized pieces

15g Holy Thai Basil, 

25g fresh coriander

2 tsp green peppercorn

5 kaffir lime leaves

2 tsp palm sugar, (or soft dark brown sugar)

2 tbsp light Soy sauce

3 tbsp vegetable oil

1 tsp salt

for the curry paste

60g eschallion shallots, finely chopped

25g garlic cloves, finely chopped

25g fingerroot (or galangal), peeled and coarsely grated (I had to use ginger)

15g lemongrass, roughly sliced 

5 Thai green chillies, deseeded and finely chopped

1 tsp coriander root (You can use the stem if you can’t find the root)

1 tsp miso paste (as a substitute to shrimp paste)

splash of soy sauce

1/2 tsp kaffir lime peel (or 3 kaffir lime leaves), finely chopped

1 tsp white peppercorns, crushed

1 tbsp roasted coriander seed, crushed

1/2 tsp salt

 

Method

Begin by making the jungle curry paste. I prefer to use a pestle and mortar to bash and grind the ingredients. Apparently it loosens the oils better than if you fast track with a blender. 

Anyway begin adding the white pepper corns and roasted coriander seeds and crush with the mortar.  Then add the kaffir lime peel (or finely chopped leaves), coriander root (or some coriander stems) then the galangal and  lemongrass. Grinding well into a pulp.

Next add the dried chilli, and salt before adding the garlic and shallots.

Keep working until you get a paste. Loosen it up with the miso paste and a splash of light soy sauce.

Put the paste in a jar and in the fridge.

Next, heat some oil in a wok and gently fry the tofu and aubergine until they begin to colour. Remove from the wok with a slotted spoon and set aside for later.

In the same pan, turn up the heat and add some more oil. Add all the curry paste and stir in well. Fry for a few minutes. 

Add the water and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and bring to a simmer. Season with salt, palm sugar, soy sauce to your taste. 

Simmer gently for 30 minutes or longer to reduce the stock down and intensify the flavours.

When all the flavour possible has been extracted from the paste, sieve the stock into another pan, to remove any fibres, and then pour it back into the wok. (This is an optional step but I prefer the stock to be clear of debris) 

Bring back to a boil then add the butternut squash, kaffir limes, green peppercorns.

Turn to the heat down and simmer for 10 minutes before adding the prepared aubergine and tofu. 

Continue to simmer for a further 10 minutes until the butternut squash has cooked through.

Remove from the heat and stir in the Thai basil leaves.

Serve immediately with sticky rice.