← Nouns Cooking · Thai

Ingredients

• 8 dried long red chillies, seeds shaken out
• 4 Asian shallots, roughly chopped
• 2 cloves Garlic
• 1 tsp Shrimp paste (belacan)
• ½ tsp Salt
• 300 g raw prawns, peeled and deveined
• 1 l Water
• 4 tbsp tamarind purée
• 3 tbsp Fish sauce
• 1½ tbsp palm sugar or brown sugar
• 150 g Cauliflower, cut into small florets
• 150 g snake beans or green beans, cut into 4 cm lengths
• 150 g white cabbage or shredded green papaya, cut into chunks
• 300 g jasmine rice, to serve (optional)

Method

1. Soak the dried chillies in hot water for 15 min, until soft. Drain and chop.
2. Bring the water to the boil in a pot and poach 4 of the prawns for 1 minute, until pink. Lift them out (keep the water) and pound them in a mortar with the chillies, shallots, garlic, shrimp paste and salt until you have a smooth red paste.
3. Stir the paste into the hot water and simmer for 3 min. Season with the tamarind, fish sauce and sugar: it should taste sour first, then salty and hot, with only a little sweetness.
4. Add the cauliflower and beans and simmer for 4–5 min, then add the cabbage and cook for 2 min more, until everything is just tender.
5. Drop in the remaining prawns and simmer for 2 min, until they curl and turn pink. Taste once more and serve with rice.

Tips

• The pounded prawns give the broth body; a small piece of poached white fish does the same job.
• Ready-made gaeng som paste (sometimes labelled "sour curry paste") works too; use about 3 tbsp.

Sources

Written in our own words after cross-checking these recipes:

ImportFood Hungry in Thailand