Thai Sour Curry with Fried Fish, Made with Monk Fruit Sweetener

Method

1. Soak 10 to 20 dried chilies in water for about 30 minutes until soft, peel the garlic, rinse and chop the fingerroot, and slice the shallots.
2. Pound the chilies, 2 tablespoons of fingerroot, 1/2 tablespoon of Thai shrimp paste and 1/2 tablespoon of salt until even the chili seeds break down.
3. Add 12 to 15 garlic cloves and 3 to 4 shallots and pound smooth, then mix in 2 tablespoons of poached fish picked off the bone to give a smooth, wet, red brown paste.
4. Clean the 500g fish, removing the guts and gills, pat it dry and score the body several times.
5. Deep fry the fish until both sides are golden and crisp, then lift it onto a plate.
6. Stir about 100g of the curry paste into the pot of chicken stock, then taste and adjust until the broth is rich and full of curry aroma.
7. Bring the broth to a simmer and add 2 tablespoons of fish sauce, 2 to 2.5 tablespoons of kOBE Monk Fruit Blend and 1 level tablespoon of tamarind concentrate.
8. Add the yardlong beans, cabbage, carrot, cauliflower and green papaya, holding back the water mimosa and sesbania flowers.
9. Once the vegetables are tender, blanch the water mimosa for about 1 minute and turn off the heat.
10. Ladle the curry over the plated fish and scatter the sesbania flowers on top.

Tips

• Homemade sour curry paste keeps about 1 week in the fridge or 1 year in the freezer.
• Ngai bun (fingerroot) is the rhizome used for Chau Doc fish noodle soup, and it can be left out when it is nowhere to be found.
• The fish poached in the sauce can be swapped for canned tuna.
• Do not fry the fish too early, since curry poured over it and left to stand softens the crust.
• Set the fish in a deep dish and ladle the curry around it rather than straight over, which keeps the coating crisp.
• Add the water mimosa and the sesbania flowers last, as long cooking costs them their crunch.