Thai Sour Curry with Fried Fish, Made with Monk Fruit Sweetener
International dishesSoupsThailandabout 1 hour
This one tastes unlike anything else, which is why so many people go looking for Thai sour curry with fried fish. The plate is good for its crisp skin and its sour, hot curry liquid scented with fingerroot.
The difficulty is that the curry paste has to be pounded by hand, since a paste from a jar never lands the flavour. Dried chilies soaked soft are pounded with fingerroot and shrimp paste until even the seeds break down, and only then do the garlic, shallot and boiled fish go in to be pounded smooth. The fish is fried close to serving so the skin does not go limp.
This batch weighs about 2.1kg, at roughly 58 calories per 100g.
Method
Soak 10 to 20 dried chilies in water for about 30 minutes until soft. Peel 12 to 15 cloves of garlic, wash and chop 2 tablespoons of fingerroot, and slice 3 to 4 shallots.
Pound the chilies, fingerroot, 1/2 tablespoon of Thai shrimp paste and 1/2 tablespoon of salt until even the chili seeds break down. Add the garlic and shallot and pound smooth, then mix in 2 tablespoons of boiled fish flesh with the bones removed. The paste is right when it is smooth, wet and reddish brown.
Clean the guts and gills from 500 gr of snakehead fish or tilapia, pat it dry, score the body several times and fry it in plenty of oil until both sides are golden and crisp, then lift it onto a plate.
Stir a few spoonfuls of the curry paste into 700 to 750 ml of chicken stock, mix and taste until the liquid is rich and carries the curry scent.
Bring the stock up and add 2 tablespoons of fish sauce, 2 to 2.5 tablespoons of kOBE Monk Fruit Blend and 1 level tablespoon of concentrated tamarind paste.
Add 100 gr of yard long beans cut into lengths, 1 carrot, and cabbage, cauliflower and green papaya if you have them, holding back the 200 gr of water mimosa to dip in last and the sesbania flowers to scatter at the table. Adjust so the sour and sweet sit in balance.
Once the vegetables are tender, dip the water mimosa in for about 1 minute and take the pot off the heat, then ladle the curry over the plate of fish.
Tips
A single batch of the curry paste keeps in the fridge for a week and freezes for longer.
Frying the fish too early is a mistake, since curry poured over fish that has been sitting goes limp fast.
Thai shrimp paste can be replaced for now with Hue shrimp paste.
Pounding until even the chili seeds break down is what gives a smooth paste and its reddish brown colour.
The tamarind goes in last and then gets tasted, since it is strongly sour and is better added a little at a time.
The water mimosa gets its 1 minute at the end and the sesbania flowers go on at the table so they stay crisp.
Need kOBE Monk Fruit Blend?
The recipe above is sweetened with kOBE Monk Fruit Blend, measured 1:1 like sugar. See the product page or send us a message.