Some like it hot… and some like it super-hot! If that sounds like you, this extra-spicy dry curry hailing from southern Thailand is all things fiery and fabulous! Serve with steamed rice, snake beans and a wedge of cabbage on the side to cool that palate down between mouthfuls.
Southern Thai ‘Khua Kling’ Pork
500g pork mince
2 tbsp fish sauce
2 tsp palm sugar
1 tsp freshly ground black pepper
8 makrut lime leaves, finely sliced
small handful (about 15g) young green peppercorns
wedge of cabbage, snake beans and/or cucumber to serve
Southern Thai curry paste:
20 dried red birds’ eye chillies
16 fresh red spicy chillies, roughly chopped
8 garlic cloves
5 Asian shallots
2 lemongrass stalks, finely sliced
4cm piece (about 40g) galangal, roughly chopped
2 pieces (about 40g) fresh turmeric, roughly chopped
zest of 1 makrut lime
1 tsp sea salt
2 tsp shrimp paste
- To make the curry paste, soak the dried chillies in hot water for 10 minutes. Then squeeze and reserve the soaking liquid.
- Place the softened dried chillies in the bowl of a food processor along with the remaining curry paste ingredients. Blend until smooth (add some chilli soaking liquid if the mix won’t blend smoothly).
- Heat a wok or frying pan over medium heat. Add about 2 tablespoons of pork mince and cook to render some of the fat. Then add half the curry paste (store the other half in the freezer for up to 2 months) and stir-fry with the pork for 2-3 minutes. Then add the remainder of the pork and stir-fry gently until the pork is cooked. This should take about 10 minutes because you want the pork to ‘poach’ in the cooking liquids rather than searing and browning.
- When the pork is cooked, add the fish sauce, palm sugar, pepper, makrut lime leaves and green peppercorns. Taste and add more fish sauce or sugar to taste if necessary. Serve with cabbage, snake beans or cucumber and rice.
