A visual overview of the red curry paste ingredients.
Pound all the ingredients into a smooth paste.
Add kapi (fermented shrimp paste); mix and set aside.
A visual overview of the fresh curry paste ingredients - clockwise: small bird’s eye chilies, fingerroot, bitter ginger, red and green chili peppers, Thai basil flowers, sand ginger cubes.
In a pestle and mortar, pound the fresh curry paste ingredients into a rough paste. Set aside.
A visual overview of the fresh ingredients used in the curry.
Thinly sliced sand ginger leaves. Set aside.
Clean the eel, and cut it into 2cm-thick segments.
Place the shallots and aromatics in a wok, over medium heat.
Add the eel, and fry until the eel begins to release fluids and its meat is cooked.
Discard the cooking fluids and the aromatics, and set the cooked eel meat aside.
In a cooking pot, heat the coconut cream until it breaks (cracked), and oil appears.
Add the red curry paste.
Fry the curry paste in the cracked coconut, gradually adding more coconut cream.
Add ground roasted cumin seeds and ground roasted coriander seeds.
Add kaffir lime leaves.
Season with palm sugar.
Add fish sauce.
The curry paste is ready when all the coconut cream has been incorporated, and red oil floats on top.
Add coconut milk.
Mix gently, and let the eel meat absorb the curry flavors.
Add fingerroot, bitter ginger and sand ginger.
Add a second batch of kaffir lime leaves.
Add fresh peppercorns.
Mix everything.
Season again with the dry spices (ground dry chilies, ground cumin and ground coriander).
Add the fresh curry paste.
Add the light green young chilies and Thai basil flowers.