This is a coconut-based jungle curry of catfish featuring fresh green chilies, sand ginger and an upcountry herbal charm.
While the term ‘jungle’ is widely used nowadays, it remains poorly defined. It is commonly understood that jungle curries are water-based curries with a proper curry paste. Jungle curries are spicy and share a similar evolutionary path with gaaeng khuaa (แกงคั่ว) and gaaeng phet (แกงเผ็ด), coconut-based curries with which they share an identical phrik khing paste.
Incorrect username or password.
Incorrect username or password.
Conversely, the first-ever printed recipe for jungle curry was documented by Lady Plean Passakornrawong as a coconut-based catfish curry, in her 1908 book Maae Khruaa Huaa Bpaa (MKHP). Obviously, it is not the water versus coconut base that made it a jungle dish; it could be posited that Lady Plean uses “jungle curry” to emphasize the vast difference in the dish’s culinary codes compared to those she was accustomed to.
Lady Plean’s culinary approach celebrates complexity and, often, aristocratic eel and catfish dishes were extremely detailed. Higher cuisine called for specific varieties of dried long red chilies, with an attractive color, a pleasant aroma and only mildly spicy. Furthermore, the paste was reinforced with medicinal rhizomes such as sand ginger (เปราะหอม), bitter ginger (กระทือ) and fingerroot (krachai) (กระชาย), a combination designed to mellow down the muddy taste of these freshwater animal meats.
In Lady Plean’s coconut-based jungle curry of catfish, simplicity prevails. She uses a phrik khing based paste made with seasonal, fresh long green chilies (phrik chee fa) (พริกชี้ฟ้าเขียว), which gives the curry a light greenish hue and herbaceous notes – very different from the fruitiness of the red chilies to which she was accustomed.
Furthermore, Lady Plean omits from the paste the fermented shrimp paste (kapi) and the coriander roots but adds fingerroot (krachai) (กระชาย) and sand ginger (เปราะหอม) – almost as if she couldn’t resist. In addition, rather than relying on basils to dominate the curry’s herbal identity, Lady Plean completely changes the herbal profile of the dish, evoking the village ambiance with a handful of sawtooth coriander (ผักชีฝรั่ง). Finally, she seasons the curry to a monotone, spicy-salty flavor profile without the soft, sweet cushioning common in the higher cuisine.
Lady Plean begins by pounding the paste using fresh long green chilies (phrik chee fa) (พริกชี้ฟ้าเขียว). She omits from the paste the fermented shrimp paste (kapi) and the coriander roots but adds fingerroot (krachai) (กระชาย) and sand ginger (เปราะหอม). She notes that the paste does not have to be extremely smooth. Once the paste is ready, Lady Plean continues to grate coconut and squeezes coconut cream, which she uses to fry the paste. When the paste is cooked, she adds the catfish, which she has cleaned beforehand. She then adds roughly sliced sawtooth coriander and seasons the dish with fish sauce only.
She finishes the dish with crispy fried Thai garlic and crispy fried shallots (หอมแดง และ กระเทียมไทยเจียว).
[Add] | [Omit] |
---|---|
Fingerroot | Coriander root |
Sand ginger | Fermented shrimp paste (kapi) |
Add your own recipe notes
You must be a member to use this feature
Ingredients
- 400 g catfish (ปลาดุก)
- 1 cup coconut cream (หัวกะทิ)
- chicken stock (น้ำสต๊อกไก่)
- 1 cup sawtooth coriander (ผักชีฝรั่ง)
For the paste:
- 8 pieces fresh green long chili (phrik chee fa) (พริกชี้ฟ้าเขียว)
- 1 teaspoon sea salt (เกลือทะเล)
- 2 1/2 tablespoons lemongrass (ตะไคร้)
- 1 1/2 tablespoons galangal (ข่า)
- 1 tablespoon fresh sand ginger (เปราะหอมสด)
- 4 pieces fingerroot (krachai) (กระชาย)
- 1 teaspoon kaffir lime zest (ผิวมะกรูด)
- 1 tablespoon Thai garlic (กระเทียมไทย)
- 2 tablespoons shallots (หอมแดง)
Season with:
- fish sauce (น้ำปลา) as needed
Instructions
- Clean the fish and remove the internal organs.
- Scrape the slime off the catfish skin with a knife. Rub the catfish with coarse salt, then wash it thoroughly.
- Using a sharp knife, slice the fish into 1″ (2.5 cm) thick steak cuts. Set aside.
Prepare the curry paste:
- An overview of the curry paste ingredients.
- Slice the fresh chilies into small pieces and discard the seeds.
- In a pestle and mortar, pound the curry paste; start with the chilies and gradually add the other ingredients, from the driest to the wet. Pound the paste to a semi- fine consistency. Set aside.
Cook the curry:
- In a brass wok, heat the coconut cream until it thickens and oil appears. Scoop out a small portion to drizzle on top of the finished curry.
- Add the curry paste.
- Fry the paste until it loses its rawness.
- Stop the frying with liquids collected from cleaning the pestle and mortar, and plain water. Important: this is to separate the oil particles created during the paste-frying process from the rest of the broth. At this stage, mix gently to avoid re-emulsification of the oil.
Diluting the curry
- Dilute the curry with water or chicken stock to your liking.
- Add the catfish and mix gently.
- Add the sawtooth coriander and allow it to wilt into the curry broth.
Swamp Eel Triple-Layered Red Curry with Fingerroot, Bitter Ginger, Sand Ginger and Thai Basil Flowers (แกงเผ็ดปลาไหลทรงเครื่อง ; Gaaeng Phet Bplaa Lai Sohng Khreuuang)
This eel curry includes a greater-than-usual quantity of aromatics used over three stages. First, the eel is cleaned and sliced into segments; then it is fried with a generous amount of lemongrass, galangal, kaffir lime leaves and shallots. These help to counter its muddy and somewhat iron-like odor, which disappears along with the liquids and the aromatics.
This eel curry recipe is adapted from the vintage book: “Gap Khaao O:H Chaa Roht” by Ging Ga Nohk) (กับข้าวโอชารส โดย กิ่งกนก – กาญจนาภา พ.ศ. 2485). This rare book was written in 1942 during WWII, a period of global turmoil in which Thailand was invaded by the Japanese. That same year marked a decade from the ending of absolute monarchy rule in 1932, and one generation away from the peak of the Siamese culinary renaissance that flourished in the court of King Rama V (1868-1910): a nostalgic era for its children who are still with us to remember and reflect on those times.
Beef Phanaeng Curry and Ancient Grilled Phanaeng Chicken Curry (พะแนงเนื้อ และ ไก่ผะแนง จากตำราอาหารที่เก่าสุดในสยาม)
Breaking news: The oldest Thai cookbook, as well as history’s first-ever recorded recipe for Phanaeng curry, are revealed for the first time on Thaifoodmaster.com – A 126-year-old cookbook written by one of Siam’s most revered singers, Maawm Sohm Jeen (Raa Chaa Noopraphan) (หม่อมซ่มจีน, ราชานุประพันธุ์), has been rediscovered, offering a unique glimpse into the culinary repertoire of 19th-century Siam. In this chapter we examine the different forms of phanaeng curry from the 1800s to the present day, as we reconstruct the 19th-century version and craft step-by-step a traditional beef phanaeng curry.
Considered by some to be the most famous, and the most delicious, dish in Thai cooking, the story of Massaman curry is interwoven with trade, politics and religion in 17th-century Siam. The story is filled with mighty kings, legendary explorers and unsolved mysteries, adding an air of magic and power to this already-heavenly perfumed dish, and thickening the plot of this full bodied, coconut-based curry’s birth.
A Tai Lue style grilled catfish laap which is somewhat more complicated than the Issan version of grilled catfish laap.
Thai Green Curry with Roasted Duck and Young Chilies (แกงเขียวหวานเป็ดย่าง ; gaaeng khiaao waan bpet yang)
Green curry, with its mellow, creamy green color and rich coconut base, has both fresh and mature flavors. Like new growth on plants, it brings brightness, youthfulness, spring and rebirth to the meltdown of flavors created in the curry paste.
The green curry paste uses mainly the same standard ingredients as Thai spicy-red curry paste: lemongrass, coriander roots, kaffir lime zest, galangal, garlic, shallots, white peppercorns, coriander seeds, cumin seeds, salt and kapi.
Get Access – Join Thaifoodmaster Today
Practical and kitchen-tested recipes with a mix of theory, history, psychology, and Siamese culture tidbits.
Access to Thaifoodmaster’s constantly growing library of prime professional classes, articles, recipes and videos on Siamese culinary topics, available nowhere else in English.
Gain access to NEW MONTHLY masterclasses as they become available.
1-1 support from Hanuman to help you achieve your professional Thai culinary goals
The opportunity to join a monthly live two-hour videoconference where I can answer your questions.
one year access for the price of 3 days in-person training.
You will get everything you need to:
When you design or build a new menu for an event or restaurant or even prepare for dinner with friends.
Finally !
Master your Thai cooking skills and expand your repertoire.