Prik Gang Kua - Southern Curry Paste

[eldragon]

Does anyone have a good recipe for prik gang kua, aka southern curry paste? I know what goes it in, but can't get the numbers down.

[TommyTucker]

Yes

[eldragon]

Yes

Care to share? Or trade?

[Pla shado]

Here is a recipe from the web in case you haven't already found it.

http://www.thaitable.com/thai/recipe/southern-red-curry-paste

[eldragon]

Here is a recipe from the web in case you haven't already found it.

http://www.thaitable.com/thai/recipe/southern-red-curry-paste

Thank you. Have you tried it? I tried it and thought it was ok. A nice mellow flavor. But it seemed to be lacking the bite that I look for in Tai (southern) food. Mark Wiens has one on his website too, but it seems like he went pretty heavy with the chilies and light with the shallots/garlic. Seemed too spicy.

[Pla shado]

My wife makes kua kling on occasion. Her paste is much like the one posted but a bit heavier on the black pepper and chilies. Her good friend who is from Surat Thani gave her the recipe. We live in Isaan. Of course, kua kling is a dry curry and supposed to fiery hot. That is about the extent of my experience with southern curry pastes at home.

[eldragon]

My wife makes kua kling on occasion. Her paste is much like the one posted but a bit heavier on the black pepper and chilies. Her good friend who is from Surat Thani gave her the recipe. We live in Isaan. Of course, kua kling is a dry curry and supposed to fiery hot. That is about the extent of my experience with southern curry pastes at home.

Love kua kling. Stuff will melt iron. And I take back what I said about the recipe. Playing around with the ratio of meat to chili paste and finding it to work a but better.

One thing I'm curious about is how does one use less chili paste in a dish (to make it less spicy) without losing flavor? Bc there are other things in chili paste besides chilies that give a dish it's unique taste.

[Pla shado]

One thing I'm curious about is how does one use less chili paste in a dish (to make it less spicy) without losing flavor? Bc there are other things in chili paste besides chilies that give a dish it's unique taste.

Yes, that can get to be a little tricky. My assumption is, that to reduce the level of spiciness in the final dish one would need to reduce the amount of spiciness in the paste before adding it in. The heat level is lowered while the other ingredients remain the same. This also, can vary as the intensity of chilies isn't always the same depending on size, maturity and perhaps even growing conditions. A milder variety of chili could be used but that may alter the character of the dish as well.

Just from observing my wife and other Thai cooks it is appears that they don't completely follow set recipes. My wife, for instance, is constantly tasting the food at various stages of preparation. I've never seen her use a written recipe. Depending on who will be eating the food, (e.g. family, foreign visitors, children) she will adjust the ingredients to fit the occasion.

Perhaps someone may have a more definitive answer to your question but in my experience it seems that most Thai cooks have a standard recipe in mind and then make ingredient adjustments to the dish depending on how they want the final product to taste. Good luck in your pursuit.

[eldragon]

One thing I'm curious about is how does one use less chili paste in a dish (to make it less spicy) without losing flavor? Bc there are other things in chili paste besides chilies that give a dish it's unique taste.

Yes, that can get to be a little tricky. My assumption is, that to reduce the level of spiciness in the final dish one would need to reduce the amount of spiciness in the paste before adding it in. The heat level is lowered while the other ingredients remain the same. This also, can vary as the intensity of chilies isn't always the same depending on size, maturity and perhaps even growing conditions. A milder variety of chili could be used but that may alter the character of the dish as well.

Just from observing my wife and other Thai cooks it is appears that they don't completely follow set recipes. My wife, for instance, is constantly tasting the food at various stages of preparation. I've never seen her use a written recipe. Depending on who will be eating the food, (e.g. family, foreign visitors, children) she will adjust the ingredients to fit the occasion.

Perhaps someone may have a more definitive answer to your question but in my experience it seems that most Thai cooks have a standard recipe in mind and then make ingredient adjustments to the dish depending on how they want the final product to taste. Good luck in your pursuit.

I've assumed the same as well. In fact, many of the better restaurants- for some dishes- won't change the level of spiciness bc doing it would ruin the flavor of the dish. Might be better to use a milder curry paste, then add chilies to heat it up. One technique I've heard of is mashing a bunch of chilies and garlic together, then frying em up before adding the curry paste and other ingredients to the pan.

Yeah, Thais typically don't use quantities for their recipes. Drives me nuts. I get the pride that comes with making something to taste. I can see how people would view it as a sign of great skill. But for me it just slows the process down. If you know exactly what's going in a dish every time, you can make it with barely a thought.