About this recipe
A bracingly sour, hot curry — no coconut milk — built on a turmeric-tinged chili paste and soured with tamarind, usually cooked with fish or shrimp and a seasonal vegetable. The Southern style is fierier and more turmeric-forward than the milder Central-plains gaeng som; the two differ enough to note the distinction.
Recipe facts
- Yield
- 4 as part of a shared meal
- Prep
- 20 minutes
- Cook
- 25 minutes
- Total
- 45 minutes
- Difficulty
- Moderate
- Spice
- Hot
Allergens Contains fish (fish sauce) and shellfish (shrimp paste in the paste; shrimp if used). Gluten-free. Dairy-free.
Development draft. This is an untested development recipe from the cookbook project. It has not been kitchen-tested, and the quantities and timings are the author’s working draft rather than a verified result.
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Ingredients
Sour curry paste
- 6–8 dried red chilies, soaked
- 3 shallots; 3 cloves garlic
- 1 tbsp (10 g) fresh turmeric (or 1 tsp ground)
- 1 tsp (5 g) shrimp paste (kapi)
- 1/2 tsp salt
The curry
- 5 cups (1.2 L) water
- 3–4 tbsp (45–60 ml) tamarind concentrate
- 1 lb (450 g) firm white fish (e.g. snapper) or shrimp
- 12 oz (340 g) mixed vegetables (daikon, green beans, cauliflower or green papaya)
- 2–3 tbsp (30–45 ml) fish sauce
- 1 tbsp (15 g) palm sugar
Equipment
- Mortar and pestle (or small processor)
- Pot
Method
- Pound the paste ingredients to a smooth paste.
- Bring the water to a boil and whisk in the paste; simmer 5 minutes to cook it out.
- Add the tamarind, fish sauce and palm sugar; taste for a hot-sour-salty balance.
- Add the firmer vegetables and simmer until nearly tender.
- Add the fish (or shrimp) and any quick-cooking vegetables; simmer gently just until the fish is opaque and flakes.
- Adjust the seasoning and serve hot with plenty of steamed rice.
Uses from this chapter
- Nam Pla Prik (Fish Sauce with Chilies) (Condiments — C04) — Optional at the table for extra salt and heat; the curry is already boldly seasoned.
From the foundations
The book pairs this recipe with the following, from the sauces, sambals and pastes that open the collection.
The Complete Edition
Gaeng Som (Southern Sour Curry) sits in the Thailand chapter
The book carries this recipe in full alongside the rest of the Thailand chapter, the pastes and dips it is built on, and the twenty-seven pantry studies that open the collection.
Available from Amazon
- Kindle edition — $9.99 (Kindle Store price) — available now
- Paperback — $49.99 (print list price) — available now