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1
Pour the coconut cream into a wok over medium heat. Cook, stirring steadily, until the cream separates and the clear oil pools visibly around a thickened, grainy mass — the cream has cracked. You are doing this because the freed coconut oil is what will fry the curry paste in the next step; cream that has not fully cracked will steam the paste rather than fry it, and the aromatics will never open properly.
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2
Add the red curry paste to the cracked cream. Fry in the coconut oil, pressing and folding, until the paste is thoroughly fragrant and darkens by one shade — the raw sharpness of the aromatics has cooked out. This is where the dish lives or dies: under-fried paste will taste raw and thin; over-fried paste will turn bitter and break the sauce.
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3
Pour in the thin coconut milk in a slow stream, stirring to incorporate, so the paste stays evenly suspended rather than seizing into clumps. Season with fish sauce and palm sugar, then reduce over medium heat, stirring, until the sauce thickens to a consistency that coats the back of a spoon and holds its shape at the edges of the wok — it should cling, not pool.
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4
Lay the fish fillets skin-side up across the surface of the sauce and do not stir, so the fillets hold together as they cook rather than flaking apart in the wok. Spoon the sauce over the fish repeatedly, then cover and cook over low heat until the fish is just opaque through to the centre — a thin skewer meets no resistance at the thickest point.
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5
Taste the sauce and adjust with fish sauce or palm sugar. Transfer the fish to a serving plate, spoon the sauce over, and arrange the red chilli strips and kaffir lime leaf chiffonade across the top — the garnish should be vivid and clearly distinct against the dark sauce.