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1
Assess the pineapple before anything else. Hold it base-down and smell the base: it must carry a clean, pronounced fresh-pineapple aroma, because the base is where the sugars concentrate first and its scent tells you what the flesh will taste like before you cut. No scent indicates underripeness; a fermented or alcoholic note indicates overripeness. This is where the dish lives or dies — the pineapple's sugar and acid content alone determine the curry's sweet-sour balance, and no subsequent seasoning can fully correct a pineapple chosen wrong.
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2
Pound the soaked dried chillies to a paste in a granite mortar, working in the garlic and shallots in succession so each ingredient is beaten to a smooth mass before the next is added, giving the paste a uniform texture rather than a chunky one. Work in the roasted shrimp paste last, pounding until it is fully incorporated and no visible chilli skin remains. The finished paste should be uniform and deep brick-red.
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3
Place the coconut cream in a wok over medium heat and cook, stirring, until it separates — the oil rises visibly around bubbling white solids — because it is this released coconut oil, not the cream itself, that will fry the paste and develop its depth. Stir steadily so the solids do not catch on the base. The split is unmistakable: the surface will look glossy and the bubbling will slow.
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4
Add the gaeng kua paste to the cracked coconut cream and fry in the released coconut oil, stirring constantly, so the paste toasts rather than steams — the raw chilli smell gives way to a rounded, shrimpy heat and the colour deepens slightly. Keep the paste moving so it does not scorch, which would bring bitterness the curry cannot recover from. It is ready when the aroma is full and the oil begins to bead again at the edges of the paste.
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5
Pour in the thin coconut milk and bring to a simmer, then add the pineapple pieces and simmer for 5 minutes so the fruit softens at its edges while the heat of the liquid draws its juice into the sauce, sharpening and sweetening the curry at the same time. The pineapple should hold its shape; press a piece lightly — it should yield without collapsing. Do not rush this stage with high heat, or the coconut milk will turn grainy.
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6
Add the prawns and simmer for 3 minutes, keeping the heat at a steady simmer rather than a rolling boil so the prawns cook evenly through without tightening into rubber. They are done when fully opaque and curled; cut the thickest prawn through to check — there should be no translucency at the centre. Pull the wok from the heat the moment they are done, as residual heat will carry them further.
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7
Season with fish sauce for salt, tasting as you go. The pineapple should be providing the sourness, and the palm sugar should be unnecessary if the fruit was correctly ripe — add it only if the curry is sharp with no sweetness. Add sliced fresh chilli if more heat is required. The finished curry should be simultaneously sweet, sour, hot, and salty in balance; no single note should dominate on the palate.