Gaeng Phet — Red Curry Benchmark / แกงเผ็ด

Ingredients

• 400 ml coconut cream, full-fat, for frying the paste
• 200 ml coconut milk
• 60–80 g red curry paste, good-quality prepared or hand-pounded
• 4 confit duck legs, or slow-cooked duck, skin on
• 200 g canned lychees, drained and whole
• 2 tbsp fish sauce, plus more to taste
• 1 tbsp palm sugar, shaved or grated
• 6 kaffir lime leaves, torn, central rib removed
• 1 handful horapha (Thai holy basil), leaves picked
• 2 red chillies, sliced on the diagonal
• 2 green chillies, sliced on the diagonal

Method

1. 1
   Pour the coconut cream into a wok or wide saucepan over medium heat and bring to a steady simmer, stirring occasionally. Reduce by one-third until the cream thickens and the surface oil begins to pool — this separation is what you are working toward, because the freed coconut fat will later fry the paste rather than merely heating it. The cream is ready when it looks glossy and slightly separated.
2. 2
   Add the red curry paste to the reduced coconut cream and fry it, pressing and folding it continuously into the fat, so the raw, sharp smell of uncooked galangal, lemongrass, and dried chilli gives way to a deep, toasted fragrance — undercooked paste will produce a thin, flat curry that no subsequent step can correct. This is where the dish lives or dies: the paste must smell cooked, not merely hot, before any liquid is added. Keep the heat at medium and do not hurry the fold.
3. 3
   Pour in the coconut milk and stir to combine, scraping any paste from the base of the wok so no pocket of concentrated spice is left to scorch. Bring to a gentle simmer; the sauce should settle to an even, deep-orange red with no pale streaks of unincorporated paste.
4. 4
   Add the duck legs, torn kaffir lime leaves, fish sauce, and palm sugar, then simmer over medium-low heat, turning the duck once, until it is heated through and its rendered fat has integrated with the coconut sauce, giving the curry a richer, more unctuous body than it had before. Taste after the duck has cooked for several minutes and adjust fish sauce and palm sugar to balance salt against sweetness, accounting for the additional fat and juices the duck has released.
5. 5
   Add the drained lychees in the final 2 minutes of cooking so they warm through without losing their shape — lychees held in a boiling curry quickly collapse to a pulp and their delicate sweetness is lost. Heat through without further stirring; they should be warm and intact, yielding slightly when pressed but not collapsed.
6. 6
   Scatter the sliced red and green chillies and the horapha basil leaves over the surface, then remove the wok from the heat immediately so the residual warmth is enough to just wilt the basil without cooking it to a dark, bitter slick. The chillies should hold their colour and the basil should remain bright — both are textural and visual elements, not further seasoning. The finished curry should coat a spoon richly, with no excess liquid pooling at the base of the bowl.