Jungle Curry — Gaeng Pa / แกงป่า

Ingredients

• For the curry paste
• 8–10 Bird's eye chillies, stems removed
• 3 Dried red chillies, soaked and drained
• 4 cloves Garlic, roughly chopped
• 3 stalks Lemongrass, tough outer leaves removed, lower stalk finely sliced
• 30 g Krachai (fingerroot, Boesenbergia rotunda), fresh or frozen, peeled and roughly chopped — not galangal, not ginger
• 4 Kaffir lime leaves, centre rib removed, finely shredded
• 1 tsp Shrimp paste (kapi)
• For the curry
• 500 g Chicken or pork, cut into bite-sized pieces; wild boar or freshwater fish are traditional alternatives
• 750 ml Water or light broth, not coconut milk
• 2 sprigs Fresh green peppercorns on the vine, added whole during cooking — dried or brined peppercorns are not an adequate substitute
• 100 g Thai eggplant (pea eggplant or round green variety), halved if round, left whole if pea
• 4 Kaffir lime leaves, torn
• 1 handful Thai basil (horapa), leaves only, added at the end
• 2 tbsp Fish sauce (nam pla), adjust to taste
• 1 tbsp Neutral oil, for frying the paste

Method

1. 1
   Pound the curry paste ingredients — bird's eye chillies, dried red chillies, garlic, lemongrass, krachai, kaffir lime leaves, and shrimp paste — in a heavy granite mortar, working from the hardest to the softest, so that each ingredient is broken down before the next is added and nothing fibrous escapes into the finished paste. Work the pestle in a circular grinding motion rather than simply crushing, turning the paste back into the centre with a spoon as you go. The paste is ready when it is fully homogenous, deeply fragrant, and no fibrous strands remain visible.
2. 2
   Heat the oil in a wok over high heat, add the paste, and fry it, pressing and folding it against the wok, so that every part of the paste makes direct contact with the hot iron and the raw smell of chilli and shrimp paste cooks off into something toasted and intensely aromatic — 2 to 3 minutes. This is where the dish lives or dies: an under-fried paste will taste raw and bitter; an over-darkened paste will turn acrid. The correct moment is when the paste begins to stick to the wok and the oil separates slightly at the edges.
3. 3
   Add the protein and stir immediately to coat every piece in the paste, so that the meat takes on the flavour of the fried aromatics before any liquid dilutes them. Fry over high heat until the exterior of the meat is sealed and no longer raw at the surface.
4. 4
   Pour in the water or broth and bring to a vigorous boil, so that the paste and the liquid are driven together into a unified broth rather than sitting as separate elements. The liquid should be sufficient to produce a thin, assertive broth — not a thick sauce.
5. 5
   Add the green peppercorn sprigs whole, the eggplant, and the torn kaffir lime leaves, tearing the leaves just before they go in so their oils are still live when they hit the broth. Simmer until the eggplant is just tender and the peppercorns have released their heat into the broth, then season boldly with fish sauce — without coconut milk's sweetness to buffer the seasoning, the fish sauce must carry the entire dish, and the broth should finish assertively savoury, fiercely hot, and deeply herbaceous.
6. 6
   Remove from heat and fold in the Thai basil leaves, allowing them to wilt in the residual heat for thirty seconds rather than returning the wok to the flame, so the basil softens without cooking through and losing its green colour and fresh anise fragrance. Serve immediately.