Kaeng Pa (Jungle Curry)

Ingredients

• For the jungle curry paste
• 12–15 dried red chillies, soaked in warm water, drained — quantity is substantially higher than standard red curry paste
• 30 g galangal, peeled, roughly chopped
• 2 stalks lemongrass, outer leaves removed, lower stalk finely sliced
• 1 tsp kaffir lime zest, finely grated
• 50 g krachai (fingerroot / Chinese keys), peeled, roughly chopped — added to the paste; distinctive camphor-fresh note
• 1 tsp shrimp paste, roasted in foil before pounding
• For the curry
• 1 litre water or light stock
• 400 g pork, chicken, or fish, sliced or cut to even pieces; wild boar or frog traditional, domestic substitutes acceptable
• 150 g bamboo shoots, rinsed, sliced
• 100 g pea eggplants, stalks removed
• 100 g long beans, cut into 4 cm lengths
• 2 stalks young green peppercorns, on the stalk; added in the last 5 minutes
• 2–3 tbsp fish sauce, to season; no palm sugar is used

Method

1. 1
   Pound the soaked dried chillies in a mortar until a rough paste forms, then add the galangal, lemongrass, and kaffir lime zest in succession, pounding each fully before adding the next so that each ingredient releases its oils into the mass rather than sitting as separate fragments. Add the krachai and pound to incorporate, then work in the roasted shrimp paste last, pounding until the mixture is cohesive — the shrimp paste goes in last so its fermented intensity binds the paste without being beaten out of it. The finished paste should smell sharp, camphor-fresh, and intensely aromatic; there are no shallots, garlic, or dried spices here, which is what sets this paste apart from a standard red curry paste.
2. 2
   Bring the water or light stock to a rolling boil, then add the jungle curry paste directly to the boiling liquid and stir to dissolve it fully, working quickly so the paste disperses evenly before it has any chance to settle and scorch on the base. There is no cracking step — no coconut cream, no oil — so the aromatic oils of the paste distribute directly through the broth without the smoothing effect fat would provide. The broth should turn a deep orange-red immediately and the sharp scent of lemongrass and galangal should rise at once, clean and unmediated.
3. 3
   Add the protein to the boiling broth, then add the bamboo shoots, pea eggplants, and long beans, and simmer for 10–15 minutes so the vegetables cook through while holding enough texture to give the broth body and resistance. Add the young green peppercorns on the stalk in the last 5 minutes of cooking so they retain their fresh, grassy heat rather than cooking down to softness and losing that burst of live pepper flavour.
4. 4
   Season with fish sauce and do not add palm sugar — the absence of sweetness is part of the preparation's character, and a single pinch would blunt the raw, assertive heat that defines this curry. Kaeng pa must be genuinely, persistently hot from the first spoonful, with no coconut milk to temper the dried chilli, so if that heat is not immediate and sustained, more paste must go in now — there is no recovering it at the table. The finished broth should be sharply savoury from the fish sauce and shrimp paste, with the aromatics arriving at full volatility.
5. 5
   Ladle into bowls; the broth should be clear or only slightly cloudy from the dissolved paste — not the opaque cream of a coconut milk curry — with a deep orange-red from the dried chilli and the yellow-green of the vegetables distributed through it. Serve with steamed jasmine rice. The green peppercorn stalks are eaten at the table, each individual peppercorn giving a small, intense burst of fresh pepper heat entirely unlike dried black pepper.