Kanom Jeen Nam Ya (Rice Noodles with Fish Curry Sauce)

Ingredients

• For the curry paste
• 150 g krachai (fingerroot), peeled and roughly chopped
• 6 dried red chillies, soaked and drained
• 1 tsp salt
• 300 g white fish (sea bass or snapper) or tinned mackerel, steamed and finely flaked if using fresh
• For the sauce
• 400 ml full-fat coconut milk, uncracked
• 2 tbsp fish sauce
• 1 tsp palm sugar
• To serve
• 400 g fresh kanom jeen (rice vermicelli), coiled into mounds; or cooked rice vermicelli rinsed in cold water
• 100 g bean sprouts, raw
• 1 cucumber, sliced
• 100 g long beans, blanched and cut into short lengths
• 50 g fresh wing beans, raw
• 100 g banana blossom, outer leaves removed, thinly sliced

Method

1. 1
   Pound the dried chillies and salt in a large mortar until a rough paste forms, adding the salt at the outset so it acts as an abrasive and helps the pestle grip the chillies rather than letting them skid around the bowl. Add the krachai in stages, pounding between each addition, so each batch is fully broken down before the next is introduced and the fibrous rhizome cannot hide in clumps. The paste is ready when it holds together as a single mass and no fibrous strands remain — test by pressing a small amount between finger and thumb.
2. 2
   Add the flaked fish to the paste in the mortar and pound continuously, working the fish fully into the paste, until no separate pieces of fish are visible and the mixture is completely smooth and homogeneous — this is where the dish lives or dies, because fish added to the coconut milk before full incorporation with the paste will produce a broken, chunky sauce, whereas only a paste that is smooth throughout will yield the correct fish-enriched, unified sauce. The surface of the paste should be almost glossy and show no distinction between fish and aromatic base.
3. 3
   Transfer the paste to a wok or heavy saucepan over a moderate flame and add the coconut milk gradually, stirring to dissolve the paste into the milk before the next addition arrives, so the paste disperses evenly rather than seizing into lumps against the heat. Keep the flame moderate throughout so the fat in the coconut milk stays in suspension and does not crack and pool on the surface. The sauce should be smooth and opaque — a uniform pale-orange from the chillies — with no pools of separated fat visible.
4. 4
   Simmer the sauce gently, stirring, until it has thickened slightly and the raw chilli edge has mellowed, giving the krachai time to come forward and assert its characteristically forward, slightly bitter note rather than being masked by uncooked aromatics. Season with fish sauce and palm sugar. The sauce is ready when it coats the back of a spoon and tastes of krachai predominantly — with chilli heat following — and the fish provides body rather than a distinct flavour note.
5. 5
   Arrange the noodle mounds in four deep bowls and ladle the hot curry sauce over the noodles. Lay the fresh vegetables — bean sprouts, sliced cucumber, blanched long beans, wing beans, and banana blossom — alongside or around the noodles so each mouthful of rich sauce can be tempered against something crisp and cool. The vegetables are not a garnish; they are the balance element of the dish and must be present in quantity.