Cooking in
British Columbia
Thai · Central Thailand
Phrik Gaeng Liang — Herb-Forward Paste / พริกแกงเลียง
Gaeng liang paste is arguably the most unusual of the standard Thai curry pastes — it uses no coconut milk in its curry, is based on white pepper and shrimp paste rather than dried chillies, and is specifically designed to highlight a changing roster of seasonal vegetables and fresh herbs. The paste itself is simple: dried shrimp, white pepper, shallots, and kapi pounded together — the complexity comes from the specific vegetables added to the broth during cooking. It is considered one of the oldest Thai curry preparations, predating the chilli (which arrived from the Americas in the 16th century), and its flavour profile reflects pre-chilli Thai cooking.
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Cook
I
The Market List
The benchmark for each ingredient, and who stocks it near you. Tap a stockist to go straight to the product.
For the paste
30 g
dried shrimp
fresh or very recently dried, sea-scented
Origin · VietnamChoose your town to see who stocks it →
1 tsp
white peppercorns
sole heat source; do not substitute
Your own market
60 g
shallots
peeled and roughly chopped
Your own market
1 tsp
kapi (Thai shrimp paste)
Not yet stocked in British Columbia
For the curry
1 tbsp
neutral oil
750 ml
water
not stock
Your own market
For the curry — seasonal vegetables (summer selection)
200 g
Thai marrow (buap) or young courgette
cut into bite-sized pieces
Your own market
100 g
young corn
halved lengthways
Origin · MexicoNot yet stocked in British Columbia
For the curry — seasonal vegetables (cooler-month selection)
100 g
baby pumpkin
cut into bite-sized pieces
Your own market
80 g
pea eggplant
Your own market
For the curry — aromatics (either season)
1 large handful
sweet basil leaves
added at the very end
Not yet stocked in British Columbia
For the curry
1–2 tbsp
fish sauce
to season; not a substitute for dried shrimp
Your own market
Each tap is counted, so the stockist sees the demand Provenance sends them.
II
The Method
1
Place the dried shrimp in the mortar and pound to a rough floss, so the fibres open up and will bind the paste rather than sit as hard pellets inside it. Add the white peppercorns and pound until fully cracked and fragrant, then add the shallots in stages — pounding after each addition so each batch is broken down before the next is introduced and the mass can cohere steadily. Add the kapi and continue pounding until the paste is uniform and no large shrimp or pepper fragments remain; it is ready when it holds together and the sea scent of the dried shrimp rises cleanly from the mortar.
2
Heat the oil in a wok or medium saucepan over a medium flame, add the entire quantity of paste, and fry it, stirring constantly, so the raw shallot edge cooks out and the paste becomes the flavour base of the broth rather than a sharp, undeveloped mass sitting in liquid. This is where the dish lives or dies — pull the paste too soon and the broth will taste green and abrasive; push it too far and the delicate shrimp sweetness scorches away. The paste is ready when its aroma shifts from sharp and raw to rounded and savory and it has darkened slightly.
3
Pour in the water and raise the heat to bring the broth to a steady simmer, then add the firmer vegetables first — marrow, young corn, baby pumpkin, pea eggplant — so they have time to cook through before the heat is reduced for the delicate herbs. Do not allow the broth to boil vigorously, as a rolling boil will cloud the liquid and drive off the clean, herb-forward character that defines the soup. The vegetables are ready when just tender but not collapsing, and the broth should remain light and clear.
4
Reduce the heat to its lowest setting and add the sweet basil leaves and any remaining delicate herbs, so the residual warmth wilts them gently rather than a hard boil cooking out their colour and perfume. Season with fish sauce, stir once, and remove from the heat immediately. The dish is ready when the basil leaves have wilted but retain their colour and the broth tastes herb-forward and gently warm from the white pepper, with no single element dominating.
From the canon — Fish sauce — nam pla — is the universal salt of the Thai kitchen. Fish Sauce (Nam Pla): Selection and Use →
III
Quality Hierarchy
01
Reserve — Dried shrimp caught and dried within the season, with a full, clean sea scent; white peppercorns from a single estate, freshly cracked; hand-pounded kapi from a small coastal producer.
02
Estate — Good-quality dried shrimp from a reputable supplier with clear sea fragrance and no off-notes; whole white peppercorns ground to order; commercial kapi of consistent quality.
03
Market — Supermarket dried shrimp assessed for freshness by smell before purchase; pre-ground white pepper used promptly; standard Thai shrimp paste in a sealed jar.
04
House — Any dried shrimp and white pepper to hand — the dish will be flatter if the dried shrimp has lost its sea scent, but the structure of the broth will still carry the white-pepper warmth.
IV
Sensory Tests
◇Smell. The finished paste in the mortar releases a clean, savoury sea scent with no large unground fragments visible or felt underfoot of the pestle.
◇Smell. The fried paste in the wok smells rounded and savoury — the raw, sharp edge of the shallot is entirely gone.
◇Sight. The broth remains light and clear throughout cooking; no vigorous boil breaks the surface once vegetables are in.
◇Sight. Basil leaves are wilted but green — not yellowed or translucent — when the curry is pulled from the heat.
◇Where it lives or dies. The paste must be fried in oil until its raw shallot edge cooks out and the aroma turns rounded — paste added to water without this step produces a flat, unintegrated broth.
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The working kitchen
Sourced through Provenance