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The first water-based curry on the show! Woah, took me long enough, eh? 🙂 Gaeng som is a classic staple curry in many Thai homes because of its simplicity. It is probably the easiest curry paste to make from scratch, and arguably the healthiest as well. Tons of vegetables and herbs in a light, tart broth enriched with fish! Serve it with rice and I can have it every day!
In this recipe I have chosen green papaya, napa cabbage, carrots and long beans as my veg, but the options for veg are endless so think of this as a vegetable soup you can play around with. As is often the case with Thai food, it is gluten free 🙂
TIP: Gaeng som is also known for being better the next day as the flavours have time to mingle and penetrate the vegetables, so make this in advance if you can!
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Sour Curry w/ Shrimp and Green Papaya (Gaeng Som) แกงส้ม
- Yield: Serves 4
Ingredients
- 10g dried chilies (see note)
- 1 tsp salt
- ⅓ cup shallots
- 3 cloves garlic
- 3 Tbsp chopped or shredded fingerroot (grachai)
- 1 - 1 ½ teaspoon fermented shrimp paste (gapi)
- 3 cups chicken, pork or fish stock, unsalted
- 75 g white, mild flavoured fish meat (I used cod)
- 1-2 tablespoon fish sauce
- 3-4 tablespoon tamarind juice what is tamarind juice?
- 2 Tbsp palm sugar, chopped
- 2 cups green papaya, cut into thin slices
- 1 medium carrot, sliced
- 1 cup long beans, cut into 2-inch pieces
- 3 cups napa cabbage, chopped
- 175 g shrimp, peeled and deveined
- 1-2 tablespoon lime juice, or as needed
Note: You can make this as spicy or mild as you like. I used a combination of large mild chilies (guajillo) and a few spicier ones (arbol or Thai chilies). If you're in Thailand, use large dried spur chilies or "prik chee fah".
Instructions
Remove seeds from dried chilies. Combine chilies, shallots, garlic, fingerroot, salt and shrimp paste in a blender. Add just enough water to blend and blend until smooth.
In a pot, add the stock and bring to a simmer. Add the fish and let poach just until it's done. Turn off the heat for now and remove the fish with a slotted spoon and add it to a mortar and pestle or a plate. Pound the fish until fine or you can also just mash it finely with a fork.
Add the curry paste and the mashed up fish into the broth and bring to a boil.
Add fish sauce, tamarind juice, and sugar and stir to dissolve.
Add papaya and carrots and simmer for 8 minutes or until it's almost done. If you're using different vegetables, adjust cooking time accordingly.
Add the napa cabbage and long beans and simmer for 2 more minutes.
Add the shrimp and cook for 30 seconds or just until they are done. Remove from heat, then taste and adjust seasoning with more fish sauce, tamarind or lime juice as needed. (I didn't quite explain this in the video, but I like to add lime juice to adjust tartness at this point because I like the sharp and bright acidity of lime, and also, my tamarind isn't that sour and I would have to add a lot of tamarind to reach the tartness I wanted, which would make the curry darker and thicker than I would like. If you have tamarind that is quite tart, you may just need a little more tamarind and no lime).
Serve with jasmine rice.
Jasmine says
Love your cooking shows! And I really want to make Gaeng Som a staple for my family.
I have a Thai friend who introduced me to Gaeng Som but her mother added bamboo shoots instead of green papaya. Is it possible to switch the green papaya with bamboo shoots instead with the same ratio as the former? Please let me know! Would like to try making it with bamboo shoots! 🙂
Melissa Lvang says
Delicious! My dad and I enjoyed this recipe.
Rachael says
Love this recipe! I don't know how authentic it is, but I have successfully replaced the fish and shrimp in this recipe with chicken 🙂 My husband doesn't enjoy shrimp, and I didn't have fish on hand. It was different, but still delicious 🙂
Juan Carlos Ballesteros says
Hello, what a wonderful recipe, do you know any substitutions for fingerroot?
Thanks 😊
Tiaz says
The recipe ingredient list looks ridiculously long but it is overall a super recipe to follow esp as far as curries go from scratch. I often sub out all the shrimp for a flaky fish poached in the flavorful liquid after having a fish version in a restaurant, and it works very well.
futileresistance says
A classic of kao gaeng shops in Thailand but to experience it at it's best you need to do it a la Pa Pailin. Pro tip - make a big batch to use over future days