This dish is an absolute classic southern Thai food. Ground pork, or any other ground meat, or even crumbled tofu, is stir-fried with southern curry paste laced with turmeric. It's spicy, it's super flavourful, and it's versatile! We toss it with some jasmine rice, but you can put it in an omelette or perhaps...a taco? Oh and it's also gluten-free and can be made vegan if you substitute crumbled firm tofu or TVP (detailed vegan substitutions below).
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Ingredients
Here are all the ingredients you'll need to make this recipe. For amounts, check out the full recipe card below.
Kua Gling Curry Paste
- Dried chilies, seeds removed (I use arbol chilies because it's medium-spicy. Use Thai dried chilies for super spicy, and guajillo chilies for mild.)
- Black peppercorns
- Lemongrass (bottom half only), divided into 2 equal portions
- Chopped galangal
- Fresh turmeric or powdered turmeric
- Chopped kaffir lime zest (optional)
- Salt
- Shallots, chopped
- Garlic
- Fermented shrimp paste (gapi)
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Kua Gling
- Ground pork or other ground meats (see note)
- Water or unsalted chicken stock
- Fish sauce (this depends on the saltiness of your shrimp paste, so taste first before you add fish sauce)
- Sugar
- Kaffir lime leaves, finely julienned
- Fresh red chilies, cut into big pieces (optional)
- For serving: Jasmine rice, fresh crunchy veggies such as cucumber to help cool you down, and I also love serving pork crackling with this dish for extra texture!
Note: To make this vegan, use miso paste instead of shrimp paste, soy sauce instead of fish sauce, and use crumbled firm tofu or TVP instead of meat.
In Thailand, this dish is often way too spicy for me to enjoy (southern food is often super spicy), so I gotta make it myself so I can make it just right for me!
Once you've made a curry paste (which you can make in advance and then freeze), the recipe comes together in mere minutes and it keeps well for your lunch the next day. This is not a dish many Thai restaurants offer because it's more of a regional dish, so if you want to try it you gotta make it yourself!
Recipe Card
Kua Gling - Southern Pork Stir-Fry w/ Curry Paste คั่วกลิ้ง
- Yield: Serves 4
Ingredients
Kua Gling Curry Paste
- 8-10g dried chilies, seeds removed (I use arbol chilies because it's medium-spicy. Use Thai dried chilies for super spicy, and guajillo chilies for mild.)
- 1 tsp black peppercorns
- 1 stalk lemongrass (bottom half only), divided into 2 equal portions
- 3 Tbsp chopped galangal
- 2-inch pc fresh turmeric or 1 ½ tsp powdered turmeric
- 2 tsp chopped kaffir lime zest (optional)
- ½ tsp salt
- ⅓ cup shallots, chopped
- 5 cloves garlic
- 2 tsp fermented shrimp paste (gapi)
Kua Gling
- 1 lb (450 g) ground pork or other ground meats (see note)
- ¼ - ⅓ cup water or unsalted chicken stock
- 1-2 teaspoon fish sauce (this depends on the saltiness of your shrimp paste, so taste first before you add fish sauce)
- 2 tsp sugar
- 6-7 kaffir lime leaves, finely julienned
- Fresh red chilies, cut into big pieces (optional)
- For serving: Jasmine rice, fresh crunchy veggies such as cucumber to help cool you down, and I also love serving pork crackling with this dish for extra texture!
Note: To make this vegan, use miso paste instead of shrimp paste, soy sauce instead of fish sauce, and use crumbled firm tofu or TVP instead of meat.
Want to save this recipe?
We can email this post to you, so you can come back to it later!
Instructions
For the curry paste:
Grind dried chilies and black pepper in a coffee grinder until fine. In a mortar and pestle (or use an immersion blender like this one) pound galangal, turmeric, kaffir lime zest (if using), half of the lemongrass, and the salt into a rough paste.
Add the ground chilies and black pepper and pound to help absorb some liquid from the herbs.
Add shallots and garlic and pound into a paste (doesn't need to be super fine, as long as there are no big chunks).
Add shrimp paste and pound to mix. You can now freeze this paste for future use if desired.
For the stir-fry:
In a wok, add just enough cooking oil to coat the bottom, then add the curry paste and saute it for a few minutes over medium heat, until the chili fumes fill your house! If the paste sticks, add water or stock as needed to deglaze.
Add the pork, or whatever protein you're using, and turn the heat up to medium high. Toss the pork well with the curry paste until there are no more big lumps. Add the sugar and keep tossing until fully cooked. If there is any liquid pooling at this point, crank the heat to high and keep cooking until there is no more liquid pooling.
If this is your first time making it, taste it at this point and see if how much fish sauce it needs, if at all. This will depend on various factors including the saltiness of your shrimp paste. Once it is properly seasoned, add lime leaves, the other half of the lemongrass and chilies and toss to mix and it's done!
Serve with jasmine rice, and if you wish, some crunchy fresh vegetables to help cool you down from the heat. Pork crackling also goes really well with this dish.
Mark says
This recipe slaps so hard. I used dried arbol chiles, as per the recipe for a "medium" level of heat, and it was perfectly spicy - to the point where it hurt in the best way, yet it kept me going back for more. This is a truly wonderful recipe. I pretty much stuck to the recipe as printed, except for using ground chicken, not including the optional kaffir lime zest, and using powdered turmeric for my first attempt. You and the HTK website have been my go-to for Thai recipes for a while, but this one was so good it prompted me to leave a comment. Thank you very much for your work!
Pailin Chongchitnant says
Thank you so much Mark!
Dave says
Oh my god! I live in the uk and I had to drive for 3 1/2 hours to get some of these ingredients…I know I could have ordered them online but I didn’t want to wait. The shop was also very overpriced! Little box of durian cost £27!…but anyway forget that, I did everything exactly as you instructed although maybe I added more lemongrass. Honestly it was delicious, so much nicer and more flavourful than any uk restaurant I’ve tried it in! Even my daughter who is a true food critic and also half Thai loved it! In fact she didn’t believe that I cooked it…she said “no way you’ve cooked this, you can’t even make cheese on toast!” 🤦🏻♂️
I’ve tried Ramsay and Jamie Oliver recipes before with no joy.
Please keep up the good work, your recipes are the only reason I can now make not just edible food but truely great food. ขอบคุณมาก
Pailin Chongchitnant says
Aw so glad to hear it was worth the trip!! 🙂
Katy says
We had a potluck based on your blog and new book Sabai and someone made this dish - it was one of my favorites. Packs such a punch of flavors! I'll have to make it myself soon. Thank you!
Niko says
If using store bought red curry paste (I got Mae Ploy per your recommendation), how many tbsp would you recommend? Thanks!
Pailin Chongchitnant says
Just so you know red curry paste is not the right curry paste for this dish, so the flavour will not be right. You can still make it, though. I'd use 3 Tbsp but you might have to hold back on the fish sauce as Maeploy is quite salty. Taste before adding any fish sauce!
Niko says
Ah, thanks for clarifying! Is there another curry paste you’d recommend instead?
Jason says
This recipe is absolutely delicious and very easy to make. Thank you for putting this recipe up! It’s been my go to whenever I want a spicy Southern Thai dish.
Gani says
Kobb khun mak kha for this yummy recipe! I make a big batch of paste and freeze what I didn't use. I use a bit less chillies so I can share with my friends. They always request it. I have used more Gapi here in America than when I live in Thailand. Ps. I am so excited to see your talk in Seattle in a few days. Though I have to join via zoom. Thanks for all your inspiration!
Joe says
Hi Pailin, I'm a long-time fan and have been using your recipes for a long while. I'm not much for commenting but you've inspired me to make all kinds of Thai dishes. I made this a while back and like it so much, I made a few recipes of the curry and froze them. Well, I found one today (it freezes exceptionally well) and made it for lunch. I just started (again) my keto diet and this is just perfect. We ate this in lettuce cups and it was great (yes, would have been better with some rice). Now, I hope this doesn't distress you but I made a couple of additions. We planted a few long beans a few weeks ago. I kind of forgot about them until my partner informed me we had some beans!! So, when I added some water to the curry, I also threw in some cut-up long beans. I'm also growing Thai basil, holy basil, lemongrass, and bird chilies. In a condo. I used some bird chilies per the recipe and added some Thai basil. It came delicious. I know how I feel when people bastardize Italian recipes (my parents were both immigrants) but I don't think I added anything weird. Anyway, we thought it was fantastic and think you are too. Thanks for all your work.
Pailin Chongchitnant says
Hi Joe, you didn't distress me at all with your additions! They were all Thai ingredients and so you kept it Thai and it sounds delish 🙂 If you told me you added ketchup...well... that would be different lol!
Thank you for taking the time to leave a thoughtful comment!
Ivan says
I made this last night, it was fabulous! The instruction to "pound half the lemongrass, galangal, turmeric..." had me pounding half of each, only to find that only the lemongrass goes back in later. Upon consulting with my English grammar "expert", I'm told the grammar is correct but the phrasing leaves room for confusion. I lived in Chian Mai for two years (decades ago) and still crave the food. Having HTK is invaluable resource.
Pailin Chongchitnant says
Noted! I'll make some changed so it is not confusing. Thank you!
Rachael says
Delicious! I used an immersion blender I make the curry paste, leaving out the chili/pepper powder until after I had saved out some for a meat portion for our small kids. Love being able to cook from scratch so I can customize the heat!