It’s the dead of winter, nights are cold. So what to eat to warm you up?
Thai green curry is Australia’s sentimental winter favourite; it has seduced Australians for decades. And the beating heart of a green curry is not what’s cooked with it but the unique spice paste which it’s cooked with.
Opinions on what makes the best green curry paste mostly align: a mix of ripe long green chillies and tiny fiery scuds, and coriander seed and roots, lemongrass, galangal and kaffir lime zest are essential, cut with a blend of red shallots and garlic.
Fermented shrimp paste or gapi adds depth and lip-smacking umami, while pepper, cumin and turmeric provide roundedness. Blend the lot up with a little water and you get a piquant, aromatic base from which to build your curry. And, naturally, making your own is a world away from anything store-bought.
The chef and owner of Sydney’s famed Spice I Am restaurant, Sujet Saenkham, says: “It’s worth making it yourself 100%. Nothing beats making it fresh but the main reasons are that it’s much better to flavour and season the food.
“The key ingredients in the paste are green chillies; a mixture of both small and large, all green and mature.”
Saenkham made a name for himself by refusing to make his curries with coconut milk, wanting to introduce Australians to more traditional Thai dishes untempered for Western palates.
But with a string of newer restaurants which now showcase the regional Thai food he’s passionate about, it wasn’t long before his green curry was tweaked to its current medium-hot state with the addition of coconut milk. He also serves a slow-cooked beef green curry with roti at this latest venture, Surry Hills Eating House in Sydney, which has drawn wide attention.
“In the old days as rice farmers, cows meant a lot to us, so to respect the animal we did not cook so widely with beef,” he explains.
Served with slightly bitter apple and pea eggplants, loads of Thai basil and spicy krachai, or wild ginger, the slow-cooked beef green curry will warm the coldest heart on a chilly night.
“I like the entire curry-making process, all the way from selecting the ingredients and balancing the shrimp paste right through until I am finished and the beef is cooked until it is tender,” Saenkham says.
Sujet Saenkham’s green curry paste
Makes about 500g – enough for two curries.
80g fresh long green chillis, stems removed and roughly chopped
50g fresh small green Thai chillis, stems removed
5 cloves garlic, peeled
½ stick lemongrass, thinly sliced
1 red shallot, sliced
1 x 20g piece galangal, peeled and roughly chopped
1 x 10g piece turmeric, peeled and sliced
30g shrimp paste
20g kaffir lime rind
1 teaspoon ground coriander
1 teaspoon ground cumin
200ml water
Place chillies, garlic, lemongrass, shallot, galangal, turmeric, shrimp paste, lime rind, spices and water in a blender and blend to a smooth paste.
Store in an airtight container in the fridge for three to five days or freezer for up to two months.
• Recipe from the Spice I Am: Homestyle Thai Recipes by Sujet Saenkham, with photography by Rob Palmer, published by Lantern. RRP $39.99
