Jungle Curry (Kaeng Pa) // The virtues of obscure ingredients

When we went to Thailand, our travels through the northern part of the country landed us at a great cooking school in Chiang Mai. Here, we learned about the difference between northern Thai food, influenced heavily by other cultures and their significant distance from the coast, and southern Thai food, flavored heavily with coconut, fiery chiles, and plenty of fish. In the north, pork reigns supreme, and an interesting curry dish has emerged - jungle curry, known most notably for its absence of coconut milk from the sauce. Drawing on the other flavors of the countryside - fermented fish sauce, lime leaves, palm sugar, and a pungent red curry paste - mixed with chicken broth, it is a very enticing, filling, and yet surprisingly healthy alternative to the usual cholesterol-laden curry dishes from Bangkok and parts south. We cooked a decent version that day, which we carried home with us.

Fate being the cruel mistress that it is, we tried to replicate this dish following that recipe multiple times, to no avail. I tried making my own curry paste, finding different vegetable mixes to add, making Thai-infused chicken stock, buying a can of green peppercorns, and even growing my own kaffir lime tree to get things right. Nothing worked. Disgusted, embarrassed from one too many hosted dinner party failures, and on the verge of a breakdown, we tried one last time last night, with a careful eye on the exact ingredients called for.

The results were astounding. Somehow this dish rocketed from the bottom of our Thai repertoire to near the top, for a few reasons - it's healthy, it's easy, it's delicious, and it's exotic. This is the only dish I now make that has two very specific ingredients, which we had to learn (painfully) not to substitute for others. We didn't even have to make our own curry paste for this, just used the cans and it came out great. Still in shock, we may make it again tonight just to confirm that we have this one in the bag.

This is what the dish should look like

A prior attempt included making curry paste from scratch

I have no idea what I was thinking

Prep for the older version - too many substitutions, way too much effort, and an unbelievably disappointing meal. We will refer to this image shortly

So read on to learn about why this last photo is completely wrong, and how you can do this right.

To start, let's have a brief sidebar on ingredients:

Krachai. What the heck is that? It's known as 'finger ginger' or 'lesser ginger', and you can't buy it. At least, not fresh. Maybe you could grow it, if you can find the roots somewhere. But your best bet is to buy pickled krachai in your nearest large asian grocery store, or order it online. In earlier attempts we used regular ginger, which was too pungent. Last night, we compromised and used galangal, which can be a crap shoot on pungency. But later in the evening we went and bought this stuff, and it really does have a nice pronounced aroma that's a bit more interesting than ginger.

Green peppercorns. Ah, this one is tricky. If you've had bistec au poivre, you have had green peppercorns before, but not the kind we're looking for here. Those are in a strong brine, and the flavor is changed significantly. What we want is the glass jar of these from the asian store, still on the stems, as bright green as you can find. I think this is a less strong brine, because the flavor is not pickled when you get the jar, whereas the can in my above photo had some very strong peppercorns that took over and ruined the dish on earlier occasions.

Palm sugar. Just go get it. It's easy enough to find, you can even get it at a latin market if you have to. Makes a big difference, it's almost buttery compared to white sugar, and not at all the same as brown sugar.

Holy basil. Same as above. Don't use regular basil, or you will be confused. Holy basil has a licorice flavor that is one of the backbones of Thai cooking, and has no substitute.

Thai eggplants. Also known as globe eggplants, these are small green eggplants about 1.5-2" in diameter. They cook down a bit differently than regular eggplant, and have a nice bite to them from the small seeds and thin skin. I greater prefer using them, and they're not impossible to find these days.

Pea eggplants. Okay, I have never found these in a store, ever. I put them in almost as a joke. If you find them, likely in the freezer section, buy them, use them, love them. I have eaten them a few times and they are fun and delicious. 

Jungle Curry (Kaeng Pa)
Modified from HairyBikers.com, after recklessly abandoning the recipe given to us by Thai chefs from Chiang Mai

• 3 tbsp vegetable oil
• 1/2 small can of red curry paste, about 4-5 tbsp
• 1 pound protein - pork tenderloin or shoulder, large chicken breast, firm tofu, or seitan
• 5 Thai eggplants, cut into quarters
• 1.5 cups chicken stock, heated
• 2 red bird’s-eye chiles, pierced (optional)
• 2 tbsp Thai fish sauce
• 4 kaffir lime leaves, bruised
• 2 tbsp krachai, thinly sliced lengthways (see notes above)
• 1 tbsp palm sugar, chopped if solidified
• 1/2 cup pea eggplants, if you can find them
• 1 stem of fresh green peppercorns or 1/2 tbsp sweet brined green peppercorns from a jar (optional)
• 1/2 cup green beans, cut into 1 inch lengths
• 8 baby corn, cut in half lengthwise
• 1/4 cup bamboo shoots, sliced
• 1/4 cup straw mushrooms
• 1 cup (handful) of holy basil, leaves torn

Okay, if you have gotten this far, it's very easy from here. Cut up your protein into bite-sized pieces, get everything else ready, and heat up your oil in a large wok until almost smoking. Add the red curry paste and fry, stirring constantly, for about 1 minute, until fragrant. Add the protein and cook, stirring occasionally, for a few minutes, until seared but not necessarily fully cooked.

When the protein is ready, add the Thai eggplants, chicken stock, fish sauce, and chiles (if using, we didn't and it was plenty spicy). Bring to a boil, reduce heat to simmer, and cook for 5 minutes.

Add the lime leaves, krachai, palm sugar, green peppercorns, and pea eggplant (if you managed to find it), and cook for another 10 minutes. We're building this up in layers based on cooking times, so be careful not to add things in the wrong stage. See notes at the end on the ingredients.

Add the green beans, bamboo, and mushrooms, and simmer for a final 4 minutes. When done, kill the heat, add the torn Thai basil leaves, and serve over rice.