*  Exported from  MasterCook  *

              PRIK KAENG KIAO WAN  (GREEN CURRY-SWEET/HOT)

Recipe By     :
Serving Size  : 2    Preparation Time :0:00
Categories    : Thai                             Condiments

 Amount  Measure       Ingredient -- Preparation Method
--------  ------------  --------------------------------
  1       c            Prik ki nu
                       (green birdseye chilis)
  5       tb           Lemon grass,
                       Finely sliced
 10       tb           Shallots (purple onions),
                       Chopped
 10       tb           Garlic, minced
  5       tb           Galangal (kha) grated
  5       tb           Coriander/cilantro root,
                       Chopped
  2       tb           Coriander seed
  1       tb           Cumin seed
  1       tb           Freshly ground
                       Black pepper
  2       tb           Shredded bai makroot
                       (lime leaves)
  4       tb           Kapi (fermented shrimp
                       Paste)
  1       tb           Palm sugar.

 This is a paste for a green curry, and the 'wan'
 indicates that it should be slightly sweet as well as
 hot. If you can't get prik ki nu, you can use half a
 pound of habanero chilis or one pound of jalapena
 chilis. If you use the latter deseed them before use.
 Note that if you use a substitute you will get a
 different volume of paste, and that you will need to
 use different amounts in subsequent recipes.
 If you can't get kha use ginger if you can't get bai
 makroot use lime zest if you can't get coriander root,
 use coriander leaves.

 coarsely chop the chilis.
 Toast the dry seeds in a heavy iron skillet or wok,
 and grind them coarsely.
 Add all the ingredients to a food processor and
 process to a smooth paste.
 Place in tightly stoppered jars, and keep in the
 fridge for at least a week for the flavors to combine
 and develop before use. The remaining three pastes are
 all made from dried red chilis: those sold in Thailand
 are frankly stale. Those sold in Europe and America
 are generally barely fit for human consumption. If you
 must use them then break them up and shake out the
 seeds, and soak them in tepid water for about 30
 minutes before use. Preferably dry fresh red chilis.
 All these recipes call for one cup of fresh red
 chilis, or half a pound of red habaneros, or one pound
 of red jalapenas, deseeded. Dry them in the sun, or if
 the climate doesn't allow then dry them in a herb
 desicator, or smoke them in a smoker or over a
 barbeque. The dried chilis (which need not be tinder
 dry - it is enough to remove most of the water) are
 then toasted under a broiler until *almost* burnt.
 Treat this stage with extreme caution: if you overcook
 them a noxious gas closely related to Mustard gas is
 released. This is quite dangerous at a minimum cook
 them in a very well ventillated room with a fan on and
 have a damp cloth ready to cover your mouth and nose
 in case of emergencies -- and disconnect your smoke
 detector/fire alarm! Thai 'curries' are typically made
 using a 'curry' paste. However that is an
 oversimplification: firstly the word used for these
 dishes in Thai is kaeng (pronounced 'gang') and it
 covers soups, stews and of course curries. A paste
 which is used could be used just as well for a soup as
 for a curry. Secondly of course it is not true that
 Thais call them curry: the word for curry is kari and
 it is only applied to a small number of dishes: the
 dishes that appear on western Thai restaurant menues
 as 'curries' are kaengs, and they are made not with
 curry paste but with a sauce made from prik kaeng
 (which in this case could be translated better as
 chili paste). There are many different prik kaeng in
 Thai cuisine and from them you could make a vast
 number of different dishes by using different protein
 ingredients, and vegetable ingredients and so on to
 the extent that it is said that most Thai housewives
 could cook a different kaeng every day of the year.
 However if you know the four basic pastes listed here,
 and the basic techniques from my next posting, you can
 make a vast array of dishes, if not perhaps quite one
 per day for a year. A rough rule of thumb is that one
 cup of raw chilis yields a cup or so of paste (since
 there is air in the chilis). Further it will keep
 about 3 months in a preserving jar in the fridge.
 Since the average kaeng will require (depending on how
 hot you make it) between 2 and 8 tablespoons of paste,
 and since there are roughly 16 tablespoons in a cup,
 you can scale this recipe up to suit your needs.
 Suffice it to say that we make these pastes on a cycle
 over 8 weeks and make 6-8 portions of each of them. As
 they say in US motor advertisements: your mileage may
 vary!

 Colonel Ian F. Khuntilanont-Philpott
 Systems Engineering, Vongchavalitkul University, Korat
 30000, Thailand



                  - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -