Gaeng tai pla

As tradition built it

Serves 5. About 20 minutes preparation, 30 minutes cooking.

Ingredients

• 125ml tai pla, fermented fish innards
• 500 to 750ml water
• 125ml each bamboo shoot, Thai aubergine, long bean
• 250ml grilled and flaked fish
• 125ml tamarind paste
• 2 shallots
• 1 piece galangal
• 2 lemongrass stalks
• 4 kaffir lime leaves, torn
• ½ tbsp shrimp paste
• 20 dried chillies, 2 shallots, 1 whole head garlic, 1 tsp each peppercorns, zest of 1 kaffir lime, 1 lemongrass stalk, 1 piece turmeric curry paste: dried chilli, shallot, garlic, peppercorns, kaffir lime zest, lemongrass, fresh turmeric

Method

1. Pound the curry paste in order: dried chillies first, then kaffir lime zest, lemongrass and turmeric, then shallot and garlic, peppercorns worked in last.
2. Separately, simmer the tai pla in water with shallot, galangal, lemongrass, lime leaf and tamarind, then strain. This strained liquid becomes the curry's actual cooking liquid.
3. Return the strained liquid to the boil and stir in the curry paste and shrimp paste.
4. Return the kaffir lime leaf and the reserved fermented fish solids to the pot.
5. Add the firmer vegetables, bamboo shoot and aubergine, then the grilled fish and long beans.
6. Take off the heat as soon as it returns to the boil, to keep the vegetables from overcooking.

What a modern chef changes

The fermented base treated with the same clarity as a French stock.

Rung 6

Method

1. Strain the simmered tai pla liquid through a chinois for a cleaner base than a simple sieve gives.
2. Pound the curry paste in the stated order and no other, since kaffir lime zest and turmeric release their oils best against the fibrous base the chillies have already broken down.
3. Grill the fish over direct Big Green Egg heat before flaking it in, for a genuine smoked note under the ferment's own funk.