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Green Curry With Fish/Shrimp Dumplings - ...

Recipe

Yield: 1 serving

⅔
pound ground fish paste, or small white fish fillets
⅔
pound fresh shrimp shelled, chopped fine
¼
teaspoon freshly-ground white pepper
3
tablespoons fish sauce (nahm bplah) - (to 4 tbspns) to taste
1
tablespoon tapioca flour - (to 2 tbspns)
4
cups coconut milk - (abt 2 14-oz cans)
Homemade curry paste (see below)
1
tablespoon palm or coconut sugar - (to 2 tbspns) to taste
2
long Asian eggplants sliced ¼" thick at
slanted angle
(or 12 round Thai eggplants (ma-keua bproh), halved or quartered)
½
cup pea eggplants (ma-keua puang) if available, or use fresh shelled peas
2
kaffir lime leaves - (to 3) each torn 2 to 3
pieces
1
green jalapeño peppers - (to 2) each cut 8 long
slivers
1
finger gkra-chai root - (to 2) thinly sliced
into diagonal pieces
1
cup Thai sweet basil leaves and flowers (bai horapa)
GREEN CURRY PASTE:
4
dark green jalapeño or serrano peppers chopped
15
green Thai chilies - (to 20) chopped
(prik kee noo)
10
white peppercorns finely ground
1
tablespoon coriander seeds lightly toasted
until aromatic, then ground
½
teaspoon cumin seeds ground
1
teaspoon course sea salt
2
tablespoons chopped lemon grass (use bottom end
of 1 stalk sliced thinly into rounds before chopping)
1
teaspoon chopped Thai galanga
1
teaspoon grated zest of fresh kaffir lime
(or substitute with finely-chopped reconstituted dried kaffir lime peel)
2
teaspoon finely-chopped cilantro roots
(or substitute with 1 tbspn chopped stems)
3
shallots chopped
6
garlic cloves chopped
2
teaspoons gkapi shrimp paste

Prepare the paste ingredients. If using dried kaffir lime peel, soak first to soften. For galanga, use the fuller-flavored, reddish brown root imported from Thailand. Grind the dry spices finely in a dry stone mortar or spice grinder. Set aside. Pound the herbs a little at a time, starting with the hardier ones, until each is reduced to a paste. Combine the pounded herbs and ground dry spices and pound together with the gkapi shrimp paste to form a fine, well-blended paste. Set aside.

If ground fish paste is not available in Asian fish markets in your area, use small, white-flesh fish fillets and chop as finely as possible with a cleaver or in a food processor or blender. Then pound the fish with a heavy stone mortar and pestle until it is completely reduced to paste and no longer distinguishable as fish. Do likewise with the shrimp. Keeping them separate, sprinkle some ground white pepper, a little fish sauce and about one tablespoon tapioca flour to each. (You do not need to add these ingredients to ground fish paste bought from the fish market.) Knead into the ground fish until sticky, then the shrimp. Set aside.

In a large pot, heat about a cup of the thick coconut cream from the top of a can of coconut milk (or the rich milk from the first pressing of coconut pulp) over medium to high heat. Reduce until oil begins to separate or the cream looks thick and bubbly. Add the curry paste and fry in the cream for a few minutes until aromatic. Pour in the remaining coconut milk and bring to a boil. Season to taste with fish sauce and balance with palm sugar. If using pea-eggplants, add them next and simmer about 10 minutes over low heat, uncovered, before adding the other eggplants and kaffir lime leaves. If substituting with peas, add them together with the sliced eggplants. Bring sauce back up to a boil and simmer a few minutes or until the eggplants begin to soften.

Using two teaspoons, drop the fish and shrimp paste mixtures in small, bite-size chunks into the curry sauce. Return to a boil and add the slivered jalapeño peppers and gkra-chai pieces. Continue to cook until eggplants are tender and the dumplings cooked through (they float when cooked). Stir in the basil until it wilts. Remove from heat and serve hot with lots of plain steamed rice.