Southern Thai yellow curry with tuna

Serves: 4

Prep time: 45 minutes

Difficulty: Pretty Easy

Kanom Jeen rice noodles to the South is what sticky rice is to the North of Thailand; found in every home, street stalls, fresh markets and road-side shacks. A bowl of curry is never without its rice noodles; it’s the ultimate fast food. This recipe was inspired by my latest visit to Trang province but with a slight tweak using canned tuna (for convenience). My mentor, Auntie Jitt, makes her own curry paste, which she and I both agree, is the best way to go with every curry dish.

Categories: Thai to Party!, Regional recipes, Curries, Fish

Tools: Pestle And Mortar, Food processor

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Ingredients

Yellow curry paste
Makes 640 grams (or 10 portions)
100 grams lesser galangal
100 g galangal
20 g garlic, peeled
1oo g bird’s eyes chillies
100 g dried chillies
40 g crushed black pepper
100 g shrimp paste
50 g lemongrass, roughly chopped
12 teaspoons turmeric powder

Yellow curry
40 g fish balls (cooked, frozen ones available from most Asian supermarkets, leave out if unavailable)
64 g yellow curry paste (or 1 portion)
250 ml coconut milk
2 cans tuna chunks in brine

To serve
Cooked vermicelli rice noodles (1 portion per person)
2 boiled eggs, halved
A handful of shredded iceberg lettuce
A handful of mint
A handful of Thai holy basil (or Italian ones)
A handful of pickled mustard green (available from Asian supermarkets)
Any other cooked green vegetables of your choice

Method

Yellow curry paste

Mix all ingredients in pestle and mortar for 45 minutes until smooth (or cheat at use food processor).
Will last in refrigerator for 4-6 weeks, and up to 6 months in the freezer.

Yellow curry