Red curry - complicated yet special dish in Cambodian tradition

When talking about curry, I am sure we all know by heart that the dish is originated by India and cooked a lot by Indian subcontinent. 

However, it maybe cooked differently from region to region, country to country. For example, Thai red curry taste slightly different from that of Cambodia, of course vegetables that are used are also a bit different. 

 

Today, I am going to introduce a red curry from my family, though Cambodian red curry is very similar from one region to another in terms of preparation, taste and ingredient.

 

Why I said curry is complicated?

• Red curry takes a lot of time to prepare, I alone spent 3.5hours to cook red curry.
• Cooking time can be short or longer based on how big is the port and how many people are helping in the process
• Ingredients for the curry are plenty, need so much procedure and step to do it. 
• Cooking needs steps
• Cooking curry is not cheap. 
• Once cooked, the first time doesn't taste right. Wait for the 2nd time being heated and curry become tasting better.
• Red curry can be eaten with rice, noodle or bread. No wonder, the families cook once and eat for many days with different style.
• Red curry only cooked for celebrations, gathering, parties, wedding ceremonies (in the past, now not so much anymore), so you have to wait for the seasons to eat curry. However, now you can find a lot in the restaurant if you want to eat, especially Khmer-Thai restaurants.

Okay, let's go to the business!

What are there in the curry?

A full and long version of red curry consists of meat, spice, and vegetables.

• Meat: chicken, pork, beef, duck, seafood and fish (we call fish curry as Curry Namya, no vegetable) or tofu for vegetarians.
• Spice: known as Kreoung in Khmer includes lemon grass, galangal, kaffir leaves, turmeric, garlic, shallots, star anise, coriander seeds, dry red spur chilies and peanut. 
• Others: (1) coconut creams. Mama prefers fresh coconut cream (2) Salt and (3) brown sugar. Curry needs to be sweet so put more brown sugar. (4) red curry paste & (5) shrimp paste. Note: red curry pastes as well as shrimp paste  and cans of coconut cream are available at markets in bottled jars today. I recommend fresh coconut cream for better taste.
• Vegetables: sweet potato, egg plant, carrot (add it as you like), string bean, onion. Some might add bamboo shoot but we never use it.

Preparation for curry: the time used for the preparation is based on kitchen helpers. More people, need less time.

• Meat: clean and cut them as bite-sized pieces, then marinade them with a bit of brown sugar and salt (keep it aside)
• Kreoung: clean, cut, chop them as according to items.​ Watch how they make the Kreoung for the curry here and some more here and here. In the past, they only mortar but nowadays, you can use the blender to make the Kreoung. By mortar, you keep garlic and shallot to the end after everything mixed. With blender, put them all at once.
• Others: (1) dry red spur chilies need to keep in the water for about 15mns, before clean and chop them. (2) Shrimp paste needs to be fried to get rid of the smell. (3) Peanut needs to be fried and made into mixture by the mortar. (4) Curry seed put in hot oil to bring red color - add the end of the cook
• Vegetables: peel the skin and cut as per item and then keep them aside.

Cooking curry: the time used for the cooking is based on how big or small the dish is for. More people, needs bigger pot.

1. Pour coconut cream, stir it till red color, add garlic, shallot, keep stirring;
2. Add brown sugar, then fried shrimp paste, and then chopped dry red spur chilies;
3. Add marinade meat, then peanuts and then Kreoung - stir them till they are cooked and almost dry;
4. Pour water as per you like, stir them and keep them on the stove till they are boiling (15-20mns);
5. Add sweet potato, carrot - wait till they are boiling;
6. Add the rest of the vegetable - onion, string bean and egg plants;
7. When they are boiling, taste them and add salt or sugar a bit more as you like and wait a bit before they are boiling and take it off the stove.
8. Add red oil gets from curry seed on to the pot.
9. Finish - the first cook cannot taste right. You can eat now. However, when you reheat it the 2nd time - it tastes the best!

Note: curry seed to add red color, garlic and shallot, shrimp paste, red spur chili, fried peanut and coconut cream.

Eating curry:

• Eat with rice, just this curry and rice.
• Eat with noodle, put less vegetables in the curry and when eating, need to add side vegetables, look at my previous article about Khmer Noodle here at side vegetables.
• Eat with bread, the curry needs to be less salty - not salty.

This article is inspired by the Pjum Ben festival in Cambodia which occurs for 15days at the end of Buddhist Lent period when they monks stay at the Buddhist temple for 3months. Today is Ben 4th. I went to the temple and cooked this curry especially for that.

 

Friends from India and Thailand and Indian subcontinent, can you please tell me how you cook your curry?