Savoury
Sour curry with green papaya (Kaeng som)
A tangy, chilli-hot tamarind curry with no coconut milk, tender green papaya and sweet shrimp. Best slurped hot with rice.
- Prep
- 25 min
- Cook
- 20 min
- Total
- 45 min
- Serves
- 4
- Difficulty
- Medium
Fruit to use
Green (unripe) papaya with firm white flesh
About this dish
Central Thai kaeng som is a coconut-free curry soured with tamarind. It's different from the southern Thai kaeng som with turmeric, which Central Thais call kaeng lueang (yellow curry).
Ingredients
Serves 4
Sour curry paste
Large dried red chillies
5 · seeds removed, soaked in warm water
Small dried bird's eye chillies
3–5 · optional, for more heat
Fine salt
½ tsp
Shallots
50 g (about 5 small)
Shrimp paste (kapi)
1 tsp · salty fermented shrimp paste; a little goes a long way
Shrimp or white fish
50 g · poached, then pounded into the paste to give the broth body
Curry
Water
1 litre (4 cups)
Green papaya
400 g · peeled, seeded and cut into bite-size pieces
Raw shrimp
300 g · peeled and deveined; or firm white fish
Tamarind juice
4–5 tbsp · sour pulp from the tamarind pod: squeeze 40 g pulp in ½ cup warm water and strain (not sweet tamarind candy)
Fish sauce
3 tbsp · salty Thai seasoning made from fermented fish
Palm sugar or coconut sugar
2 tbsp (about 30 g) · or light brown sugar
Vegetarian option
Firm tofu, cut into pieces
200 g · instead of shrimp
Oyster or straw mushrooms
150 g
Light soy sauce and salt
instead of fish sauce; leave the shrimp paste and shrimp out of the curry paste
Method
Soak the dried chillies in warm water for 15 minutes until soft, squeeze out the water and roughly chop.
Bring the 1 litre of water to the boil, poach the 50 g of shrimp or fish for 2 minutes until cooked, then lift it out. Keep the water on low heat; it becomes your broth.
Pound the chillies with the salt in a mortar until fine.
Add the shallots and keep pounding until smooth.
Add the shrimp paste and the poached shrimp or fish and pound into a smooth paste.
Bring the broth back to the boil, stir in the paste and let it bubble for 3 minutes.
Add the tamarind juice, fish sauce and palm sugar and stir to dissolve.
Add the papaya and simmer over medium heat for 8–10 minutes, until it turns slightly translucent and a fork slides in easily but it still holds its shape.
Add the shrimp and cook for 2–3 minutes until pink (fish takes 3–4 minutes; don't stir too much).
Taste: it should be sour first, then salty, then a little sweet. Serve hot with jasmine rice.
Tips
- Firm green papaya with white flesh turns tender without going mushy. Papaya that's turning orange inside gets sweet and soft.
- Short on time? Use 3 tbsp of ready-made Thai sour curry paste (kaeng som paste) instead.
- Tamarind varies a lot in sourness. Add it a spoonful at a time and taste.
- No green papaya? Chinese cabbage, white cabbage or yardlong beans work well in this curry.
- Add the shrimp right at the end. Overcooked shrimp turn tough.