A typical recipe from Southern Thailand with "saba", a species of mackerel, and wild pepper leaves (piper sarmentosum). There are popular versions of this curry, based on mussels or crabmeat. It's up to you to vary the flavours according to your preferences! Serves 2 Curry paste :
3 fresh red bird's eye chillies
½ teaspoon black peppercorns
½ teaspoon cumin seeds
½ teaspoon coriander seeds
10 g lemongrass, chopped
10 g galangal, chopped
5 g garlic
10 g shallot
5 g fresh turmeric
10 g fingerroot
1 teaspoon shrimp paste
Pound the ingredients by gradually introducing them into the mortar. The curry paste is ready when it is smooth : you should no longer be able to distinguish one ingredient from another.
Grilled fish :
A "saba" type fish or mackerel of about 500 g, gutted
Grill the fish on the barbecue or in the oven, 5 minutes on each side. Remove fillets.
Curry sauce :
Curry paste prepared according to the above recipe
200 ml coconut cream
100 ml chicken stock
1½ tablespoon fish sauce
1 teaspoon coconut sugar
6 wild pepper leaves, thinly sliced
Bring the coconut cream to the boil and dissolve the curry paste in it. Add the remaining cream, stock, fish sauce, sugar and half of the wild pepper leaves. Cook for 5 minutes then taste to adjust the seasoning.
Add the remaining wild pepper leaves. Mix and pour over the fish fillets. Serve immediately.
This recipe is relatively spicy. For a milder curry, reduce the number of chillies used.