I have to apologize because I have been sitting on this incredible recipe for almost a year. See, I kept waffling on whether or not to post it because I didn’t really take any photos of the finished product, besides the one shown here, which is the curry on the table before it was devoured by me and a few friends I had over for dinner. But in the end, I decided that even without the right photos, I needed to sell you on making this Thai green curry with eggplant and fish balls, because it’s pretty life changing (culinarily speaking).
I’ve loved making “Thai food” for a very long time, and with those quotation marks, I mean that I have always loved buying a little tin of curry paste and throwing it in a wok with some coconut milk and veggies and fish sauce and calling it a day. It’s always fine, a little on the sweet side because the curry paste, no matter what brand I’ve tried, is always rather bland. But since those days, I’ve stumbled upon a haven of Thai ingredients in Chinatown (where there are actually very few stores that sell Thai, Vietnamese or Indonesian ingredients) called Bangkok Grocery. It’s a teeny store on Moscoe St., away from the hustle and bustle and fake watches of Canal St., and it has everything you need to make Thai food. In addition, the staff is incredibly helpful AND every time I go and bring my ingredients to the counter they correctly guess what I am going to make. And suggest things I might be missing. It’s like Thai food consulting, and it’s really upped my game in the kitchen.
So the main lesson I’ve learned here is that curry paste matters. Boy, does it matter. If there is any possible way for you to get access to the ingredients so that you can make it yourself (and with internet options, you may very well be able to), PLEASE do it and see the difference. It’s kind of a production, and I don’t even follow the instructions to do it in a giant mortar and pestle (I use my mini food processor) but if you do it a day ahead of time then making the actual curry is as easy as it always is. The paste also can stay in the fridge for a little while and it freezes well (it will lose its flavor after awhile, so don’t forget about it), so line up a few recipes you’d like to try and you have several pretty easy and insanely delicious meals ahead of you after the initial work.
This recipe is a pretty classic dish – I’ve found versions of it in all of my (yes, there are several) Thai cookbooks. Eggplant goes deliciously well with green curry, and don’t be intimidated by the fish balls. In Thai soups and curries these quasi dumplings are common, sometimes using fish, sometimes using beef. Either way, they’re super easy to make – you simply grind up some tilapia and combine with cornstarch, then boil until they float – and they are bouncy and delicious, but also very mild. They’ll pretty much take on the flavor of the curry while adding some extra texture and interest.
This is an Andy Ricker recipe (it’s from Saveur magazine but a version of it is also in the Pok Pok cookbook). Ricker’s recipes might be technical and a little involved, but they’ll serve up something outstanding every time. I paired this with the fried egg salad from the cookbook, which was also a hit and something I will post here in the future. We’re so used to eating sugary sweet Americanized Thai food, and Ricker’s recipes offer refreshing authenticity, or at least a desire to show you the beauty of the real thing. And hey, if you have no interest in cooking but you’re reading this for some reason anyway, visit his Pok Pok restaurants in Portland and Brooklyn – they’ll blow your mind.
Ingredients
- 2 teaspoons coriander seeds
- 1 teaspoon yellow mustard seeds
- 1/2 teaspoon cumin seeds
- 8 whole black peppercorns
- 2 tablespoons roughly chopped cilantro root or stems
- 2 teaspoons shrimp paste, preferably Trachang brand
- 1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
- 1 teaspoon finely chopped Kaffir lime leaf
- 1 teaspoon grated lime leaf, preferably Kaffir
- 15 fresh green Thai chiles, stemmed and roughly chopped
- 8 cloves garlic, roughly chopped
- 6 small Asian shallots or two medium regular shallots, thinly sliced
- 2 stalks lemongrass, trimmed and thinly sliced
- 1 3-inch piece galangal, peeled and thinly sliced
- 1/4 cup coconut milk, preferably UHT from a carton
- 1/2 lb. skinless, boneless tilapia fillets, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
- 3/4 teaspoon kosher salt, plus more to taste
- 4 teaspoons cornstarch
- 1/2 teaspoon sugar
- 1/8 teaspoon ground white pepper
- 1/2 cup coconut cream, preferably UHT from a carton
- 1 1/2 cups coconut milk, preferably UHT from a carton
- 4 small Thai eggplants, quartered, or 1 small Japanese eggplant, cut into 1 1/2-inch pieces
- 1 tablespoon fish sauce, preferably Tiparos brand
- 1 tablespoon grated palm sugar
- 12 fresh or frozen Kaffir lime leaves, roughly torn
- 3-4 fresh green Thai chiles, stemmed and halved
- 1/2 cup packed basil leaves, preferably Thai
- 2 eggs, hard-boiled, peeled and quartered
- Cooked jasmine rice, for serving
Instructions
- Make the paste. Heat coriander seeds, mustard seeds, cumin seeds and peppercorns in a 12-inch cast-iron skillet until seeds begin to pop, 1-2 minutes; let cool slightly. Place in a spice grinder and pulse until finely ground. Set aside.
- Place cilantro root, shrimp paste, salt, lime leaf, lime zest, chiles, garlic, shallots, lemongrass and galangal in a small food processor; pulse until roughly chopped. Add reserved spice mixture and the coconut milk; puree until smooth. Set 1/2 cup aside. Refrigerate remaining paste for future use up to 2 weeks.
- Make the fish balls. Pulse fish and 3/4 teaspoon of salt in a food processor. With the motor running, slowly add 2 tablespoons water; process into a smooth paste. Add cornstarch, sugar and white pepper; pulse until combined. Transfer paste to a bowl. Refrigerate for 30 minutes.
- Bring a large pot of salted walter to a boil. Using wet hands, roll fish paste into 16 balls about 1 inch thick. Cook, partially covered, until tender, 6-7 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, transfer balls to a plate. Let cool completely.
- Make the curry. Heat coconut cream in a 6-quart saucepan or 13-inch wok over medium heat; cook, stirring occasionally, until oil is separated, 8-10 minutes. Add the 1/2 cup curry paste; cook, stirring, until fragrant and slightly browned, about 4 minutes. Add coconut milk and 1 cup water; bring to a boil. Add fish balls and eggplant. Reduce heat to medium-low; cook, stirring occasionally, until eggplant is tender, about 20 minutes. Stir in fish sauce, palm sugar, lime leaves and chiles. Remove from heat and stir in basil. Serve with eggs and jasmine rice on the side.
Notes
From Andy Ricker via Saveur October 2013
March 30, 2016 at 2:00 pm
Hey! Great recipe. Me and my wife have decided to cook together on specific days to improve our weight. Will certainly consider this dish. I also recently started using cornstarch too!
March 30, 2016 at 5:00 pm
Thanks for visiting, James! Let me know if you do end up making it, it’s one of my favorites. And great post on cornstarch!