One of the few things I truly miss about moving away from Chinatown is the restaurant scene. There’s a fantastic little Thai place in Pyrmont on Harris St called Little Siam that I always liked. The food is good, quick and a good price and the place is pretty funky on the decorating scale (cheap, home-made furnishings and lots of wagon-wheels). They used to do a ferociously spicy pumpkin curry which we used to order from time to time – I can’t remember the name of it but I’m fairly certain it translated to Jungle Curry.
So, having a chunk of pumpkin in the fridge that was looking slightly worse for wear, I decided to give it a go and see if I could recreate the dish.
I cubed the pumpkin and fried it in a tablespoon or so of peanut oil until it took a little colour and added in an onion. Then in went two finely minced red chillies, a table-spoon of red-curry paste, plenty of coriander seed that I’d freshly pounded to powder, some garlic, some ginger, a table-spoon of Vietnamese beef stock paste (it’s meant for Pho but it gives a fantastic flavour), plenty of fish sauce (had to use Squid brand as I couldn’t get my usual Golden something-or-other variety)(Nigella uses it, I discovered, but I don’t think it’s pungent enough for cooking – better for dipping sauce). I gave it all a stir and then added a bit of lime juice, chopped pineapple (in juice, not syrup!), some palm-sugar and some coconut milk. I let this cook slowly until the sauce was slightly thickened (about 5 minutes, as I’d put in slightly too much water in the stock) and then added a handful of beef sliced wafer thin. A few minutes before serving, I added a couple of diced tomatoes and and a handful of picked and shredded basil. I served it with perfectly steamed jasmine rice.
It was pretty good! Not quite as good as Little Siam, but I suspect that with a little more practice and slightly better ingredients (I am never, ever again buying anything other than Ayam Coconut cream or milk – the milk I used was a homebrand version and it had no flavour at all!) I can make it come pretty close. I also think I wimped out on the chilli – it could easily have taken twice the amount. Jungle curry is supposed to have some heat to it. Also the basil should have been added earlier to allow the flavour to disperse better – I’d guess that it needed to go in when the coconut milk did.
Nonetheless, The Husband had two very full bowls and took the last of it for lunch today.
2 Comments
December 31, 2007 at 2:48 pm
[...] Jungle Curry – Thai-style pumpkin curry with beef and basil One of the few things I truly miss about moving away from Chinatown is the restaurant scene. There’s a fantastic little Thai place in Pyrmont on Harris St called Little Siam that I always liked. The food is good, quick and a good price and the place is pretty funky on the decorating scale (cheap, home-made furnishings and lots of wagon-wheels). They used to do a ferociously spicy pumpkin curry which we used to order from time to time – I can’t remember the name of it but I’m fairly certain i [...]
December 31, 2007 at 2:49 pm
[...] Jungle Curry – Thai-style pumpkin curry with beef and basil One of the few things I truly miss about moving away from Chinatown is the restaurant scene. There’s a fantastic little Thai place in Pyrmont on Harris St called Little Siam that I always liked. The food is good, quick and a good price and the place is pretty funky on the decorating scale (cheap, home-made furnishings and lots of wagon-wheels). They used to do a ferociously spicy pumpkin curry which we used to order from time to time – I can’t remember the name of it but I’m fairly certain i [...]