Thai Chuu-Chii (Red Curry) of Coffin Bay Scal

INGREDIENTS

INSTRUCTIONS

A colleague who recently visited the Darley Street
Thai at its new location in Bayswater Road, Kings
Cross, described this dish as "exquisite". Though the
recipe may seem dauntingly lengthy, most of it is
simply a long list of ingredients for red curry paste,
which can be made in quantity and stored in a
container in the fridge for 3-4 weeks for further use.
Frozen kaffir limes can be bought very cheaply in good
Asian stores, where the rest of the ingredients listed
should also be avail- able. Grate the limes for zest
while they are stir frozen.
In a mortar and pestle or spice grinder, grind to a
powder 10 white peppercorns and a few sheaves of mace.
Roast 1 teaspoon of Thai shrimp paste by zapping it in
a microwave oven or putting it on a little piece of
foil under the grill.
Put the pepper-mace mixture and the shrimp paste in a
blender (David recommends a blender but some of us
will have to make do with a food processor or the
mortar and pestle) and add 3- 5 long red dried
chillies, deseeded, washed and chopped, 4 cloves of
true shallots, (or substitute the same quantity of
Spanish onion), 1/2 stalk of lemon grass, sliced, 1
teaspoon galangal. peeled and chopped, 1/2 teaspoon
kaffir lime zest, 1 tablespoon of coriander root,
scraped and chopped, 1/2 teaspoon of salt and a little
water. Process to a very fine paste. This may take up
to 10 minutes. Transfer to a storage jar.
In a medium-size pan, boil 250 mL coconut cream over
high heat, stirring constantly, until the oil
separates out, about 3-5 minutes. (If using canned
coconut cream, don't shake the can -use the solid mass
of coconut at the top of the can, plus as much of the
rest as you need to make up 250mL. If it doesn't
separate within 5 minutes, add a tablespoon of oil.)
Add 2-3 tablespoons of red curry paste and fry for 5
minutes, stirring, until fra- grant. Add 1 tablespoon
fish sauce, 1/2 tablespoon palm sugar and fry until
colour deepens. Add 24 Coffin Bay scallops (12 if
other dishes will be served simultaneously) and 125 mL
coconut milk. Check for sweet-sour balance. Throw in 5
kaffir lime leaves, shredded, 1 large fresh red
chilli, julienned, and 2 tablespoons of either
coriander or basil leaves. Serve with jasmine rice.
From an article by Meryl Constance in The Sydney
Morning Herald, 6/15/93. Courtesy Mark Herron.
From Gemini's MASSIVE MealMaster collection at www.synapse.com/~gemini

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