Cambodia & Recipe : Spice mix for Khmer curry (គ្រឿងការី)

“Curry or cari is a generic term for a wide variety of spicy preparations. It is mainly found in Indian or Indian-influenced cuisines", according to Wikipedia.

Classic recipe

Curry is certainly the most visible contribution of Indian cooking to the cuisines of South-East Asia, and Cambodia in particular. There are countless Khmer preparations that fall into the category of “curries”: crab curry, prawn curry, beef curry, poultry curry, fish curry, etc. Most often eaten with fresh rice noodles នំបញ្ចុក (Nom banh-chok), and considered by the Khmers to be soups, curries are also a magnificent accompaniment to white rice.

In Cambodia, there are almost as many curry spice mixtures (គ្រឿងការី - kroeung kari) as there are cooks. The ingredients used and their respective quantities are very varied, even if there are some ingredients that cannot be ignored (lemongrass, shallots and garlic, galanga, turmeric, kaffir lime leaves, smoked chillies). Here is a fairly classic recipe.

Chicken Curry

Ingredients:

2~3 lemongrass stalks (ស្លឹកគ្រឺ sleuk krey)

1 piece galangal (រំដេង rom-déng)

1 piece of turmeric (ល្មៀត lmiet)

5~6 cloves of garlic

2~3 shallots

2~3 kaffir lime leaves (ស្លឹកក្រូចសើច sleuk kroch saeuch)

1~2 tbsp coriander seeds (ការីស [ka-ri sâ], literally ‘white curry’) (optional)

2~3 dried smoked chillies (ម្ទេសឆ្អើរ mtèh ch'ae)

Some basic ingredients of Khmer curry: galanga, turmeric, kaffir lime leaves, lemongrass, garlic

Preparation

• Clean all the ingredients and soak the smoked chillies in water.

• Carefully chop the lemongrass stalks into very thin slices. Peel the galanga and chop into small pieces. Peel the turmeric and cut into thin slices. Peel the garlic and shallots. Coarsely chop the shallots. Cut the lemon kafir leaves into very fine threads.

• First, carefully crush the lemongrass stalks in a mortar. Once a fairly fine, even consistency has been achieved, add the kaffir lime leaves, coriander seeds, galanga and turmeric, and finally the shallots and garlic cloves. Continue to mash until you obtain a smooth mixture with a fairly pasty texture.

• Drain the smoked chillies and chop finely to obtain a paste. Keep the first mixture and the smoked chillies in separate containers if you are not cooking your dish immediately.

• When preparing the dish, the ‘curry paste’ and the chilli paste are first browned in a little oil at the bottom of the pan before adding the other curry ingredients (meat, vegetables, etc).

Curry paste and chilli paste

Tips

The quantities given for the ingredients are deliberately imprecise. It is up to you to adjust the quantities according to your taste preferences. Some people use a food processor to prepare the spice blend. It seems to us that the texture obtained using the traditional method, with mortar and pestle, is much better.

Lemongrass has a pronounced woody texture. It is essential to cut it very finely and grind it for a long time, until a fairly fine texture is obtained, otherwise the fibrous sauce of the cooked dish will be quite unpleasant in the mouth.

To cut the kaffir lime leaves, it's best to roll them into a small cylinder, then cut them into very thin slices. The spice blend without smoked chilli can be kept in the fridge for several days and in the freezer for several weeks. You can therefore prepare a certain quantity in advance. This is not the case with smoked chilli paste, which must be prepared just before cooking.

You can buy ready-made smoked chilli paste. Shallots and garlic are usually added to the chilli. In this case, the amount of garlic and shallot added to the spice mix should be reduced.

Text and photographs by Pascal Médeville