Kua Gling (Southern Thai Dry Pork Curry)

• 8–10 g dried chillies (such as arbol), seeds removed
• 1 tsp black peppercorns
• ½ lemongrass stalk (bottom half), chopped, for the paste
• 3 tbsp chopped galangal
• 2-inch piece fresh turmeric (or 1½ tsp ground turmeric)
• 2 tsp chopped kaffir lime zest (optional)
• ½ tsp salt
• ⅓ cup chopped shallots
• 5 cloves garlic
• 2 tsp fermented shrimp paste (gapi)
• 1 tbsp vegetable oil (just enough to coat the wok)
• 450 g (1 lb) ground pork
• water (or unsalted chicken stock), ¼ to ⅓ cup, added as needed
• 1–2 tsp fish sauce, to taste
• 2 tsp sugar
• 6–7 kaffir lime leaves, very finely julienned
• ½ lemongrass stalk (bottom half), finely sliced, for the end
• fresh red chillies, cut into large pieces (optional)

Method

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1. Grind the seeded dried chillies and black peppercorns to a fine powder. 1:03
2. Pound half the lemongrass with the galangal, turmeric, lime zest (if using) and salt to a rough paste. Add the chilli-pepper powder, then the shallots and garlic, and pound until no big chunks remain. Mix in the shrimp paste. 2:23
3. Heat the oil in a wok and fry all the paste over medium heat a few minutes until fragrant, adding a splash of water or unsalted stock if it sticks. 6:06
4. Add the pork, turn the heat to medium-high and toss to break it up. Add the sugar and fish sauce and keep tossing until the pork is cooked; blast the heat to dry off any pooled liquid. 6:43
5. Turn off the heat and toss in the lime leaves, the remaining lemongrass and the chillies. Serve with jasmine rice. 7:57

Tip. Serve with plenty of rice and cool, crunchy vegetables such as cucumber. Any ground meat works, or crumbled firm tofu with miso instead of shrimp paste. The paste freezes well.

The method is a summary in our words — the video shows every step.