Thai Red Curry – GAENG PHED GAI

Thai Red Curry (Gaeng Phed),is possibly the most well known of all curries in Thailand. It is available everywhere, and is listed upon every restaurant menu. Popular with both Thais and foreign visitors and noted for its fiery yet rich taste.

Thai Red Curry can be made using chicken, beef, duck or pork, and is seldom made from any form of seafood except shrimp or prawns. The overall flavour of the Thai Red Curry is dictated by the quality of the curry paste used during preparation. Within Thailand, curry paste is made and sold as a raw ingredient in its own right, and is usually sold at local markets. A good curry paste vendor will always be successful, as people rely upon quality curry paste to produce the very best tasting curries.

Most people will have encountered the form of red curry which is served as a soup, thick and creamy containing coconut milk. However, there is another variety of Thai Red Curry, which is equally popular. This form of curry, known as Pad Prick Gaeng is fried, and instead of being served as a soup with thick sauce in a bowl, it is served on a plate, with very little sauce at all.

When eaten as part of a main meal, Red Curry will usually be the main dish, and will be placed in the centre of the table, other dishes will be prepared to support it, and provide vegetables and a variety of other tastes. Both the soup style, and the fried variety, will usually be served straight on to the diner’s plate, from the main central serving bowl or dish.

Both types for Thai Red Curry are prepared using the same basic ingredients which includebasil leaves,bamboo shoots,eggplant,fish sauce,lemongrass,kaffir lime,shrimp paste,galangal,garlic,shallotsand of coursechillies. Where they differ is in the addition of coconut milk, and in the actual cooking method. The soup for of Red Curry will havecoconut milkadded to the broth, making it creamy and thick, and will then be cooked in a pan by simmering. The fried version does not have any coconut at all, and the ingredients are stir friend in a wok or sauce pan.