Sour orange curry with tiger prawns

Sour orange curry or ‘Gang Som’ is one of the most famous local Thai dishes for eating at home. It is a traditional hot and sour curry soup of bright orange and yellow colour. “Gang “means curry and “Som” means sour or orange.

Credit: Jiwon Kim

• serves

  4

• prep

  10 minutes

• cook

  30 minutes

• difficulty

  Mid

Stream free On Demand

The Ultimate Curry Night

episode • The Cook Up with Adam Liaw • 

cooking • 

25m

G

episode • The Cook Up with Adam Liaw • 

cooking • 

25m

G

Ingredients

• 300 g skinless barramundi fillet
• 15 dried red scud (bird’s eye) chillies
• 15 fresh red scud (bird’s eye) chillies
• 5 garlic cloves
• 1 tbsp fresh turmeric
• 2 eschallots
• 2 tbsp fresh young galangal
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tbsp shrimp paste
• 300 g green papaya
• 1½ litres boiling water
• 4 large raw black tiger prawns, deveined
• 2 tbsp fish sauce
• 1 tsp palm sugar
• 2 tbsp tamarind water
• 1 lime, to serve
• Cooked jasmine rice, to serve

Instructions

1. Bring a medium saucepan of salted water to the boil over high heat. Boil the barramundi fillet for 10 minutes, then drain and allow to cool before using.
   
2. To make the curry paste, use a mortar and pestle to pound the fresh and dried chillies, garlic, turmeric, eschallots, galangal and salt into a fine paste. Add the shrimp paste and pound again to mix into the paste. Add the cooked barramundi fillet and pound until incorporated to the curry paste. Set aside until required.
   
3. To prepare the papaya, peel, halve and de-seed the fruit, then cut each half into three wedges and slice into irregular, bite-sized pieces, around 4 mm thick.
   
4. Pour 1 ½ litres boiling water into a large, heavy-based saucepan, then add the prepared curry paste and mix well to combine over medium-high heat. Add the sliced papaya to the pan and cook for 10-15 minutes, or until softened. While the papaya is cooking, butterfly the prawns by cutting down the back of the prawn, 4 mm deep, but not completely cutting through.
   
5. Season the curry with the fish sauce, palm sugar and tamarind water, then stir through the prawns. Cook, stirring occasionally, for 1-2 minutes, or until the prawns are just cooked. Remove from the heat and stir through the lime juice, to taste. Serve the sour orange curry with tiger prawns with hot rice.

Photography by Jiwon Kim.

Want more from The Cook Up? Stream all the seasons here and for free at SBS On Demand.

Cook's Notes

Oven temperatures are for conventional; if using fan-forced (convection), reduce the temperature by 20˚C. | We use Australian tablespoons and cups: 1 teaspoon equals 5 ml; 1 tablespoon equals 20 ml; 1 cup equals 250 ml. | All herbs are fresh (unless specified) and cups are lightly packed. | All vegetables are medium size and peeled, unless specified. | All eggs are 55-60 g, unless specified.

Stream free On Demand

The Ultimate Curry Night

episode • The Cook Up with Adam Liaw • 

cooking • 

25m

G

episode • The Cook Up with Adam Liaw • 

cooking • 

25m

G