Green curry of mussels with wild ginger, Asian vegetables, sweet basil & vermicelli noodles

First created during the reign of King Rama 6 or 7, (1908-1926) gaeng khao wan, which translates to sweet green curry has now had a good century of existence. In this time it has become one of the most popular Thai curries and has found itself being eaten across the globe, from Old Street to Khao San Road this dish will be making people smile with happiness and cry with spiciness on the regular. Now I appreciate that many people may not have the time or the patience to make their own paste but you must try it at least once if you know what is good for you, the difference between a fresh made paste and something brought in the shops is chalk and cheese. To achieve a high-quality paste at home you must purchase yourself a large, granite pestle and mortar. Without this in the kitchen I would feel as unprepared as if I was somehow naked on the London tube if I were to attempt making something tasty without this bit of kit on the table top. Perfect for spice grinding, making dressings, pastes and sauces, the pestle and mortar and its complex simplicity is a necessity in the kitchen, combining ingredients through brute force, rather than chopping and mixing creates a whole new world of flavour and textures which really takes a dish to the next level. However don’t drop it on the floor and break it otherwise legend has it, it’s seven years bad sex for you. Come to think of it a few of my chefs in the kitchen have accidentally sent a pestle to the grave over the years- they’re not so happy these days .

Serves 2-3 / GF

Ingredients

For the curry

2kg, large mussels, washed, beards and barnacles removed
150g, thin rice vermicelli noodles, blanched for 1 minute in boiling
salt water and then refreshed under cold running water
20g, baby corn, sliced into thin roll-cuts
3, long red chillies, sliced into roll cuts
3, long green chillies, sliced into roll cuts
10g, green beans, topped and tailed, cut into 2cm long chunks
150g, green curry paste
200ml, fish stock
150ml, coconut oil (crack), or vegetable oil
300ml, coconut cream
1 tablespoon wild ginger, grachai, peeled and thinly sliced
(regular ginger will work fine)
20g, Thai basil, picked
10g, coriander, washed and picked
2 tablespoons, fish sauce
1 teaspoon palm sugar
1 lime, chopped into cheeks for garnish
½ teaspoon sea salt

For the curry paste (makes around 1kg of paste)

150g, fresh birds eye chillies, stems removed, roasted over a barbecue
or in an oven for around 10 minutes until softened and a little smoky
150g, fresh long green chillies, stems and seeds removed, thinly
sliced, roasted over a barbecue or in an oven for around 10 minutes
until softened and a little smoky
250g, banana shallots, peeled, roughly chopped
(use Thai shallots if possible)
250g, peeled garlic
100g, peeled lemongrass, topped and tailed, outside shell removed,
sliced into small chunks
30g, galangal, peeled and cut into small chunks
20g, coriander roots, cleaned and finely sliced
30g, fresh red turmeric, peeled (watch the hands, this stuff stains)
20g wild ginger, krachai, peeled and roughly chopped
1 tablespoon, roasted gapi paste, fermented shrimp paste
(leave this out if vegetarian)
1 tablespoon, whole white peppercorns, lightly toasted in dry pan
3 teaspoons, whole coriander seeds, lightly toasted in dry pan
2 teaspoons, cumin seeds, lightly toasted in dry pan
2 pieces, roughly 2g, mace, lightly roasted in pan
1-2 teaspoons coarse sea salt

Method

1. Firstly make the curry paste. Using a pestle and mortar individually pound up all the fresh ingredients separately until they are combined into one complete paste. For example, start with the lemongrass, as it is tough, chop it into small chunks to make it easier on yourself then pound using a pestle and mortar until all is mixed into one paste, then remove from the pestle temporarily. Next pound the galangal, as it is also tough, using the same process, then the chillies, garlic etc. Once all are pounded individually, combine them in the pestle until they are all together as one paste.

2. Meanwhile toast the spices in a pan. However, bear in mind that these all toast at different rates so start with the coriander seeds, moving constantly, as soon as they start to smoke a little add the mace and cumin. Keep moving these for one more minute and then add the whole white peppercorns and remove from the heat. The residual heat from the hot spices is enough to toast the white peppercorns, if they remain on the heat they will pop and explode. Once toasted, spice-grind these spices to a fine powder and pound them into your curry paste. Keep pestle and mortaring away until you are left with a slightly moist, slightly coarse paste, with no identifiable chunks of any ingredients, everything should be equally pounded into a paste with no lumps.

3. Store the paste in an air tight container with cling film acting as a barrier against oxidisation. In a fridge, the paste will last for 2-3 weeks. It will slowly lose flavour over time, the paste turning brown in colour is an obvious sign of oxidisation which will change the flavour. The paste can also be frozen if it is in an air-tight container so absolutely no waste is necessary.

4. Next, heat the coconut oil,or veg oil in a wok, when bubbling, add 200g green curry paste and keep stirring and scraping regularly until paste begins to split like scrambled eggs and darkens slightly. You will also notice that the smell of the ingredients changes from raw, to fragrant, as all the ingredients cook together as one. At this point add the palm sugar and allow to cook into the paste for a few minutes until the paste darkens slightly as the sugar caramelises.

5. Now it’s time to let the curry out. Add all the fish stock and half of the coconut cream, green beans and baby corn. Stir to combine and then cover and bring to a simmer, cook out for around five minutes until all vegetables are cooked.

6. Next drop in the mussels and put the lid back on to simmer for a further 3-4 minutes until the mussels have all opened, discard any that remain closed. At this point the curry would have thickened a little, so finish off the remaining coconut cream and the fish sauce. Lastly, add Thai basil, green and red chilli roll-cuts, fish sauce to taste and wild ginger, fold these ingredients in carefully as you don’t want to destroy the mussels, then serve immediately.

7. Serve the curry in bowls, place portions of the cooked noodles in the bowls and then serve the loose curry over the top of the noodles. The curry should be thick enough to coat the noodles, rich, creamy, salty, spicy and fishy, the magic is in the balance. If it doesn’t taste bloody delicious then something has gone wrong or you don’t like mussels.

Thanks for reading and I hope you like the recipe, please do let me know your comments if you cook it up, (unless you don’t like it of course in which case you can bugger off).

Hopefully I’ll see you in Farang soon for a bite.

Cheers,

Sebby Holmes