Hi -

I am making Chiang Mai curry tonight. My David Thompson 'Thai Food' book
wants me to start from scratch to make the curry paste, but I am willing
to sacrifice some of the quality of the result by using a commercial paste.

From the web, I get the idea that a panang curry paste or a red one
would be acceptable for this dish - does this seem reasonable? And
should it be modified in any way to approach closer to the
'from-scratch' approach?

[The dish appears to be called 'kaeng hang le' or 'HUNG - LAY' in Thai].

Thanks for any help anyone can offer.

Ian

ian wrote:

> Hi -
>
> I am making Chiang Mai curry tonight. My David Thompson 'Thai Food' book
> wants me to start from scratch to make the curry paste, but I am willing
> to sacrifice some of the quality of the result by using a commercial paste.
>
> From the web, I get the idea that a panang curry paste or a red one
> would be acceptable for this dish - does this seem reasonable? And
> should it be modified in any way to approach closer to the
> 'from-scratch' approach?
>
> [The dish appears to be called 'kaeng hang le' or 'HUNG - LAY' in Thai].
>
> Thanks for any help anyone can offer.
>
> Ian

Well, I compared the Chiang Mai curry paste recipe to recipes for the
others(Panag & Red), and could see that they were not the same thing at
all. What I would have ended up with would not have been the dish I set
out to make.

I have now made the CM curry paste, and what a job it was, turning my
evening dinner prep into a two-day affair. The paste tastes delicious,
however, and I am glad that I did this. Its clearly the heart of the
dish, and I now have high hopes that it might come out something like a
great meal I had in CM, at Aroon Rai.

Ian

ian wrote:

> I have now made the CM curry paste, and what a job it was, turning my
> evening dinner prep into a two-day affair. The paste tastes delicious,
> however, and I am glad that I did this. Its clearly the heart of the
> dish, and I now have high hopes that it might come out something like a
> great meal I had in CM, at Aroon Rai.
Ahhh.... you have been to Arun Rai as well I fell in love with the Chiang
Mai sausages there, which I had for breakfast. Still meaning to try & make
some now I have found a recipe.
--
Sue in Portsmouth,
"Old" Hampshire,
"Old" England, UK

EastneyEnder wrote:

> ian wrote:
>
>
>>I have now made the CM curry paste, and what a job it was, turning my
>>evening dinner prep into a two-day affair. The paste tastes delicious,
>>however, and I am glad that I did this. Its clearly the heart of the
>>dish, and I now have high hopes that it might come out something like a
>>great meal I had in CM, at Aroon Rai.
>
> Ahhh.... you have been to Arun Rai as well I fell in love with the Chiang
> Mai sausages there, which I had for breakfast. Still meaning to try & make
> some now I have found a recipe.

Yes indeed. I tried it my second night in CM, then ate there most nights
for the remainder of my stay, since I knew I could depend on eating
something great every time. I tend to avoid sausages, so I never tried
theirs, unfortunately.

My CM Pork Curry came out very well indeed, though since I tripled
everything it took a huge amount of work, and I may have to freeze some
of it, since the size of the non-meat ingredients was much more than I
expected.

Ian

EastneyEnder wrote:
> ian wrote:
>
>
>>I have now made the CM curry paste, and what a job it was, turning my
>>evening dinner prep into a two-day affair. The paste tastes delicious,
>>however, and I am glad that I did this. Its clearly the heart of the
>>dish, and I now have high hopes that it might come out something like a
>>great meal I had in CM, at Aroon Rai.
>
> Ahhh.... you have been to Arun Rai as well I fell in love with the Chiang
> Mai sausages there, which I had for breakfast. Still meaning to try & make
> some now I have found a recipe.
Could you please post the Chiang Mai sausage recipe. I fell in love with
those little treasures the first time I had them, but can't find
anything like them here in Australia!

Ken Berry

Ken Berry wrote:
> Could you please post the Chiang Mai sausage recipe. I fell in love with
> those little treasures the first time I had them, but can't find
> anything like them here in Australia!

I found the recipe he
http://www.bellaonline.com/articles/art16154.asp
but haven't made them yet myself... so no idea how authentic they are.

--
Sue in Portsmouth,
"Old" Hampshire,
"Old" England, UK



--------------------------
Chiang Mai Sausage

1 lb. Pork (butt) - minced/diced
2 Tablespoons fish sauce
1/2 cup garlic - minced
1/4 cup cilantro leaves - chopped
1 tsp cilantro root/stems -chopped
1/4 tsp peppercorns - canned
1 Tablespoon lemon grass - chopped
1/2 tsp Galangal chopped
1 Tablespoon shallot - minced
2 Tablespoons red curry paste
6 Thai Chiles minced
6 pair Kaffir Lime leaves - finely sliced
Sausage casing - prepared

Combine all ingredients but pork- pound into a paste. Mix paste and pork
thoroughly. Force into sausage casing and tie-off in 4" lengths. You can
form into patties and grill.Refrigerate overnight to allow flavors to blend.

This is served fried with fresh Thai Chiles, Basil, and sticky rice.