Let’s all be honest here. Yes. Including those of us who say we love to cook, and would ferociously defend the legitimacy of home-making Turkish kofta platter, Taiwanese gua bao, or even Italian duck prosciutto, once in a blue moon at least, let’s not kid ourselves. In practicality, the song and dance of travelling to exotic and exhilarating corners of the world through a dialogue in our own kitchen is, most of the time, only romantic in theory. At the end of the day, if you are any lucky, the flaming urge for such adventures mostly gets put out by a take-out menu amidst a stack of its own kind, that quietly settles in a kitchen drawer with can-openers and plumber-contacts. Authentic, or not authentic. Good, or no good. Doesn’t matter.
That’s what normal people do.
I used to be normal. Yes. I used to be normal in the sense that I too, raised healthy curiosity for all things exotic and delicious, which perhaps could even develop into a moderate ambition to dissect and tackle in my own kitchen. Perfectly normal and harmless because ultimately, just like any other sanity-abiding citizens, I was able to quickly come back to my senses (the road to Chinatown is always jam-packed… I gotta do the thing that I gotta do and besides, seriously, my hair just doesn’t feel like it today) and make peace with the fact that, illusions aside, the stack of menus from nearby restaurants serving mediocrity is, as it turned out, what I deserve.
But once in awhile, meteor hits, land shatters, world crumbles. When the critically acclaimed white dude Andy Ricker, who’s responsible for the complacency-wrecking Thai dishes from Portland to now National dominance, decided to publish his uncompromisingly authentic recipes to publicly shame his peers, plus the freakishly pink pad-thai I held with my trembling chopsticks, I knew the end to my take-out bubble was near. I thought, fine, how much can this hurt…
The next thing you know, I’m ruined. This ruins me.
It’s only been two weeks and I’ve made this four times. Four!
A question from Jason summed it up elegantly… “Since fucking when do we make our own Thai green curry paste?”. Judging from the scattering lemongrass and my battle-wound against galangal, I’m no longer fit to answer. But even him, even him who doubted, melted into submission with the first bite, all arguments muffled by the indisputable deliciousness dwarfing all take-outs and the sound of his chewing mouth. There’s no turning back. The dark side is too powerful. I know what you’re thinking though… Despite the only remotely “difficult” part is really nothing but hunting down all the necessary ingredients, which you then simply dump into a spinning blade and after which, everything is just smooth sailing… even so, it’s the mere idea of building your own green curry paste from scratch that sounds… too much. I know! In fact, you know what, I’m not even gonna be an advocate for the dark forces. I’m sitting amidst the burning ashes of what used to be my Thai take-out menus, and head-deep in my homemade curry ecstasy because of my own doing. I brought this upon myself.
You, you on the other hand who’s still sane and normal. Think long and hard. There’s no turning back after this.
****
Ready-made Thai green curry paste may be widely available now, and looking at the dauntingly long and possibly exotic list of ingredients down below, you might think why the hell would you want to complicate your life like this. The answer is simple, because it just tastes better. I usually find commercial green curry pastes unnecessarily salty, extremely even, which means you’ll need to reduce the amount used in the dish, which then means you won’t get as much flavours as you would using home-made. But if it just isn’t possible to DIY, you can use a commercial brand in reduced amount.
Lemongrass, kaffir lime leaf and galangal (a much more pungent ginger, sort of) may not be commonly available in your local supermarkets. So best stock up at every chance you come across them on your trip to Chinatown or an asian grocery store. You can finely slice the lemongrass and galangal, then freeze them in air-tight bags. Kaffir lime leaves can be frozen whole. They all freeze extremely well and trust me, you’ll want to keep them around.
The lemon juice in the meatball will break down the protein slightly and makes the meatball soft and “melty”.
Thai green curry paste: adapted from Pok Pok via Saveur. This is about 3-times the amount you’ll need for this dish (use the rest for this awesome pasta dish)
- Ingredient:
- 2 tsp of ground coriander
- 1/4 tsp of ground cumin
- 15 small, or 8 large (100 grams/3.5 oz) Asian green chilis, stems removed and chopped
- 2 medium stalks (65 grams/2.3 oz) of lemongrass, finely sliced
- 3″ chunk (45 grams/1.6 oz) of galangal, finely diced
- 8 cloves of garlic, smashed
- 3 medium shallots, diced
- Zest of 1 small lime
- 8 whole black peppercorn (or equivalent amount of ground black pepper)
- 2 tsp of Thai shrimp paste (Tra Chang brand if possible)
- 2 tsp of fish sauce
- 1 tsp of finely minced kaffir lime leaf (about 2 leaves)
- 1 tsp of yellow mustard
- 1/2 cup of coconut milk
Most recipes suggest food-processor for pureeing any type of curry pastes, but over the years I found my food-processor of various brands, unable to break down the tough fibers of lemongrass and galangal to the consistency that I wanted. If your have faith in the power of your food-processor, by all means use it (but reduce the amount of coconut milk to 1/4 cup). Otherwise, I would suggest using a blender (if you don’t already own one, check out a website like Kitchen Habit.) The blender will need more liquid to process, which is why I increased the amount of coconut milk from 1/4 cup in the original recipe, to 1/2 cup. It didn’t really make much difference in my opinion, as the excess moisture will evaporate during cooking.
To make the curry paste: Dry-toast ground coriander and ground cumin in a skillet over medium-high heat, stirring constantly, until fragrant, approx 1 min. Combine ALL of the ingredients in a blender and blend on high until smoothly pureed. You may need to stop the blender and press down the ingredients a few times to get it going. Store the curry paste in an air-tight container in the fridge until needed.
Green curry meatballs:
- Meatball:
- 350 grams/12.3 oz of ground pork
- 2 tbsp of finely minced cilantro
- 1 tbsp of grated ginger
- 1 tbsp of lemon juice
- 2 tsp of cornstarch
- 2 tsp of fish sauce
- 1/2 tsp of ground coriander
- 1/2 tsp of ground white pepper
- To cook the curry:
- 1 small Asian eggplant
- 1/2 cup of coconut cream
- 1/2 cup of Thai green curry paste (or less if using commercial brands)
- 6 ~ 7 kaffir lime leaves, torn slightly by hand
- 2 Thai red chilis, stems removed
- 3/4 cup of coconut milk
- 1 cup of water
- 1~2 tsp of grated palm sugar, or dark brown sugar
- More fish sauce to adjust seasoning
- 1 handful of Thai basil
To prepare the meatballs and eggplants: Preheat the broiler on high.
Mix ground pork, minced cilantro, grated ginger, lemon juice, cornstarch, fish sauce, ground coriander and ground white pepper together until even. Divide and shape the mixture into 8 meatballs and set them on top of a baking-sheet. Bake in the oven, turning once, until browned all over. Set aside. Clean the eggplant and trim off the stem. Peel the eggplant with a fruit-peeler, then cut it into triangular chunks. Drizzle 1 tbsp of olive oil over the top, then bake under the broiler until golden browned. Set aside.
You can brown the meatballs and eggplant in a skillet if you want to. I just find baking easier for this task.
To make the green curry: In a wok or a sauce-pot, heat and stir the coconut cream over medium-high heat for 7~8 minutes, until the moisture evaporates and the cream breaks (you will see oil separating from the white coconut milk solids). This process might splatter a bit, so you might want to cover the wok/pot PARTIALLY with a lid. Continue to cook for another minute, then add 1/2 cup of green curry paste. Cook and stir for 2~3 min until the mixture is slightly browned on the edges of the wok/pot, but careful not to let it burn. Add 3 kaffir lime leaves and red chili, and cook for another minute, then add coconut milk and water.
Add the browned meatballs into the wok/pot, with 1 tsp of palm sugar (or dark brown sugar) and 2 tsp of fish sauce. Turn the heat down to cook for 15 min, then add the eggplants and simmer for another 15 min, or until you see oil floating to the surface of the sauce. Adjust the seasoning with more fish sauce and sugar if needed. Add 1 handful of Thai basil and let it wilt. Serve immediately with hot steamed jasmine rice.
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28 responses to “ANDY WRECKER GREEN CURRY MEATBALLS”
Yep making your own is insidious. Once i started making my own pastry, I swear I could not stop.
Anyway Poke me one of these ball right now! They look so tasty!
This sounds so good! Making your own Thai curry pastes is the best! I like to make big batches and store some extra in the freezer.
Oh Pok Pok. Where Thai food and strong drinks collide into sublimity. Every time my friends and I get together in Portland, I’m like — Pok Pok, right guys? I think everyone locally is getting over the whole thing but I AM NOT OVER IT
This is so beautifully done and with a well-stocked Asian market nearby, it’s time for me to make my own curry paste. You make it seem quite simple actually! Just had a thought:: homemade Christmas gifts this year! skip the hand-crafted caramels, I’m giving away curry paste.
How long do you think the paste keeps before it should be frozen?
Sophie, commercial ones keeps so long because they are so salty but I find the homemade version not even close to the kind of saltiness that will prevent spoiling. So just in case, I would keep them in the fridge for max 1 week, then freeze after that.
Alright. I officially blame *you*.
I discovered this food blog two weeks ago, have made several recipes (only the HOT ones) with excellent results. I will be making this ASAP.
I just read the Malaysian trip log, and now, after much contemplation, it is true: Ai lao hu ni!.
Dan, hahahhaaaaa love that movie!
This looks and sounds delicious!!! Love it and am going to make my own too…by the way, can’t stop laughing with your posts. You’re simply wonderful! ;)
These meatballs are incredible! Lemongrass and kaffir lime leaves are some of my favorite ingredients to use EVER–they are so fragrant. I’m so happy that Whole Foods seems to be carrying lime leaves all the time, because their impossible to replace with anything else.
AND this dish includes roasted eggplant. So it’s pretty much my dream come true!
This looks SO good – I adore green curry, and I also adore meatballs, so this is such a great combo!
This food is inspiring but so is your writing!!! You are really an amazing writer. I hope you are working on a book.
This looks incredible, and I can’t wait to make it! One quick question: I have the pok pok cookbook and can’t find this particular recipe. Also, the Saveur link you provided doesn’t seem to be working. So I was wondering how you adapted the recipe. Did you find the green curry and meatball recipes separately and then combine them? Would love to know! Thanks so much!
Tamara, I saw the recipe on Saveur’s last issue (I think) instead of on their website. I don’t know if the recipe is included in Pok Pok’s cookbook. The magazine published a green curry recipe with fish-balls and eggplants, so I substitute it with my own meatballs.
I’ve had this bookmarked for a while and finally made it. It was crazy how good this was! The paste wasn’t quite as green as I was expecting at first, so I added some cilantro stems. It could have been that the bag of small chiles ended up weighing slightly less than what your recipe called for. I love that you added weight here as a guide. I roasted the eggplant in a 350 as I made the curry rather than broiling (mostly because the broiler got a bit angry with the meatballs so I decided not to push it). I also added a little lime juice to the curry as it cooked because it seemed to need a little sour–it just balanced things out nicely. Now that I have shrimp paste on hand, I am in search of other recipes that use it (and palm sugar and galangal…). Oh, and the coconut milk I picked up from the Asian grocery was something entirely different from anything I’ve picked up at my regular markets. So lush and almost fluffy. Heaven!
These look absolutely amazing! I would substitute with ground chicken or turkey.
Just discovered this blog. It’s really great, I mean really great. You put the rest of us bloggers to shame. I have Andy’s book on my shelf, bookmarked some recipes, but haven’t had a chance to make the haul to the Asian supermarket and dust off my mortar and pestle. I actually have a Vietnamese m/p, but I dare say, have never used it. Now is the time.
Keep me laughing. eva
EVA, your blog is absolutely wonderful!
This green curry paste is kickass. Only used 10 tiny green chili’s and it hits you in the back of the throat in a way that truly satisfys. Either people are gonna hate me, or this will be a hero dish. Don’t care. Thanks!
After years of torture from Mae Ploy thai curry paste, I finally tried the curry paste and I just realized that they are very similar to the ones in POK POK recipe!!!!
My problem is that
* I reduce the amount of chillies (my husband cannot handle the heat), and I wonder if removing the seeds of thai chillies would significantly reduce the heat?
* I use Mae Ploy coconut cream and it didn’t “break” but simply reduced to a thick white cream, even when I followed what POKPOK suggested and added a table spoon of oil. It never sticks to the bottom of the pan but I am not sure if that is an indication of anything. Is there any safe brand you recommend? If I absolutely have to use nonbreaking coconut cream, can i sauté the pate first before adding the cream?
*I don’t have yellow mustard can I substitute with dijon mustard?
*When POKPOK said that as long as the curry paste simmers in the cream, it would turn out great. Does it mean that high heat (full on fire) would do damage to the curry aroma?
The paste smells sooooo good out of the blender but I am not sure why the curry didn’t carry that through……
I am going to pour the curry paste + coconut cream back to the Blendtech blender and see what happens… Wish me luck!!!!
Umami, 1) removing seeds does reduce the heat but it’ll still be spicy for sure. Perhaps use another milder chili instead. 2) you’re referring to the initial stage of “browning” the curry paste right? If your coconut cream doesn’t break the way it should, I should switch to using 3 tbsp to 1/4 cup of COCONUT OIL to sautee the paste instead! Which is what I do most of the time if I don’t have coconut cream on hand. Mae Ploy paste is super salty compared to this homemade version, so you can’t add too much, with is why you can’t get a more intense flavor. For example, 1/2 cup of mae ploy will turn this dish into a salt bath, whereas 1/2 cup of this homemade paste brings a ton of flavor without just the right amount of saltiness. 3) Dijon mustard should be fine, too. 4) Not high heat. I’d say medium-low.
I just realized that you use Mae-Ploy in other curries. No offense!!!! I think it’s probably just me not adding anything to Mae-Ploy and expect grand results.
Thanks for the amazing recipes!!! I truly love your writing!!!
Umami, Thanks!! Mae Ploy is a shortcut of course. But it’s very salty and therefore one cannot add alot to a dish, thus compromising the flavors.
Mahalo!!!! Thank you!!!!
A local chef from portland here. I’m sure you do this for a reason…. maybe legal reasons? But its Andy Ricker (not Wrecker) from Pok Pok. :)
Dude- You miss the point of the title. Yes she did do it for a reason. Read the post and it may dawn on you.
Besides, Mandy correctly cites in this sentence: “When the critically acclaimed white dude Andy Ricker, …”
“Chef” Heather obviously is cruising the food blogs looking for ideas since all she seems to be capable of is roasting carrots and making quinoa.
I am not sure if it is critical reading skills that are lacking or if its just an inferiority complex masquerading as arrogance. The need to post a negative comment for no other reason than to point out that she lives in the same city as an award winning chef/restaurant owner is quite pathetic and I think proves the latter. Yes we all know Pok Pok, and I am sure Andy and Mandy would be laughing at your comment about “legal reasons”.
I think u will find a huge reportiore on my website if u went there… Much much more than carrots. http://Www.Blackradish.us
Lots of rude comments… Lol. I actually came back here to post that I made this for clients today and it was just awesome! Will use this recipe again and again, and I appreciate the sharing. ❤️
Sorry if I didn’t have time to read the whole post, running a small,business is time consuming. I saw the title and the pics and went straight to making it. Lovely!