Traditional Thai Jungle Curry
This recipe is truly something special and immersing yourself in authentic flavours will transport you into the jungles of Thailand! Jungle curry is a popular and spicy Northern Thai curry made with no coconut milk. You can cook a Thai jungle curry with pork, chicken, duck or fish, but this recipe is calling out for pork ribs...my favourite!
Jungle curry is typically cooked with a lot of vegetables, and today I’m choosing a few Thai vegetables such as Thai green aubergines, pea aubergines (turkey berries) and bamboo shoots. Thai green aubergines and pea aubergines are incredibly popular in Thailand, but I’d admit they can be hard to get your hands on them here over in the U.K. If you live in a city or a large town then you are likely to be able to visit an oriental shop or supermarket.
Wing Yip is a well-known Chinese supermarket, they have 4 big stores in England (Croyden, Birmingham, Manchester and Cricklewood) where you can shop for fresh vegetables, meats, seasonings kitchenware, giant bags of rice - literally anything you need for Asian style cooking, they will have it. You could also explore your area for a local oriental shop to see what vegetables they offer, some shops are able to order ingredients for you.
Although if you prefer to order online yourself, you could try “Thai-food-online” which is an online store that sells a variety of Thai ingredients, including the ones in this recipe. Ingredients are imported from Thailand on a weekly/-biweekly basis, I recommend trying and plan ahead as some ingredients sell out quickly and become out of stock regularly, take a look at their site here.
How to Make a Traditional Thai Jungle Curry
First of all, gather and prepare all your ingredients. In this recipe, the ingredients to prepare are pork ribs, Thai green aubergines and pea aubergines. For the pork ribs, you will need a strong knife, preferably a butcher style knife as we need to chop these ribs into small short ribs. The best way to do this is to just go for it, be careful where you choose to put your hands because if your aim isn't the best, accidents could happen! Be steady, firm and accurate!
If I just put you off chopping your own pork ribs, you could also purchase pre-chopped ribs or perhaps buy from a local butcher, if they are nice, they can chop it for you! For the Thai green aubergines, you’ll need to trim the top off where the stem is and cut into quarters. Once cut, place them into a bowl of cold water to stop them from discolouring. For the pea aubergines, simply pick the aubergines off their stem and wash them under cold running water.
On to the cooking! Heat some oil in a wok or saucepan on medium to high heat and stir fry Mae Jum Thai Jungle curry paste for 2 minutes to build a beautiful aroma. Then season the paste with a tablespoon of fish sauce and palm sugar and blend well. Add in the pork ribs and quickly give them a stir to coat the side with curry paste before adding in the water.
Once the water is in the wok, cover with a lid and simmer for 40 minutes on medium heat. After 40 or so minutes, it’s time to add the pea aubergines, Thai green aubergine and bamboo shoots. Leave to simmer for a further 10 minutes, this time uncovered. Everything should be cooked, so serve up into bowls with a side of steamed Thai Jasmine rice and garnish with fresh kaffir lime leaves and red chillies. Enjoy!
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Traditional Thai Jungle Curry
Ingredients
- 35 g Mae Jum Thai Jungle Curry Paste
- 600 g Pork Ribs
- 600 ml Water
- 200 g Pea Aubergines
- 300 g Thai Eggplant
- 100 g Bamboo Shoots
- 1 tbsp Fish Sauce
- 1 tbsp Palm Sugar
- 1 tbsp Coconut Oil
- Kaffir lime leave Optional garnish
- Red Chilli Optional garnish
Instructions
Preparation
- Wash and pick pea aubergines off its stem
- Cut Thai aubergines in quarters and place in cold water
- Carefully chop pork rib into 3-inch pieces
Method
- In a wok, fry curry paste in coconut oil for 2 minutes on med/high heat
- Add fish sauce and palm sugar, blend well
- Add pork ribs and fully coat the outside with curry paste and then add water. Cover and simmer for 40 minutes on medium heat
- Add Thai eggplant, pea aubergines and bamboo shoots and simmer uncovered for 10 minutes.
- Garnish with kaffir lime leaf and red chilli before serving with freshly made Jasmine rice
