Last time I went to the organic market at the temple, the woman I bought vegetables from insisted I buy fish from her, even though I only wanted vegetables. Because of her, I asked Dad what I could do with an electric wok and a fish. The answer was Gaeng Som Bplaa. It's a southern style sour curry, also called Gaeng Luang, or yellow curry. So last Saturday morning, feeling a little homesick, I thought it would be a good day to try it, so I could report the results to my dad. With my partner in crime, Steven, I set out on my mission to get the ingredients together, which took us about half the day plus lunch. Between Sawankhalok’s two markets, I was able to start my Gaeng Som experiment. Essentially, this blog entry is for my dad.
Step One; buying the ingredients:
-Fish. Preferably from the lady at the local market at the temple, because she is the reason I originally wanted to make this.
-Gaeng Som powder. From the lady at the indoor market. She was very intrigued by what I was planning on doing with Gaeng Som powder, seeing that I was farang. Luckily Steven was there to tell her I was half Thai, to which she replied, oh that is why she can eat rice.
-Tamarind to make tamarind water (from the same lady)
-Vegetables from the lady that when you point to vegetables and ask what it is out of curiosity, the woman says pak something, says something really fast in thai, and then says Gaeng Som, Gaeng Luang. Bingo. Resembles microgreens
-Cilantro and scallions, because they go on everything.
-Snack to eat while you cook. Cause if you’re like me, it takes a little while to figure these things out.
Step Two: Make up the steps to making Gaeng Som
1. Make tamarind water using the crushed tamarind. Put maybe a tablespoon in a bowl of boiling water to make tamarind water. I really have no idea what is appropriate.
2. Maybe make some rice before hand. (which I now have down to a science in my electric wok)
3. Make the soup! Bring water to a boil (I think I used too much water), and add gaeng som curry powder. Add vegetables: don’t use pumpkin leaves- they suck! But pumpkin works, and then the vegetable that woman unintentionally sold me on was great too. I cut up the fish, keeping it on the bone (removing the bone would have maybe been a better idea), and added it to my soup. Once the fish was cooked, I went through the painstaking process of trying to figure out how to flavor my soup, having never had gaeng som. It’s supposed to be sour, so I think you’re supposed to use a good amount of tamarind water. I used too much. Too sour! Then a combo of sugar and fish sauce to your liking. Supposedly, it’s supposed to taste sour at first, then a blend of sweet, spicy and salty following. Mine were none of the above, but I was getting close. (I know, I know, I should be measuring these things so I do better next time, but this is hard when I don’t have any sort of measuring instruments.)
4. As per Dad’s recommendation, make an omelet on the side to have with the curry, with fish sauce and scallions.
End result: total failure. But a good experiment. I have enough ingredients to try it again before the vegetables wilt, so version two may be attempted again this week.
Biggest success/bummer: In the midst of my experiment, I took out the trash and said hello to my neighbor as she was cooking dinner. I asked her what she was making, but could only make out “tot”, or fried, and it looked delicious, whatever she was frying. Then I think she asked me to have dinner with them, but I told her I was already making dinner. My new goal then was to make a delicious soup and be able to bring it over to their house and share with them, but that would have been way too embarrassing with what my soup ended up being.
Lesson learned! Just get dinner from Soi bpet. It’s easier. OR try again =)
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