Jungle Curry

Jungle Curry

Whenever I think of jungle curry, I automatically start singing ‘jungle boogie’ from Pulp Fiction in my head. Sorry! now you’ll have the same association.

The thing that makes a jungle curry different is that it’s not based on coconut milk and traditionally they relied only on peppercorns to give their legendary heat. Here we’re cheating a little and using green chillies as well as black peppercorns instead of trying to track down green peppercorns.

serves 3-4 as part of a Thai banquet
for the curry paste:
1 tablespoon ground black pepper
1 red onion, peeled & chopped
5 cloves garlic, peeled
5 large green chillies
1 tablespoon ground cumin
zest of 1 lemon
for the curry:
400g (14oz) minced (ground) chicken, pork or beef
3 long baby eggplant, sliced into bit sized pieces
2 tablespoons fish sauce
1 bunch coriander, leaves picked

1. curry paste: Whizz pepper, onion, garlic, chilli, cumin and lemon zest in a food processor with a few tablespoons water until you have a thick paste.

2. Heat a little oil in a large pot. Cook chicken, stirring often until browned and no longer pink.

3. Add the curry paste and stir fry for 2-3 minutes or until everything smells amazing.

4. Add the eggplant, 1 1/2 cups water and the fish sauce. Bring to a simmer.

5. Cook, covered for about 5 minutes or until eggplant is very tender. Taste season and serve with coriander leaves on top.

Leftover Potential?

Excellent! Will keep in the fridge for a week or so. OK to freeze.

Variations for serving sizes

Easily increases. You may want to cook the chicken in batches so it browns properly for large crowds.

Variations

vegetarian / vegan – replace the fish sauce with soy sauce. Try doubling the eggplant or adding in other veg such as sweet potato, frozen peas or mushrooms and simmer until tender.

can’t find baby eggplant? – replace with a small regular eggplant diced into chunks. Or try different veg such as green beans, bamboo shoots, frozen peas, sweet potato or mushrooms.

red or green curry – skip the jungle curry paste and replace with 3-4 tablespoons home made or commercial curry paste.

fish-free – replace the fish sauce with soy sauce.

Problem Solving Guide

no food processor? – just finely chop the curry paste ingredients by hand. Allow a little longer for the paste to soften and cook.

bland – more black pepper and fish sauce please!

ground meat sticking to the pan – adding more oil can help but don’t worry about it too much as it will add lovely depth of flavour to the sauce when you add the water.

icky eggplant – make sure the eggplant is nice and tender and cooked through as there are few things worse than undercooked eggplant!

Serving Suggestions

Lovely with steamed rice or cauliflower rice.

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