(Asian) Fish soup

For my birthday this year, Mrs. Throat-Erator gave me dried curry and kaffir lime leaves - and then things got a little hectic, so I didn't have a lot of time to think about ways to use them for a couple of months...

But I thought they might add a nice touch to a fish soup - more specifically, I was thinking of some of the nice Asian fish soups I've tried, which I would like to emulate, so I tried it out.

Ingredients:
- oil
- 4 cloves garlic, crushed
- 2 hot chillies, finely cut
- 2 fillets of pangasius, cut in chunks
- 2 fillets of tilapia, cut in chunks
- 1 onion, diced
- 3 leeks, cut in rings, white and green parts separated.
- 2 L (¹/₂ gallon) fish stock
- 0.5 g^[1] dried curry leaves
- 0.5 g^[2] dried kaffir lime leaves
- 250 g (¹/₂ lb) sunchokes, diced
- 3 tomatoes, diced coarsely
- 24 prawns

A little oil was heated in a large pot, and crushed garlic and finely cut chillies were sautéed for half a minute before adding chunks of fish.

After a couple of minutes, the diced onion and the white leek rings (white rings only) were added and after an additional couple of minutes, the fish stock and the dried leaves were added.

After adding diced sunchokes and large chunks of tomato, the pot was brought to a boil. The heat was reduced, the pot was covered and allowed to simmer for 10 minutes. The prawns and the green leek rings were added, and the pot was brought back to a boil and simmered for a final 5 minutes.

I was very happy with the result - the combination of of chillies, curry leaves and kaffir lime leaves resulted in exactly the fresh kind of taste I was going for, and although perhaps not traditional in Asian cuisine (although I admit I don't know) I thought the sunchokes added a really nice nuance to the flavour.

^[1] As much as you see in the picture..
^[2] ..more than you see in the picture!

Red Seafood Curry

A good friend of mine concluded, after moving to Singapore, that all his previous attempts at making curries had been suboptimal at least in part due to the inferior curry pastes that has been available to him in the US. To back up his claims, he brought me over a selection of curry pastes from Singapore when we met up before Christmas - so thanks to him for providing the curry paste used here.

Generally, mini-eggplants are not available around here, so when I found some when I went to a new store, I immediately picked some up - thinking already of using one my packs of parallelly imported red curry paste.

Ingredients:
- sesame oil
- red curry paste^[1]
- 200 g (7 oz) crayfish
- 100 g (3.5 oz) shrimp
- 200 g (7 oz) squid rings
- 10 mini eggplants, quartered
- 1 red bell pepper, chopped
- coconut cream
- kaffir lime leaves
- salt
- large bunch scallion, chopped
for serving:
- boiled rice
- roasted peanuts
- fresh Thai basil

A little sesame oil was heated in a wok, then added a dollop of the curry paste, followed by the crayfish. After frying for 1-2 minutes, the shrimp were added and after an additional 1-2 minutes the squid rings. 1-2 minutes later, the quartered mini-eggplants were added, then the chopped bell pepper, dried kaffir lime leaves, the remaining curry paste and the coconut cream. The contents were brought to a boil before reducing the heat and letting it simmer for a few minutes. The dish was seasoned to taste with salt. At last the scallions were added and after a minute or so the wok was removed from the heat.

Served with boiled rice, roasted peanuts and fresh Thai basil.
Delicious. For my taste the spiciness of this dish was just right.
Now I just have to find out where I can buy more of similarly good curry paste - or if I can emulate it from more basic ingredients...

^[1] Curry paste brand: Dancing Chef.