Gaeng som (southern sour curry)
Photo: Sumit Surai · CC BY-SA 4.0

History

Southern Thai cooking is marked by deep flavour and pungent spice, from chilli and turmeric to galangal, kaffir lime and lemongrass, and gaeng som is its everyday sour curry. Made without coconut milk, it relies on tamarind for sourness and fresh chilli for heat, balanced with a little sweetness. In Phuket it is cooked with local fish and vegetables, and seafood houses and family kitchens serve versions with seabass or barramundi belly.

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Common allergens: Fish, Shellfish

Make it at home

Yield Serves 4Hands-on 20 minTotal 35 minDifficulty Easy

Ingredients

  • For the paste: 10 dried red chillies, soaked; 5 fresh bird's-eye chillies; 2 shallots; 4 cloves garlic; 3cm fresh turmeric; 1 tsp shrimp paste
  • 1 litre water
  • 500g barramundi or seabass, cut into chunks
  • 200g green papaya, green taro stems or bamboo shoots, cut into pieces
  • 4 tbsp tamarind water
  • 2 tbsp fish sauce
  • 1 tbsp palm sugar

Method

  1. Pound the paste ingredients to a fine paste in a mortar.
  2. Bring the water to a boil and stir in the paste, then simmer 5 minutes.
  3. Add the vegetables and simmer 5 to 8 minutes until tender.
  4. Season with tamarind water, fish sauce and palm sugar; it should taste sour, hot and salty in that order.
  5. Add the fish and simmer 3 to 4 minutes until just cooked, then serve with rice.

Tip from the editors. Add the fish last and keep the broth at a gentle simmer so the pieces hold together.

Where to eat gaeng som (southern sour curry)

Gaeng som (southern sour curry) in Phuket

Chom Chan ★ 4.3

฿฿ Southern ThaiOld Town

Chom Chan serves Phuket-style Southern Thai recipes in a Sino-Portuguese house on Yaowarat Road, its curry soup with barramundi belly a local favourite.

TryPhuket-style Southern Thai family recipes

TipOrder the tangy orange curry soup with barramundi belly and share a few plates; the bill stays easy on the wallet.

Directions

Go Ang Seafood ★ 4.4

฿฿ SeafoodPhuket Town

Go Ang Seafood grew from a zinc-roofed shop into a Phuket institution on Phuket Road, its blue crab and mantis shrimp sourced from five markets daily.

TrySouthern Thai seafood, blue crab and mantis shrimp

TipOrder the steamed crab with tangy dip and the fried mantis shrimp with garlic; the kitchen opens at 17:00 and runs to 23:30.

Directions

Lertrod ★ 3.8

฿฿ Southern ThaiThalang

Lertrod is a Michelin Selected kitchen opposite Phuket International Airport, plating central and southern Thai dishes with a photo menu for travellers.

OrderOrder the deep-fried seabass with fish sauce, a kitchen staple.

TipHandy for a meal right before a flight, it sits directly across from the airport.

Directions

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