Chu Chee Salmon

Chu Chee or Choo Chee is the sound of sizzling in Thai, and because of the amount of curry is small comparing to other kinds of curry so the sound is loud.  The curry paste for this dish has the same ingredients as red curry paste, except it is not as hot as red curry because there are no fresh Thai chillies or Prik Kee Noo in Chu Chee curry paste, but there are only dried big chillies which are mild. If you’d like your Chu Chee dish spicy, you can always add some Prik Kee Noo in your curry paste.

Chu Chee Curry is commonly with fish, but you may find some restaurants’ Chu Chee menu with shrimp as well. The curry sauce is supposed to be thicker, saltier and sweeter than ordinary curry as the fish is plain so you need the sauce to give some favours to the fish.

Chu Chee dish is pretty common and popular dish in Thailand as you can find this dish from street vendors to luxury restaurants.

For 2 - 3 servings  Spiciness: mild

Ingredients

1  lb.            Salmon Steak, slice into 2 pieces or 2 Salmon Fillets

3 tbsp          Curry paste (the recipe below)

2 tsp            Palm sugar or sugar

4 leaves       Kaffir Lime leaves, cut into very thin stripe

7                 Thai basil or sweet basil

¾ cup          Thick Coconut milk from a can

1-1  ½ tbsp   Fish sauce

1 tbsp          Vegetable oil

¹⁄₃ cup          Water

Curry Paste

Ingredients – for about ½ cup of curry paste

7                  Dried big chillies, remove seeds and soak in water until soft and chop into small pieces

1-2               Fresh Thai Red chillies, chopped (optional)

2 tbsp           Lemongrass, chopped fine

2                  Shallots, chopped

2 tbsp           Garlic, chopped

2 tsp             Galangal, chopped fine

1                   Kaffir Lime, skin only about 2tsp, chopped fine

½ tsp            Ground pepper

2 - 3 roots     Coriander, chopped

 ³⁄₄tsp            Shrimp paste, roasted

¼ tsp            Salt

Instruction

1. To make the curry paste, wrap shrimp paste in foil and roast two sides on the stove element until fragrant.
2. Paste dried chillies, lemongrass, shallots, garlic, galangal, kaffir lime peel, ground pepper, coriander roots, shrimp paste and salt in mortar and pestle, and pound until smooth.
3. Grill 2 sides of salmon on frying pan on medium heat until golden brown but not cooked. Remove salmon from the frying pan.
4. To make the curry sauce, the same frying pan on medium heat, add vegetable oil until hot and add curry paste, stir-frying until fragrant. Add coconut milk, palm sugar, fish sauce and water, mix well and cook until bubbling and becomes a thick curry sauce.
5. Add salmon into the curry sauce and let salmon sit for a few bubble each side until salmon absorbs the favour of the curry sauce. Remove from the pen to a plate and garnish with kaffir lime leaves and basil. Serve hot with Jasmine rice.