Choo Chee Curry Salmon
Recipe and Photography by Jill Rittymanee
Going back to my roots, it was fun working on this Thai dish together with my mom. She made the curry and I cooked the salmon. This is one of my favorite dishes from her: Choo Chee Curry. She’s pretty secretive with her recipes so I’m honestly amazed she’s even giving this recipe out! This includes curry paste made from scratch, so be prepared to roll up your sleeves and get a good arm workout from the mortar and pestle. I do highly recommend that over a food processor. The flavors release a lot more. You’ll also want to time this so the curry sauce isn’t cold by the time the salmon is done!
For the Salmon
1 pack of Kvaroy Arctic salmon fillets, 8oz portions
Avocado Oil
For the Curry Paste
7 large dried sliced chiles
2 tablespoons thinly sliced shallot
3 tablespoons thinly sliced garlic
2 tablespoons thinly sliced lemongrass stalk (white part only)
1 tablespoon thinly sliced galangal
1 teaspoon thinly sliced turmeric
2 teaspoons zest of makrut lime
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
2 teaspoons shrimp paste
For the Curry Sauce
2 teaspoons palm sugar
1 tablespoon fish sauce
400 milliliters coconut milk
500 milliliters chicken broth
For the Garnish
1 fresh red chili or mini bell pepper cut lengthwise
1 finely cut makrut lime leaf
1 tablespoon coconut milk
1 coriander sprig (optional)
DIRECTIONS
For the Salmon
Remove Kvaroy Arctic salmon from packaging. Pat both sides dry with paper towel. Put into fridge uncovered for 30 minutes to 1 hour to dry the skin more and make it crispy when cooked.
For the Curry Paste
Soak the 7 large dried chili peppers into water until soft (15 minutes) and squeeze all the water and seeds out.
Use mortar and pestle or a food processor to blend curry paste ingredients one at a time before adding a new ingredient in. Start with the zest of makrut lime, galanga, lemongrass, turmeric, chili, 1 tsp salt, garlic, shallots, 1/2 teaspoon black pepper, and shrimp paste last. Put aside.
For the Curry Sauce
Heat sauce pan on medium low. Add 200ml coconut milk. Cook until coconut milk turns partially oily on top, but not too much. If it looks dry, add coconut milk in little by little (1 teaspoon at a time). Curds should be starting to form at the bottom.
Add in curry pasts and stir fry until dark red color and fragrant. Add in fish sauce and palm sugar. It shuold be sweet first, then salty in flavor.
Add the rest of the coconut milk, keep 1 tablespoon for garnish later. Taste again and add 500ml chicken broth little by little (again, to taste). If it tastes too salty, add a little sugar. The is done! Set it aside.
For the Salmon
Heat up a pan on medium high with enough avocado oil to coat the bottom. This is important so the fish does not stick.
Rub oil, salt, pepper on salmon right before putting it skin down first onto the hot pan. Turn down heat to medium. Press down with spatula to straighten the skin for 10 seconds.
Cook for around 10 minutes, observe the side of the salmon if it’s 3/4 cooked, flip to the other side and cook for about 3 minutes.
Plating
Plate salmon skin side up, spoon curry sauce around salmon to keep the skin crispy and top with garnish. Drizzle the curry sauce with coconut milk on top.