Chu Chee Style Scallops and Prawns Curry Recipe by Madam Kopi Oh

Chu Chee curry paste is a traditional Thai style curry flavour that usually cooked with seafood. Similar to Thai red curry paste, the Chu Chee curry paste uses dried chilis as much as possible to bring up the spicy flavours. The main difference is the strong emphasis on ingredients like galangal, lime and lemongrass.

This recipe will serve 4 persons.

Ingredients for the Chu Chee curry paste:

• 10 long red chili, dry
• 1 teaspoon coriander seeds
• 1 tablespoon shrimp paste
• 1 tablespoon of white pepper powder
• 10 leaves of lime, finely shredded
• 10 shallots, chopped
• 2 teaspoons of lime juice
• 1 tablespoon of coriander roots, chopped
• 1 stalk of lemongrass, use the white parts only, finely chopped
• 3 tablespoons of chopped galangal
• 6 cloves of garlic, crushed
• 540 ml of canned coconut cream
• 500 g of clam or scallop (no shell)
• 500 grams of large raw shrimp – peeled, veins removed. Keep the tails.
• 2-3 tablespoons of fish sauce (alternative: salt or soy sauce)
• 2-3 tablespoons of brown sugar)
• 8 leaves of lime leaves, finely grated
• 2 red chillies, thinly sliced
• 1 handful of Thai basil leaves

Directions:

1. Boil water. Soak the chilies in the boiling water for 5 minutes to soften them up. Remove the stems and seeds and chop finely. Add a little bit of Sinolin cooking oil in your frying pan. Set the heat to medium and begin frying the coriander seeds, shrimp paste, and pepper for 2 to 3 minutes. Remove ingredients from frying pan, and leave to cool. Use a grinder and crush the coriander and pepper to become powder-like.
2. Place the chopped chillies, shrimp paste, ground coriander and pepper with the remaining curry paste ingredients in a blender. Blend until it becomes a smooth soft paste.
3. Add some thick coconut cream to your saucepan. Use medium heat and let the cream simmer. Stir and cook for five to ten minutes. You will want to do this until the cream splits and some oil gets separated and forms in your saucepan.
4. Add in 3 tablespoons of the curry paste, and using low heat – simmer for 10 minutes until it becomes aromatic and releases a strong scent.
5. Stir in the remaining coconut cream, scallops and prawns, and cook for 5 minutes, or until tender. Add the fish sauce, palm sugar, makrut leaves and chilli, and cook for 1 minute. Stir in half the Thai basil and garnish with the remaining leaves.