Sweet Potato Red Curry

I’m not generally one to keep many premade sauces or spice mixes around, but I make an exception for Thai curry paste. As long as you have a can of paste, some coconut milk, and almost any kind of vegetable or meat, you’re a quick simmer away from dinner. This version takes things in a slightly pretentious, definitely nontraditional direction: we’re using sweet potatoes as our vegetable, optionally braising some pork belly in it, pureeing it until smooth, and topping it with a heap of garnishes.

There are two ways to make this dish, depending on whether you eat pork and have an extra two hours. If you do, the curry can be used as a braising liquid for big chunks of pork belly; if you don’t, then the dish is still delicious without the meat, not to mention significantly quicker to prepare.

Braised and Confused

If you’re into the pork idea, we start things off by browning chunks of pork belly. Searing like this isn’t really a thing in a lot of Asian cuisines, but we’re doing it here because 1. it tastes good and 2. it renders off some of the pork fat, which we’ll have more than enough of by the time this is done.¹ We’re not going for authenticity, anyway.

When the pork is well-browned, take it out and pour off the fat, and we can build a pretty standard red curry base: start with the cream that accumulates at the top of a can of coconut milk, and heat it until the fat separates out. Cook your curry paste in that until it darkens slightly, then add the remaining coconut milk, fish sauce, makrut lime leaves, and brown sugar (replacing the more standard palm sugar to complement the sweet potatoes). We’re using cilantro leaves as a garnish, so we can also take the stems from that, tie them with a piece of string for easy removal, and add that for a bit more flavor.² Add the pork back and simmer until very tender. Once the pork is done, remove it and all the other solids, then add in the sweet potatoes and cook until soft (If you’re omitting the pork, just start here).

Once the sweet potatoes are cooked, puree the whole thing with an immersion blender and add the pork back in. A squeeze of lime juice adds some brightness and acidity to balance the spicy and fatty curry and brings back some brightness that was lost during the long braise. From there, all that’s left to do is assemble the toppings.

Top It Off

This dish isn’t the most texturally interesting thing on its own, since it’s pureed until smooth. To fix that, we’re going to pile a ton of crunchy, fresh, and spicy things on top. These add some much needed contrast and freshness, not to mention visual appeal. Most of the toppings are used without doing much to them: peanuts, cilantro leaves, scallions, bird’s eye chilies, and a drizzle of coconut milk. The only thing that requires some effort is making fried shallots, which are actually not a lot of work; you can get them ready while the pork is cooking. If you don’t feel like it, though, you can buy pre-made fried shallots.

Once your toppings are assembled and the curry is ready, you’re ready to serve: ladle the curry into a wide bowl, add a couple pieces of pork (or don’t), and add as many toppings as you want. Bring extras to the table, though, especially the fried shallots–however much you think you need isn’t nearly enough.

Play Around

• To make a more standard curry, replace the sweet potatoes and pork belly with chunks of vegetables such as eggplant, peppers, squash, green beans, or really anything else you want. If you’re adding meat, cut it into thin slices and cook just for a few minutes. Serve with steamed jasmine rice.
• To make this vegan, omit the pork and replace the fish sauce with a pinch of salt.

Notes

1. In a move that’s probably heretical to true pork belly fans, I usually buy pieces with as little fat as possible. Which is not to say that there’s not still a whole lot of fat.
2. This is a sub for cilantro root, which can be hard to find. If you happen to have cilantro with the roots still attached, add them in addition to the stems.

Sweet Potato Red Curry

Prep List

Equipment

Procedure