Southern Thai Pork Stir Fry (Kua Gling)
Kua Gling is a classic Thai stir fry made of ground meat, or even crumbled tofu, and a spicy curry paste. One subtle difference between this curry paste and others is that the Kua Gling paste uses black peppercorns instead of white ones. Once you make this curry paste, the rest of the dish comes together fairly quick. Kua Gling is traditionally served with steamed jasmine rice and slices of cucumber. The cucumber will help cut through the heat of this dish because it is spicy as all hell.Kua Gling is a great ingredient to use as a leftover. I included 2 more recipes to use if in: Kua Gling Omelette and Kua Gling Tacos. The omelette is stuffed with the Kua Gling and Thai basil. It is served with steamed jasmine rice. The tacos are on double corn tortillas and topped with Kua Gling, julienne carrots and cucumber, diced shallots, shredded cabbage, Thai basil, siracha, and Japanese mayo.
Ingredients
Kua Gling Curry Paste
- 10 dried arbol chilies
- 1 tsp black peppercorns
- 1 stalk of lemongrass
- 3 tbsp galangal chopped
- 1 1/2 tsp turmeric
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/3 cup shallots chopped
- 6 garlic cloves
- 2 tsp shrimp paste
Kua Gling
- 1 lb ground pork
- 1/4 cup water
- 2 tsp fish sauce
- 2 tsp sugar
- 6 kaffir lime leaves julienned
- 4 thai chilies finely diced
- 1 stalk of lemongrass finely chopped
- 1 tbsp vegetable oil
Kua Gling Omelette
- 3 large eggs beaten
- 3/4 cup kua gling
- basil leaves
Kua Gling Tacos
- corn tortillas
- kua gling
- shredded cabbage
- julienned cucumber
- julienned carrots
- diced shallots
- thai basil
- siracha
- japanese mayo
Instructions
Kua Gling Curry Paste
- In a spice blender, add the arbol chilies and black peppercorns.
- Grind into a powder.
- Add the chili powder along with the rest of the curry paste ingredients into a food processor or blender.
- Blend until it is a smooth paste.
- In a wok or large skillet, heat up cooking oil over medium high heat. Add in the curry paste and cook for 2-3 minutes. If the curry paste starts to stick, add in some chicken stock.
- Add in the ground pork. Brown the pork, making sure there aren’t any big chunks remaining.
- Add in the sugar. Cook until there is no more liquid in the pan.
- Stir in the lemongrass, Thai chilies, lime leaves, and fish sauce. Cook for 2 more minutes.
- Serve with steamed jasmine rice and slices of cucumber. The cucumber will help cut through the spiciness.
Kua Gling Omelette
- Over medium high heat, add the beaten eggs to a well greased griddle or skillet. Cook the eggs for about a minute. Add the Kua Gling down the center of the omelette. Top with a bunch of Thai basil.
- Fold the omelette. Serve with steamed jasmine rice.
Kua Gling Tacos
- I like to assemble the tacos in this order: Kua Gling on the bottom, followed by julienne carrots, julienne cucumber, Thai basil, shallots, cabbage, mayo, and siracha.
