Ingredients

Ingredients for curry paste
Small dried chilies                      15 chilies
Fresh turmeric                          10 grams
Garlic                                      50 grams
Shallot                                     60 grams
Milled white rice                        ½ tablespoon 
Shrimp paste                            ½ tablespoon
Salt                                         ½ teaspoon

Ingredients for Southern Sour Curry
King mackerel fish                      200 grams
Raw papaya/ taro stalk (or-dib)     1½ cup
Tamarind juice                           ¼ cup
Palm sugar                                1 teaspoon
Fish sauce                                 2 tablespoons
Lime juice                                 1 tablespoon
Salt                                         ½ cup
Water                                      3½ cups

Direction for making curry paste

Pound the salt, dried chilies and rice in a mortar until coarsely ground. Add garlic, shallots and turmeric, and continue pounding until crushed. Add shrimp paste and pound until well blended with other ingredients (a blender can also be used to make the ingredients finely blended but add a little water). Then, set aside.

Direction for cooking Southern Sour Curry

  1. Peel the papaya or taro Stalks and cut them into bite-sized pieces.
  2. Add water to a pot and bring it to a boil. Add the curry paste, stir until dissolved, and simmer for about 5 minutes until the curry paste is cooked.
  3. Add the raw papaya or raw taro stalk (or-dib) and boil until soft.
  4. Season with tamarind juice, salt, fish sauce and palm sugar.
  5. Bring to boil over high heat. Add the king mackerel fish and boil until cooked. Remove the pot from heat, add lime juice. Serve in a bowl.

The food characteristics: The curry has a fragrant aroma from herbs and shrimp. The taste is spicy, sour, salty and hot.