Kaeng som, gaeng som or asam rebus, is a fish curry or a sour and spicy soup with vegetables popular in Southeast Asia.
This curry is characterized by its sour taste, which comes from tamarind (makham).
The recipe uses palm sugar (Thai: น้ำตาลปี๊บ, namtan pip) to sweeten the curry.
As with any Thai kaeng, a paste is prepared as the base of the curry: nam phrik kaeng som made using a mortar.
With the spread of the dish, the most commonly used vegetables are: cauliflower, daikon, cabbage, Chinese cabbage, carrots, green beans, and asparagus, as well as the cha-om omelet, Kai Jeow Cha-Om, from which the name Kaeng Som Cha Om comes.
Kaeng som with shrimp and cha-om omelet is a very popular dish in Thailand.
Other types may include pineapple or seafood. The common point, however, is that unlike other curries, coconut milk is not used in this sour curry.
In Southern Thailand, where I tasted the dish during my trip to Krabi in November 2024, it is called kaeng som, but in the rest of Thailand, it is called kaeng lueang (“yellow curry”) or kaeng som phak tai, to differentiate it from the kaeng som of Central Thailand.
- Difficulty: Medium
- Cost: Economical
- Preparation time: 15 Minutes
- Portions: 4People
- Cooking methods: Boiling, Frying
- Cuisine: Thai
- Seasonality: All seasons
Ingredients
- 7 oz shrimp
- 7 oz vegetables (cauliflower, daikon, cabbage, Chinese cabbage, carrots, green beans, and/or asparagus)
- 50 ml tamarind juice
- 2 cups chicken broth
- 3 Thai red chilies
- 0.8 inch galangal
- 1 teaspoon shrimp paste
- 1 tablespoon fish sauce
- 1 lime
- 1 Thai shallot
- 1 teaspoon palm sugar
- 5 oz chickpea flour
- 1 teaspoon nutritional yeast
- 1 teaspoon turmeric powder
- 1 tablespoon soy sauce
- 20 ml vegetable oil
- 10 oz water
- 1.8 oz cha om
- to taste salt and pepper
Steps
Prepare the curry paste by pounding the red chilies, shallots, shrimp paste, and galangal in a mortar until well mixed into a red paste.
Bring the chicken broth to a boil in a large pan and add all the prepared paste, mixing well. Lower the heat and let it simmer.
Add the chosen, chopped vegetables, tamarind, and fish sauce. Then the shrimp: about 3 minutes if raw, 1-2 if precooked.
Finally, add the lime juice and palm sugar: stir. Cook for about 15 minutes.
Add all dry ingredients in a bowl.
Then the wet ingredients and whisk together
Add the collected, washed, boiled, and cooled cha om
Let the batter rest for at least 1 hour before cooking it.
Add some oil to a pan.
Gently fry until golden on both sides.Cut it into squares.
Serve the acacia omelet both inside and alongside the kaeng som, with jasmine rice.
FAQ
What is cha om?
Cha-om is a herbaceous vegetable, related to legumes, that grows throughout tropical Southeast Asia. The plant is a member of the Acacia family and is botanically classified as Acacia pennata.
Cha-om is known in English as climbing wattle. It grows as a small shrub with delicate leaves extending from branches covered in sharp thorns.
In addition to its thorny exterior appearance, cha-om has a strong distinctive odor. This plant has devised some serious defense mechanisms to survive in the wild and deter animals from eating it!
Despite the thorns and pungent odor, the leaves of the cha om plant have a delicate flavor. When cooked, the odor dissipates, resulting in a vegetable with an earthy taste.
To use the leaves of the Acacia plant, use only the delicate leaves and tender parts at the tops of the stems. They easily snap off with fingers, leaving out the tough ones.
