Name: Spicy Stir-Fried Tofu with Lime Leaves (Khua Kling)
Yield: Serves 4
Cuisine: Thailand
Ingredients: 1½ tablespoons fish sauce or vegetarian fish sauce; 2 teaspoons palm sugar or brown sugar; 500 g (1 lb 2 oz) firm smoked tofu; 1 tablespoon fresh green peppercorns; 1 lemongrass stick, trimmed and very finely sliced; 6 lime leaves, vein removed, finely sliced; 4 garlic cloves, roughly chopped; 2 lemongrass sticks, trimmed and sliced; 6 (or more) fresh red bird’s eye chillies, seeds in, roughly chopped; 8 dried red bird’s eye chillies; 2 cm (¾ inch) fresh turmeric, peeled, or 1 teaspoon ground turmeric; 3 cm (1¼ inches) galangal, skin scrubbed; 3 small shallots, roughly chopped; 1 teaspoon black peppercorns; 1 teaspoon fine sea salt; ½ teaspoon shrimp paste (optional)

Preparation info

Serves
4

Difficulty
Easy

Appears in

The Nutmeg Trail

By Eleanor Ford

Published 2022

About

Cutting a swathe across the heart of Asia are an army of delightfully intense, spicy ways with mince, sometimes described as dry curries, from Pakistan’s keema to one of Thailand’s best-loved dishes, pad krapow. Here is another way with mince from Thailand’s south. Khua kling could just as well sit in the chilli chapter as it is one of the fiercest dishes I know (of course you can adjust the chilli from the merely piercing to the incendiary). However, there is also the balmy, citrus freshne