Kaeng som facts for kids
Traditional kaeng som with drumstick pods
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| Place of origin | Laos, Malaysia, Thailand |
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| Region or state | Central, Southern Thailand, Northern Malaysia, Laos |
| Associated national cuisine | Laos, Malaysia, Thailand |
| Serving temperature | Hot |
| Main ingredients | Fish and vegetables |
| Variations | Lao Kaeng som, Malaysian Asam rebus, Thai Kaeng som |
| Other information | Usually served with steamed rice |
Kaeng som or gaeng som (Thai: แกงส้ม) is a super tasty and popular sour and spicy curry or soup from Southeast Asia. You might also hear it called Asam rebus. It's famous for its strong sour taste. This sourness comes from a special fruit called tamarind. The curry also gets a little sweetness from palm sugar. People usually enjoy Kaeng som hot with steamed rice. It's a favorite dish in countries like Laos, Malaysia, and Thailand.
Contents
Making Kaeng Som: The Sour Curry Base
The first step to making Kaeng som is preparing a special paste. This paste is called nam phrik kaeng som. It forms the base for the whole curry. To make it, cooks pound ingredients together. They use a mortar and pestle. Key ingredients for this paste include shrimp paste and shallots.
What Goes into the Paste?
The paste can be made in different ways. Some recipes use dry red chillies. Others prefer fresh red chillies. Some cooks like to use large chillies. Others might choose tiny, super spicy bird's eye chilies. Once the paste is ready, water and other ingredients are added.
Main Ingredients for Kaeng Som
The main ingredients for Kaeng som are usually fish or shrimp. Cooks often pick fish that stay firm when boiled. Examples include Channa striata (a type of snakehead fish). If you live near the coast, other ocean fish might be used. Some versions even use fish eggs!
Traditional Vegetables in Kaeng Som
Many different vegetables can go into Kaeng som. Traditionally, people use drumstick pods. These are also called marum. Green papaya is another common choice. You might also find Sesbania grandiflora flowers, known as dok khae. There's even a red version of this flower! Other local vegetables are also popular. These include Ipomoea aquatica (phak bung) and Neptunia oleracea (phak krachet).
The History of Kaeng Som
Kaeng som has been a popular dish for a very long time. People believe this type of sour soup started way back in the Ayutthaya period in Thailand. This was a long time ago! It was first called "Kaeng ngao ngod".
A Royal Connection
Many people think that Kaeng ngao ngod was similar to today's Kaeng som. It's even thought that a famous person named Maria Guyomar de Pinha helped create it. She was a Japanese-Portuguese-Bengali woman. Maria was in charge of the king's kitchen. This was during the time of King Narai. He was a king of Thailand. She might have adapted a Portuguese soup to create this new dish.
Modern Kaeng Som
Over time, Kaeng som became very popular. Today, many different vegetables are used. These include cauliflower, daikon (a type of radish), cabbage, chinese cabbage, carrot, long beans, and asparagus. A very popular addition is cha om omelet. This is an omelet made with a special herb.
Versions with shrimp are now super popular. Kaeng som with shrimp and cha-om omelet is a standard dish in Thailand. Other types might include pineapple or different kinds of seafood. One important thing to remember is that Kaeng som does NOT use coconut milk. This makes it different from many other Thai curries.
Different Types of Kaeng Som
Just like many popular dishes, Kaeng som has different versions. These versions depend on where you are in Southeast Asia.
Southern Thai Kaeng Som
In Southern Thailand, they have their own special sour curry. Locals call it kaeng som. But in other parts of Thailand, it's called kaeng lueang. This means "yellow curry." Or sometimes it's called kaeng som phak tai, which means "southern Thai kaeng som." This helps people tell it apart from the central Thai version.
The southern version is different because it uses different ingredients for sourness. It uses tamarind paste, assam fruit (som kaek), and lime juice. It also uses turmeric, which gives it a yellow color. This version is known for being very spicy, sour, and salty!
Other Regional Varieties
- In Kelantan, a state in Malaysia next to Thailand, there's a dish called kaeng som no mai dong. This is a version of kaeng som with pickled bamboo.
- Lao cuisine has a dish also called kaeng som. But it uses different ingredients. One version has pork. Another, called kaeng som pla, is a fish soup. It includes lemongrass and mushrooms.
- In Chonburi Province in Thailand, a version of kaeng som is made using kaffir lime for sourness. It also uses Solanum aculeatissimum eggplants (makhuea pro).
- In Prachuap Khiri Khan Province, there's a variant that uses fresh chili and Ocimum tenuiflorum (kaphrao). This is a type of basil leaf.
- Kaeng som kai wan is a kind of kaeng som that uses chicken instead of fish.
