Kaeng Pa (Thai Jungle Curry)

Kaeng Pa is a spicy Thai dish that has been called “jungle curry” or “forest curry.” It was originally made with wild boar, but now usually includes chicken or pork. Various ingredients have included lemongrass, galangal, bamboo shoots, straw mushrooms, pea eggplants, kaffir lime, and, of course, red chili peppers. The spicy dish does not include coconut.
   
“Jungle curry” was printed in the Sydney (Australia) Morning Herald on March 5, 1985, and in The Globe and Mail (Toronto, ON) on January 29, 1986. “Bangkok House (1485 First Avenue, near 78th Street, 249-5700) offers a ‘jungle’ curry ($8.50) sure to lure me back. This inflammatory sliced-beef-and-vegetable dish steeped in searing red curry earns a three-tissue rating” was printed in New York magazine in 1987.
   
     
Wikipedia: Kaeng pa
Kaeng pa (Thai: แกงป่า, pronounced [kɛ̄ːŋ pàː], lit. “forest curry” or “jungle curry”) is a variety of Thai curry from the forested areas of Thailand. Unlike many other Thai curries, traditional kaeng pa usually contains no coconut milk, as coconuts are not naturally found in the jungles in the northern part of the country. This quality makes it more suitable for people on low saturated fat diets. Currently there are, however, variants that do include coconut.
             
Kaeng pa is a highly spicy and watery curry that has a distinctive full taste. Ingredients usually include: kaffir lime peel and leaves, lemongrass, green pepper corns, galangal, garlic, pea eggplant and chilli. It was originally prepared with wild boar but is now more commonly prepared with pork or chicken.
 
5 March 1985, Sydney (Australia) Morning Herald, “If you can stomach the trendoids, the food’s a treat” by Jenna Price, Good Living sec., pg. 3, col. 7:
(The Thai Silver Spoon, 203 Oxford Street, Darlinghurst.—ed.)
The vegetable curry, called for some obscure reason a jungle curry, was a collection of vegetables most of which were unrecognisable. I think there were a few mushrooms, but the rest was green and quite squishy with far too much ginger for the human unit.
 
29 January 1986, The Globe and Mail (Toronto, ON), “A red-hot cure for winter blahs: Chili Festival a warm gesture to thaw Toronto” by Judith Drynan, pg. E2, col. 2:
To get a well-balanced meal, the typical Thai meal consists of three dishes in the main course—this week at the restaurant they are jungle curry (a peasant dish which makes up for lack of refinement with primary tastes), drunkard’s shrimp and chicken, and glass noodles.
       
Google Books
New York
Volume 20  
1987
Pg. 76:
Bangkok House (1485 First Avenue, near 78th Street, 249-5700) offers a “jungle” curry ($8.50) sure to lure me back. This inflammatory sliced-beef-and-vegetable dish steeped in searing red curry earns a three-tissue rating.
 
21 January 1988, Daily News (New York, NY), “Classifieds,” Bronx pg. 6, col. 5:
CHEF THAI FOOD Prepare daily Thai food, specials of meat, seafood, soups, salads, sauces and curries including Kaeng Lieng, Lop Woon Sen, Kaeng Pa, Spicy seafood salad and Nam Prik, Plara.
 
13 June 1989, Sydney (Australia) Morning Herald, “Pothong has Sydney singing in the rain” by Michael Dowe, Good Living sec., pg. 3, col. 2:
If you were to nominate a signature dish at Pothong, it is the fiery jungle curry. You will find it on other menus but all that I have experienced appear pallid when stacked up against Prasit’s version. It is a racy omnibus dish, in a gravy free of coconut milk (it would not stand a chance) loaded with chilli, herbs, the bitter zest of kaffir lime, chunks of kachai, galanga, lemon grass, straw mushrooms, bamboo shoots, fungus and fresh (not tinned) marble-sized eggplants—available in beef or chicken, if you can tell the difference.
 
1 October 1989, Edmonton (Alberta) Journal, “Road to Lemon Grass a little bumpy” by Judy Schultz, pg. C3:
A Thai member of our party orders his favorite dish—a yellow curry. Jungle curry, he calls it. Distinctly fishy. Another curry, red this time. Hot, HOT, HOT!
   
16 November 1990, New York (NY) Times, “Diner’s Journal” by Molly O’Neill, pg. C24, col. 4:
(Uboi’s Thai Kitchen, 24-42 Steinway Street, Astoria, Queens.—ed.)
Of the main courses I tasted, only the chicken Masaman, the jungle curry, the pot roast and the Pad Thai were ordinary.
   
Google Books
The Washington, DcC, Ethnic Restaurant Guide:
Your Passport to Great Ethnic Dining
By Jonathan Stein
Washington, DC: Open Road Publishing
1993
Pg. 51:
Their curry dishes are good but not out of the ordinary, with the exception of the Country Curry (Kaeng Pa), a hot curry dish made with your choice of chicken, beef, or pork which is well above standard fare.
 
29 August 2013, Herald Express (Torquay, UK), “Try out this highly spicy jungle curry,” pg. 7:
Kang Par or Kaeng Pa (jungle or forest curry) comes from the northern forested regions of Thailand.
 
It has a distinctive, highly spicy full on taste.
 
Ingredients (serves one) 25g jungle curry paste; 250ml chicken stock broth; 50g baby corn; 1 tbsp fish sauce; 15g chicken powder; 60g chicken breast; 150g rice; 5g lime leaves; 25g bamboo; 25g basil; 25g peppers; 1/2 tsp sugar.
     
YouTube
Thai Jungle Curry แกงป่า (Kaeng Pa)
Mark Wiens
Published on Dec 5, 2012
Do you love Thai food? Get a copy of my Thai Food Guide by clicking here: http://www.eatingthaifood.com/eating-...
 
Thailand has a countless amount of healthy and wonderfully tasty dishes, one of them being a famous Northern Thai jungle curry (Kaeng Pa แกงป่า). Nearly every flavor you could possibly dream of in a single bite is present within a spoonful of jungle curry. Originally a curry from Northern Thailand, kaneg pa แกงป่า is a medley of vegetables and herbs that can be grown and harvested from the forest. It was once normally cooked with wild boar, which was formerly common in the area, and while you can still order this version, other variations with chicken or pork are also widespread. To try something new, I decided to order this Thai jungle curry with frog - known as Kaeng Pa Kob (แกงป่ากบ). The soup curry included a vibrant mixture of bamboo shoots, eggplants, long beans, chillies, roots, herbs, basil, and not forgetting the meaty chunks of frog included in the soup. The great thing about Thai jungle curry is that it’s very healthy and includes not coconut milk like many other Thai curries. The flavors will excited your mouth like crazy!
       
Eater—New York
12 Insanely Spicy Dishes to Try in New York City
Feel the burn.
by Layla Khabiri Feb 4, 2015, 2:37pm EST
(...)
8. Jungle Curry at Lan Larb Soho
227 Centre St
New York, NY 10013
(646) 895-9264
Critic Robert Sietsema risked gastrointestinal integrity to write up the spice factor found at this Isan Thai restaurant, which he awarded four stars. Get the jungle curry (a clear broth with eggplant and other vegetables), ask for it as spicy as they’ll make it, and it will be “like a flamethrower aimed at your mouth.” Pro tip: bring a bottle riesling with you while this restaurant is still BYOB.
 
YouTube
#RinsCookbook
How to make Thai Jungle Curry (Kaeng Pa)! แกงป่าปลาขูด
RinS CookBook
Published on May 31, 2015
(...)
Ingredients
fish paste (ground white flesh fish)___1 1/2 lbs
Thai red curry paste___4.5 oz
water or low sodium stock___8 cups+
fingerroots (in curry paste)___0.25 oz
kaffir lime leaves___3
Thai eggplants___8 oz
Thai pea eggplants___2 cups
long beans or green beans___6 oz
baby corns___4 oz
fingerroots (directly to curry)___0.5 oz
young peppercorns___0.5 oz
Thai holy basil leaves___1 oz
red chili peppers___2 oz
fish sauce___1/4 cup or more
oyster sauce___2 tbsp
granulated sugar___3 tbsp
 
YouTube
TOP 5 BEST THAI DISHES! | My Favorite Thai Food in Bangkok, Thailand!
Mark Wiens
Published on Nov 4, 2018
(...)
5. Jungle curry (แกงป่า) at Pla Mae Nam (ร้านปลาแม่น้ำ) - A dish I just can’t get over, and have to order every chance I have, is Thai jungle curry. It’s an amazing mixture of chilies and herbs, and in this case, fish. This is also one of my favorite restaurants in Bangkok at the moment as well. Google map: https://goo.gl/maps/4kbcuqoVdPP2
 
My Thai Cooking
Thai Jungle Curry
February 7, 2019 By //  by MyThaiCooking
Thai Jungle Curry (Gaeng Pa Gai) is a flavorful dish with succulent chicken pieces, fresh vegetables, herbs, chilies and roots that gives it an unique and exotic flavor.