Geang Som Pla

It’s April, the hottest month in Thailand. So our April recipe is something that will definitely heat up your kitchen. And to get this recipe we headed to the resort town of Khao Lak, north of Phuket, to meet with Chef Prasit Ngamsirisak of the Khaolak Merlin Resort.

Chef Prasit’s recipe is for Geang Som Pla, a sour and spicy curry with white snapper and pineapples, which is a southern Thai speciality. But first, a warning from the chef: Geang Som Pla, he says, is only for people who love spicy food. If you’re one of those, we guarantee you that it will be a terrific spicy soup to eat with family and friends, especially if you’re sitting somewhere very cold wishing you were back in Thailand…

Preparation time: 30 minutes
Cooking time: 15-20 minutes
Serves: 10 portions

Ingredients

500 ml drinking water
150 g sour curry paste
20 g shrimp paste
25 g white granulated sugar
5 g salt
70 ml premium Thai fish sauce
300 g sliced Phuket pineapple
300 g whole white snapper, sliced
30 ml fresh lime juice

Preparation and cooking

Heat water in a stock pot and add the curry paste, shrimp paste, sugar, salt and fish sauce. Bring to the boil. Add pineapple slices, then the fish and the freshly pressed lime juice. Simmer until the fish is cooked. Adjust the seasoning if necessary, then serve immediately in an attractive bowl with Thai steamed rice on the side

Tip from the chef

If you can’t find any white snapper, replace it with any white-meat fish. The most important thing for this dish is that the ingredients be really fresh.

Meet the chef

Prasit Ngamsirisak, 43, is the Executive Chef at Khaolak Merlin Resort. Before moving back to his home province of Phang Nga, Chef Prasit gained years of kitchen experience at such well known places as The Heritage Club, the Shangri-La, the Sukothai, the Monarch Lee Gardens (now the Sofitel Silom Bangkok) and the Blue Wave, all in Bangkok, along with the Mai Ton Resort and the Merlin Beach Resort, both in Phuket.

When did you start working at Khaolak Merlin Resort?

In October 2003. I was a member of the resort’s opening team.

When did you start cooking?

21 years ago at the Heritage Club in Bangkok.

What is the best part of being a chef?

Being able to demonstrate your creativity in the art of cooking – and being in contact with guests from all over the world is great.

What is your favorite dish of all to eat?

I like seafood very much. Geang Som Pla is one of my favorites.

What is your number one priority at work?

Hygiene and cleanliness, and of course discipline within the team is a must to achieve goals.

If you weren’t a chef, what other career would you follow?

I probably would have made a career in the military.