This recipe was created by Kali Hamm, a veg scheme member and plant-powered chef. Follow her on Instagram for her latest recipes, news and events.
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The amok is a national Cambodian dish, traditionally made with fish & and an egg base. Although I’ve made my recipe vegan, I personally think I do the amok justice. What really made it stand out for me when I was in Cambodia was the fresh kaffir lime leaves and rich coconut, which you get with this vegan version. Aubergine is perfect for curries and melts in your mouth. A must try!
Serves 2 generously
For the paste
36g garlic- about 6 cloves, peeled, roughly chopped
40g shallots, peeled, roughly chopped
36g stalks of lemongrass, the ends & rough outer layers removed and the stalks finely chopped
36g peeled galangal, chopped (or ginger as an alternative)
2 teaspoon of turmeric powder or 20g fresh peeled turmeric
4 Kaffir leaves, deveined & sliced
2 teaspoon coconut sugar
2 teaspoon salt
4 red chillies, roughly chopped
juice from 2 lime
If you’re feeling brave, use a pestle and mortar to pound the ingredients for the curry paste until smooth. You can also use a food processor or blender. For the blender you’ll need a little liquid so I recommend using a little melted coconut oil to help get the process going. A vitamix or equivalent is amazing for this as it gets the paste so smooth!
Ingredients for curry
2 tablespoon coconut oil
1 onion, finely sliced
1 aubergine, about 250g cut into 1 inch pieces
1 portion curry paste
400g coconut milk
4 fresh kaffir lime leaves, deveined & finely sliced
palm sugar or coconut sugar, to taste
salt, to taste
Heat the oil in a large deep pan. Add your onions and cook for a few minutes, add the aubergine, cook with a pinch of salt for about 10 minutes until softened. Removed these from the pan and add the curry paste. If you didn’t add coconut oil to the paste you you’ll need to heat slightly in the pan before adding the paste. Cook the paste for about 5 minutes, stirring to ensure it doesn’t catch and burn on the pan. Add the coconut milk, cook with the lid on for 25-30 minutes until the aubergine is tender, add your kaffir lime leaves, taste for seasoning, you may not need extra sugar or salt so add little by little if you feel you do. The sugar should just balance the curry not make it sweet.
Serve with sliced fresh birds eye chilies and steamed rice, red rice goes really nicely with this curry.
