Kha Chai

[Abra]

I recently had a deep-fried fish in a sauce of kha chai, red curry, and coconut milk. Absolutely scrumptious! So now I've got a big jar of kha chai slivers (no fresh to be had here) and I'm looking for some other sorts of deliciousness to create with it. What's your favorite?

[HKDave]

Do you mean krachai? The brownish, slightly ginger-like root?

The main place krachai is used is in Thai cooking, and even there it's not used that often. If you Google 'krachai recipe' you'll get a bunch of recipes. It's not really a taste to build a dish around, more of an earthy background flavour.

[Abra]

Thanks, Dave. It's spelled kha chai on the jar, but it is a gingery root, so that's probably a transliteration issue. I'll Google with your spelling and see what pops up.

[Austin]

Krachai, which I think you're referring to, is an essential ingredient in kaeng paa, "jungle curry" and phat chaa, a stir fry with chili paste, green peppercorns, garlic, chilies and krachai. I like to use krachai in kaeng som, a very common "sour" curry, but am not sure if this is traditional.

Austin

[Austin]

I almost forgot; the most significant use of kra chaay of them all is in the curry paste for kaeng liang, a soup that combines the aforementioned root, peppercorns, dried shrimp and several other indigenous Thai/SE Asian ingredients. It's said to be one of the oldest recipes in Thailand and when done well is absolutely delicious.

Austin

[ecr]

Kra chai is an essential ingrdient in naam ya bpuu, the southern crab 'curry' that's ladelled over kanom jeen (fermented rice noodles). I was told by a vendor who makes a fantastic version that she uses it in excess to add another layer of heat (beyond chilies).