Khua Kling Dry Beef Curry

Soak the dried spur chillies in hot water until soft and pliable, about 20 min, then squeeze them dry. Snip or tear them into short lengths and shake out some seeds.

⚠ Tip: Keep the soaking water: add a splash when pounding to loosen a stubborn paste.

Slice the lemongrass, galangal and fresh turmeric very thin, slicing across the lemongrass fibres so it breaks down in the mortar. Peel the garlic and slice the Asian red shallots.

⚠ Tip: Cut lemongrass thin and tough paste will still be tough: pound it first, alone, before anything else goes in.

Pound the lemongrass in a heavy mortar to a stringy mess, then add the soaked chillies, fresh bird's eye chillies, galangal and turmeric, and pound to a coarse paste. Add the garlic, shallots, fermented shrimp paste and salt, and work it to a fine, rust-red paste. This takes elbow grease: ten minutes of pounding beats a blender chopping it ragged. Shred the makrut lime leaves as fine as hair, discarding the tough central stems, and slice the remaining bird's eye chillies. Pick the Thai basil leaves.

⚠ Tip: Do not add water beyond a spoonful: too much liquid and the paste refuses to fry dry.

Heat a wok over medium heat, add the oil and the khua kling paste and fry it hard, stirring constantly. At first it splutters and steams; keep going until the water cooks off and the paste darkens, smells roasted and the oil starts to separate, about 5 min. This is the heart of the dish: a pale paste makes a flat curry.

⚠ Tip: If the paste sticks or scorches, the heat is too high: drop it, add a spoon of water, scrape and carry on.

Add the minced beef, breaking it up with the back of your spoon. Fry over medium heat. high heat, stirring and crushing, until the meat has lost all its raw pink, the liquid has boiled away and the paste clings to every grain, about 7 min. The mix should look dry and slightly darker, never wet and saucy: that is khua kling.

⚠ Tip: Patience here is everything. Fat and paste clinging to the meat, not pooling in the pan, means it is ready.

Season with the fish sauce and the palm sugar. Toss for another 1 min: the sugar should just round the chilli, not sweeten the dish. Taste: it should be fiercely hot, salty and a little funky from the shrimp paste.

⚠ Tip: Taste before it leaves the pan: khua kling is made to be corrected at the stove.

Kill the heat and fold in most of the shredded makrut lime leaves, the sliced bird's eye chillies and the Thai basil: they should stay bright and raw against the hot meat. Serve straight away on jasmine rice with the cucumber piled alongside and the last of the lime leaf over the top.

⚠ Tip: Some cooks add a squeeze of makrut lime juice at the end: a sharp, floral lift that makes the heat cut deeper. Palm sugar and fish sauce first, then decide.