Khanom Jeen Nam Ya

Bring water to a boil, add the white sea fish fillet and cook for 5–10 minutes, until the flesh is fully cooked through. Remove the fish, let it cool, and reserve the cooking water.

Skin the fish, carefully remove all the bones, and flake the flesh into small pieces with your fingers.

In a mortar, pound the dried Thai chilies with a pinch of salt, then add the chopped lemongrass stalk, turmeric, garlic and black pepper. Pound to a coarse paste, stir in the shrimp paste and continue pounding for another 2–3 minutes.

In a large pot, warm the coconut milk over medium heat. Add the curry paste, fish flakes and torn kaffir lime leaves; stir slowly in one direction so the paste blends in evenly.

Bring the sauce to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer gently for 5 minutes, making sure the coconut milk doesn't boil too hard. Taste and season with salt as needed.

Separately, cook the khanom jeen rice noodles according to the package instructions, drain in a colander and rinse with cool water to stop the cooking.

Rinse the bean sprouts, cut the yardlong beans into pieces and blanch them for 2 minutes in the fish cooking water, then thinly slice the cucumber.

Divide the noodles among bowls, generously ladle the hot nam ya sauce over them, and serve alongside the bean sprouts, yardlong beans and cucumber.