I am a big fan of Thai food and realized I haven’t posted many recipes for you. To get familiarized you need to know the versatility of curry pastes and how easy they are to make. While you can always buy store bought, pre-made ones, homemade versions take the freshness flavor level up to a ten.
Most ingredients are the same with a few additions or substitutions to alter the flavor. Lemongrass, garlic, shallots shrimp paste and chiles are the usual suspects and then the flavor additions of kaffir lime rind and leaves, ginger, galangal and spices alter the curry pastes. There are red, green and yellow curry pastes and the one I going to show you today is my Easy Thai Yellow Curry Paste.
As some of you may  know I like to always try something as it is written and then adapt to my own needs later. The same holds true when making something for the first time from some one else’s recipe. While Sujet Saenkham doesn’t necessarily say to make this in a mortar and pestle in his book, “Spice I Am” I have seen several videos on making your own Thai curry paste with it and thought I’d give it a try.
Call me crazy, because I was sweating, my eyes were tearing up as this is some potent stuff. Besides an arm workout, it was really something to watch it all come together, and the aromas? Holy heck, it is just outstanding, something you don’t get from a jar when you take the lid off one of those store bought ones.
I made it both ways actually. One in my food processor and another batch via a 40 minute arm workout in my trusty molcajete.
Let me just say if you don’t want the workout, go the food processor route. I am all about making good use of your time, but it also allowed me to appreciate the cool kitchen aids we have at our disposal today like the food processor.
Now you might be thinking, who needs a cup and a half of Thai Yellow Curry Paste? Well I figured if you go to the effort of making it from scratch, save some for a later meal, right?
To freeze for later use I pour the curry paste into a ice cube tray, freeze and store the curry paste cubes in a labeled ZipLoc plastic bag for easy use next time the need for a Thai Yellow Curry dish comes to mind. Simply remove a cube or two of the paste from the freezer to thaw and you have fresh, homemade Thai Yellow Curry Paste. The best part is you know exactly what went into it.
After I did a side by side comparison, the flavors were the same, but the texture was not and I didn’t care for the granular, slightly chunky texture of the mortar and pestle version as much as I did the smoother consistency of the food processor version. I even took it a step further and dropped the chunkier version in my Vitamix and puréed the curry paste smoother. This was perfect! If you like this one try my Easy Red Thai Curry Paste.
Needless to say, I will be showing you what to make with this Easy Thai Yellow Curry Paste, so please come back to see my next post, Thai Yellow Curry Shrimp with Pineapple. Enjoy!
I’ve had a few inquiries on the chiles in this curry paste. There are Japones chiles, dried Birds Eye chiles, but the ones I most often use in Asian cooking are the Tien Tsin chiles I get at a nearby market. Most can be found online, too, if you don’t have the nearby availability. For this recipe though I used the Japones as I had them on hand.
Easy Thai Yellow Curry Paste
Ingredients
- 40 small dried red chiles
- 1 tsp salt
- 4 cloves garlic
- 1 lemongrass stalk
- 3 shallots
- 6 inch piece of fresh ginger peeled
- 1 1/2 tbsp shrimp paste
- 2 tbsp curry powder
- 1 tbsp coriander seeds
- 1 tsp turmeric
- 1 tsp cumin
- 3/4 cup water
Instructions
- Soften the chiles in a bowl with hot water for 3 minutes. Trim the root end and tough outer leaves off the lemongrass stalk. Use only the white part and a little of the green. Cut in half.
- In a food processor add the drained chiles, salt, garlic, lemongrass, shallots, ginger, shrimp paste, curry powder, spices and water. Purée until a smooth paste.
- Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator for 5 days or freeze in cubes and store in a plastic bag for up to 2 months.
The information shown is an estimate provided by an online nutrition calculator. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist's advice.
Just made this recipe with a couple substitutions:
Used Anchovy Paste instead of Shrimp Paste, 1:1 replacement (roommate has shellfish allergy)
I had trouble figuring out which exact peppers, so I used Japones (Japanese chili peppers) and used 30 of them. This ended up a solid 4/5 on heat (by Seattle Area standards). Next time I will try with dried Thai chili’s.
Great curry paste, will make again (probably in biiig portions and pressure can).
I’d also recommend choosing some smaller shallots. I had one large shallot, and one small shallot, and that worked fine instead of using 3.
Thanks for coming back to let me know!
I’m a little surprised that you call for “curry powder” in a “make-from-scratch” curry paste recipe. Curry powders are typically a blend, and can vary so widely from brand and source. I would be interested in a recipe that breaks it down to the blend’s various components (in this case, specifically to Thai customs), whether it be cardamom, tumeric, cumin, etc, and their ratios. (in a sense, you’re double dipping on tumeric and cumin, since they are already in most curry powder blends) Any thoughts on a Thai-authentic “curry powder blend” recipe or breakdown?
Every single Thai yellow curry recipe I have looked at on the internet uses curry powder.
Wow, wow, wow! First of all, the color alone makes me want to make this beauty. I love the idea of a homemade curry paste. I’ll go the food processor route, but thanks for doing the hard work of testing both methods for us, Kevin. 🙂 And I look forward to your recipe so I’ll know exactly what to do with it after I’ve made it.
Thanks Sally – I just had to try it, but go food processors! 🙂
Hey Kevin. I saw the picture for this on Instagram – Beautiful! I have wanted to make my own Thai curry paste for years now but have not relished the workout. I’m glad to hear that the product with the food processor was better. Buying curry paste in the container in the store is great, but I would imagine that your homemade recipe was even more flavorful! Can’t wait to try.
Thank you so much Kim! It packs a wonderful punch and a recipe to use it comes out tomorrow. Thanks for stopping by and have a great afternoon.
You know, when I think back to my several visits to Thailand, the firm mounds of curry pastes at the markets were always of fine consistency, not granular. I’m not a great fan of crunchy pastes, so the one you’ve adapted from Spice I Am is more appealing to me. And on that note, I seriously need to go back to Spice I Am for a good feed!
I preferred it smooth and not the one done by hand. I just didn’t want all the little bits, and since it is called a paste, warranted a smoother consistency in my book. Hence I puréed that in the blender. How lucky to be near Surry Hills to enjoy his restaurant, I’m jealous. Next time we head South, we are going!
????Spice I Am! I am so glad you are enjoying that book! Honestly one of the most critically acclaimed Thai restaurants in the WORLD!!!! Sharing of course. This is a brilliant recipe, so thrilled to see this on your site Kevin!
Thanks Nagi, it’s one killer book… love the salads and soups as well. Friday’s curry post promises to be delectable and “shiny” for you. 😉
I’ve always wanted to make my own curry paste, but have **ahem** been too lazy. So, obviously I’ll be using the food processor instead of the Popeye arm method. But I pinky promise that I’m going to try this beautiful recipe.
I highly recommend the food processor method, too! To really get that paste texture I dropped it in the Vitamix to really purée it. I think I used about half my kitchen gadgets for this post. 🙂
Thai food, yum! And I love that this makes a cup and a half of curry paste. I like making a batch like this and keeping it in the fridge to add a spoonful when I’m roasting veggies or sauteeing chicken. Lovely recipe. And that mortar and pestle is sooooo pretty!!!
Thanks Faith. Got a couple curry paste recipes coming your way soon with recipes for each use, too. BTW, that molcajete is SO heavy!
Hey Kevin! Nagi has gotten me interested in Thai food. My only problem is that the closest Asian market in on the other side of Knoxville! What kind of chiles did your use? We used to grow Thai chiles in a pot of the patio in MI and those little things were HOT! I look forward to your next post! 🙂
Hi Dorothy! I use the small dried red chiles in any market and sometimes pick up the ones in Asian markets. There are Japones chiles, dried Birds Eye chiles but the ones I most often use in Asian cooking are the Tien Tsin chiles I get at a nearby market. Most can be found online, too, if you don’t have the nearby availability. I know the Birds Eye Thai chiles you speak of and they are wonderful too – and potent.
Oh wow – 40 minutes sure paid off – this paste looks incredible – and sounds so flavor packed!
Some things you only need do once Shashi! That’s what food processors and blenders are for, right?
I just had to give it a go, but the end result, as you said, was definitely packed with fantastic flavor.
Thank you Kevin, nice to have some in store.
No problem, thanks again for stopping by here Martin. Enjoy!
Much respect to you for making this one in the molcajete, Kevin! 40 minutes of pure workout? We haven’t been able to figure out a new gym routine with little Robbie yet…so maybe I should just make a batch of this curry paste every day. Sounds reasonable, right? Looks like an excellent recipe, my friend! #WolfpackSpices
Thanks Dave. I just had to try it, but think once was enough. Just mashing and breaking down the soaked chiles with the salt initially should have been my first clue what I was in for!