It's been a long time since the last curry paste recipe.
We're going to remedy that today with this delicious homemade yellow curry paste.
To be honest, I have to admit that I don't often make my own curry pastes. Here, I find them fresh at the market, without any preservatives, sold in bulk. It usually costs 5 baht (0.15 euros) for a curry for 2.
Things to know about Thai curry pastes
There are several vendors, and they're all preparing decent curry pastes but one of them sells the best massaman and the best green curry I've tasted to date.
All this to say that, in the end, I don't really feel the need to prepare my curry pastes maison.
Le yellow curryThat's another story! I find that the ones sold at the market are too fierce: too spicy and too hot.
I believe that a good yellow curry should be soothing and enveloping, with strong fragrances, but not too aggressive. So I make it myself.
It doesn't take long to prepare, you just need a bit of organisation.
A few tips for preparing the yellow curry paste
🌶️ The best method is to make your curry paste with a mortar. Although in my first curry paste recipes, I favoured the blender, after numerous attempts, I've found that curry paste is more homogenous when it's made using a mortar and pestle.
I reassure you, on busy days I throw everything into the blender and that works just fine. Feel free to choose your preferred method.
✨ I use very mild chillies with very mild heat for this curry. As it's difficult to work out how many chillies to use to suit your own tastes and depending on the type of dried chillies you use, I suggest you make 2 different pastes: a chilli paste and a curry paste, then add the chilli paste a little at a time to the curry paste to be able to adjust the amount of spiciness.
🌶️ Curry paste is easy to freeze, you can freeze it in portions for a quick use later on.
Mortar or blender?
✨ If you're using a blender and the mixture is a little too dry to grind properly, you can add coconut oil, coconut cream or coconut milk. Many recipes recommend adding water. I find that this gives the curry paste the wrong texture. Plus, when you cook it, you have to fry it in coconut fat. So, you might as well have it partially incorporated.
🌶️ In this recipe of yellow curry paste, you can replace the fresh turmeric with turmeric powder. You can also replace the coriander roots with coriander stems (but not the leaves).
✨ The finer you chop the lemongrass and rehydrated chillies before adding them to the blender (or mortar), the easier it will be to obtain a smooth paste and therefore a curry with a beautiful texture.
🌶️ Choose a fragrant curry powder and not too spicy for this recipe.
Here are some excellent recipes to use up this homemade yellow curry paste:
And if you want to learn more about Thai curries, check out Philippe's great blog, he explains in detail the different types of curry paste and how to use them.
Homemade yellow curry paste
Ingredients
- 1 big shallot
- 1 garlic head
- 6 cm of turmeric
- 6 cm of ginger
- 8 coriander roots
- 4 tbsp of lemongrass finely chopped
- 1 tsp of salt
- 2 tbsp mild curry powder super fragrant
- 1-2 tsp shrimp past
- 4 large dried sweet chillies
- 1 tsp white peppercorns
- 1 tsp coriander seeds
- Some coconut milk or coconut oil if you prepare it in a blender
Instructions
- Place the whole head of garlic, whole shallot, turmeric root and ginger, cut lengthways in half, on the barbecue or in the oven. Cook them for at least 30 minutes until they are very tender.
- Meanwhile, remove the seeds from the dried chillies: rub them between your hands and then remove the stalk. You can then easily remove all the seeds.
- Rehydrate the emptied chillies in hot water for at least 15 minutes.
- Place the coriander seeds in a bowl of cold water and leave to soak for 5 minutes.
- Drain the coriander seeds and dry fry them in a hot pan for a few minutes to bring out their fragrance.
- Allow to cool. In a blender or mortar, finely grind the coriander seeds and white peppercorns.
- Add the rehydrated chillies, drained and cut into thin strips (and 2 tbsp coconut milk if you are using a blender). Purée the mixture. It will take a little time to get the right consistency.
- Set aside in a bowl.
- Peel the candied garlic and shallot, and remove the skin from the turmeric and ginger.
- Grind the chopped lemongrass, coriander roots and salt in a mortar or blender (add 2-3 tbsp coconut milk if using a blender).
- Add the garlic, shallot, turmeric and ginger, reduce into a smooth paste.
- Add the curry powder and shrimp paste and keep pounding.
- Add as much chilli paste as you like to the curry paste to make a mixture that's hot enough for your taste.
- The curry paste can be stored in the fridge for 10 days or in the freezer for 3 months.
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