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Home Iconic Dishes

Thai Yellow Curry

By:Nagi
Published:23 Aug '21Updated:5 Aug '23
294 Comments
Recipe v Video v Dozer v

Thai curries are famous for the sublime aromatic flavours balancing sweet, tart, savoury and spiciness. Thai Yellow Curry is one such magnificent example, with its rich yellow colour and a heady combination of herbs and spices in this made from scratch Yellow Curry Paste.

And… welcome to Thai week!!

Thai Yellow Curry in a bowl ready to be eaten

Welcome to Thai Week!

Every now and then, I like to do a recipe theme week. This week it’s THAI week, with three classic recipes to make your very own Thai feast at home:

  1. Thai Yellow Curry (today’s recipe) – Made from scratch, this is flavour you literally cannot buy in a jar!

  2. Green Papaya Salad (coming Wednesday) – Great as side, yet substantial enough as a starter.

  3. Thai Black Sticky Rice Pudding for dessert! It’s hard to believe you can make something so delicious that is fundamentally, made with just rice, water and sugar…

Thai Yellow Curry

There are many things to love about Thai food, but for me, the jewel in the crown are the curries. I adore that elusive combination of fresh aromatic herbs and spices with the complexity you get from using umami loaded seasonings such as fish sauce and shrimp paste. The colours, meanwhile, make up a rainbow of deliciousness! Striking Thai Red Curry, vibrant Green Curry, caramel coloured Massaman Curry.

And now, the latest addition to my Thai recipe collection – this beautiful splash of sunshine in the form of Thai Yellow Curry!

Freshly made Thai Yellow Curry

A bit about this Thai Yellow Curry

What is Thai Yellow Curry?

There are a few varieties of what’s considered “yellow curry” in Thai cuisine. They vary in spiciness and sauce richness, with some made with and others made without coconut cream. The one thing they all have in common is that the sauce is made with a good amount of fresh turmeric which gives the Yellow Curry that beautiful warm golden colour.

The Yellow Curry I’m sharing today is the type that is most common outside of Thailand which has a fairly rich sauce made with coconut cream. The spice level varies from mild (2 fresh chillies) to quite spicy (4 chillies).

What Thai Yellow Curry tastes like

The sauce is savoury, sweet and fragrant with Thai aromatics including lemongrass, turmeric, garlic, eschalots and chilli. It can be as mild as you want or quite spicy – I enjoy it both ways.

It’s not as tangy as other Thai curries, with the obligatory squirt of fresh lime juice you see in other Thai curries noticeably absent in this one.

It’s got layers upon layers of flavours which means yes, there are quite a few ingredients – and it’s worth it! Unlike other Thai curries, I really don’t think any store bought curry paste comes anywhere near made from scratch (sorry guys!).

Thai Yellow Curry over jasmine rice
How to make Thai Yellow Curry
Thai Yellow Curry Paste. I’ve recently discovered that a stick blender is the easiest way to make curry pastes!

What you need to make Thai Yellow Curry Paste

There are quite a few ingredients involved in making a yellow curry from scratch if you want a truly authentic result. I urge you to try making this at least once – the taste is incomparable to canned pastes! And in fact, I really can’t recommend any store bought yellow curry paste.

Ingredients in Thai Yellow Curry

The preparation of the less common ingredients listed below, such as dried red chillies and galangal, are demonstrated in the recipe video below.


Dried red chillis

Dried red chillis have a rounded flavour compared to fresh chillies and have a mellower heat. That said, it’s a good idea to taste the chillies to gauge the spiceiness and adjust accordingly. (Best to nibble once soaked)

If you don’t have dried chilli you can use more fresh chillis instead.

Here is how we prepare the dried chillis:

Ingredients in Thai Yellow Curry - dried chilli
  1. The dried chillis come whole with seeds inside them.

  2. Roughly chop – this makes it easier to rehydrate, blitz into a paste, and also this loosens the seeds which are spicy. Pick up the chillis only, leaving behind the seeds, and put them in a bowl.

  3. Cover with boiling water and leave for 30 minutes to rehydrate.

  4. Strain chillis and reserve the soaking liquid – we are going to use some of it for the curry paste.


Fresh birds eye chillis or Thai chillis

These bring a bright and fresh taste of chilli by contrast, as well as the real kick!

1 or 2 chillies will give this curry a mild to medium level heat. Use 4 chillis for fairly spicy but not blow-your-head-off. If you’re concerned, you can leave them out!

Here is how I deseed and chop fresh chillies. Yes, I know I should use gloves. I forget! (Usually followed by an eye rub with chilli fingers, copious amounts of swearing, and vowing never to make the mistake again. Repeat.)

Ingredients in Thai Yellow Curry - fresh chilli

TIP: A measuring teaspoon makes a good tool for scraping out the seeds (these are the spiciest part of chillies). Sharper edges than eating teaspoons, and the shape is perfect for seed scooping.


Lemongrass

Fragrant, with a gentle citrus taste, lemongrass is a quintessential South-East Asian flavour. To prepare, cut and discard the top reedy part off – we only want the bottom 10 – 12cm / 4 – 5″. Peel the reedy green shell to reveal the softer white part on the bottom half of the lemongrass.

Substitute: 2 tablespoons of lemongrass paste.

Ingredients in Thai Yellow Curry - lemongrass

Galangal

This is a plant root used in South-East Asian cooking that looks similar to ginger. It also tastes like ginger but is more citrusy and a little pine-y. It’s actually pretty hard to cut so take care when slicing it! Peel it like ginger, either with a sharp edge teaspoon or (carefully!) with a small knife.

This needs to be finely grated because it’s so hard, it doesn’t blend into a smooth paste, you end up with little gritty bits. I use my microplane, one of my favourite kitchen tools – more information here.

Ingredients in Thai Yellow Curry - galangal

Find galangal at Asian stores, and in some large grocery stores in Australia (Harris Farm and some Woolworths sell it).

Substitute: Use the same amount of ginger + the zest of 1 lime (or lemon).


Fresh turmeric

Turmeric is what gives this curry its essential golden colour, and there’s no yellow curry without it! Fresh turmeric is a root that looks a bit like ginger on the outside but is bright orange on the inside.

The flavour is mild, earthy and slightly bitter eaten by itself. Its primary use in cooking is for healthfulness and for colour.

Prepare it like ginger – peel the skin (scrape using teaspoon or cut off with a small knife), then grate.

Turmeric stains fiercely once grated! Use gloves when handling it, and grate it onto a ceramic or metal plate or bowl. (And yes, the observant among you will notice that yet again, I failed on the gloves front until I started grating it!).

Ingredients in Thai Yellow Curry - turmeric

Substitute: 1.5 tsp dried turmeric powder, but it won’t be quite the same so I really urge you to use fresh if you can!


Shrimp paste in bean oil

I use Por Kwan Shrimp Paste in Bean Oil, the most popular Thai shrimp paste sold at Asian grocery stores here in Australia. While many traditional recipes use ordinary shrimp (belacan, in blocks, looks like this) which is made with just fermented shrimp, Shrimp Paste sold in jars where other flavouring have been added (mainly oil, a bit of garlic, and soy sauce powder) goes a long way to making a truly restaurant quality curry paste.

This is especially so when using a blender instead of mortar and pestle as when dried chillies are ground by hand the traditional, the natural oils are extracted. So using a shrimp paste in oil makes up for this.

Por Kwan is the brand I use, pictured below, which is sold at Asian stores.

Shrimp paste for Thai Yellow Curry

Best alternatives to Thai Shrimp Paste with Bean Oil:

  1. Belacan dried shrimp paste which is even sold at Woolworths and Coles in Australia these days. The result is very close to using Thai Shrimp Paste with Bean Oil!

  2. Other Thai Shrimp Pastes in Oil – Only Thai shrimp pastes. We tried some other shrimp paste brands sold at Woolworths (made in Vietnam and Cambodia) and while still tasty, they brought a different flavour to the dish.

If you don’t have access to Thai shrimp paste or belacan, I’m afraid I’d suggest giving this recipe a miss because I can’t guarantee the outcome will be successful!


Other ingredients

  • Garlic – Yes, 8 cloves! It sounds like a lot but the paste will be fried off and the curry simmered for a good 15 – 20 minutes. The garlic will not at all be obvious in the final dish but mellows to become just another instrument playing in this flavour orchestra.

  • Spices – Coriander, curmin, cardamom, fenugreek powder and white pepper. Our spice selection for this yellow curry which reflects the Indian influence on Yellow Curry. Massaman Curry is another such example of a Thai Curry with Subcontinental influences.

    We go a little heavier on the spices for yellow curry compared to red or green curries, which are driven more by their heavy chilli content than spices. Of these spices, fenugreek might be the hardest to find. If you do not have it, leave it out.


How to make Thai Yellow Curry Paste

Once you’ve prepared the ingredients, it’s as simple as blitzing!

TIP: Use a stick blender. Much more effective than blenders, Nutribullets and mini food processors which you need to scrape down repeatedly to blitz thoroughly. Not to mention easier to clean!

How to make Thai Yellow Curry

After we’ve made the curry paste, we cook it on the stove for a few minutes on a medium heat. The purpose of this step is to dry out the wet paste, toasting the herbs and spices to intensify the flavour.

Yellow curry paste done – now it’s onto the curry. You’ll be glad to hear it’s a simple plonk-and-simmer job!


What goes in Thai Yellow Curry

For this curry, I chose prawns (shrimp) because seafood is a popular choice in yellow curries. Chicken and fish are also other favourites for yellow curry which you can use instead. I’ve included directions for both these in the recipe notes.

Ingredients in Thai Yellow Curry
  • Prawns (shrimp) – I like to use medium prawns as small prawns quick so quickly they don’t have time to absorb some of the sauce flavour, and large ones are more difficult to serve / eat.

    Use fresh if you can, and keep the tail on. Otherwise frozen thawed is perfectly fine. I don’t need to tell you that the better the quality of the prawn, the better the dish!

    Alternatives: Fish and chicken are popular alternatives to prawns, so I’ve included directions for both of these in the recipe notes.

  • Potato – It’s important to ensure you do not cut the potato too thick, or it will take a long time to cook as potatoes take a surprisingly long time to cook in coconut sauce! The cutting size is specified in the recipe.

    Any kind of potato is OK (waxy or starchy) for this recipe, but waxy will tend to hold its shape better.

  • Carrot – Ditto the carrots on the thickness caveat! Follow the recipe!

  • Coconut cream – We use cream to give the curry sauce its thickness as well as richness. You can use milk or lite versions, but the curry will be a little thinner in consistency and less full in richness. Look for brands that have a high percentage of coconut extract. Ayam brand is my choice.

  • Tamarind puree – Tamarind is a sour fruit pod whose pulp is used in South East Asian food to add acidity to food like this curry. You can buy it is a jarred puree in large Australian supermarkets (Coles, Woolworths) or Asian grocers.

  • Bamboo shoots – Sold in cans at large grocery stores (Woolies, Coles, Harris), they have a crisp juicy texture and have a unique taste. Substitute with green beans (for similar shape) or more carrots.


How to make Thai Yellow Curry

This part of the recipe really is simple – just simmer everything in a skillet.

  1. Add chicken stock into the cooked off curry paste and stir to dissolve.

  2. Simmer chicken stock – Simmer on medium heat for a minute to bring the flavours together.

  3. Add remaining curry sauce ingredients: Reduce heat to medium low. Add tamarind, fish sauce and sugar. Stir until tamarind is dissolved.

  4. Simmer 20 minutes – Add carrot and potato, then simmer the sauce for 15 minutes or until the potato is nearly cooked (pierce with a knife to check), it might take up to 20 minutes. Potato takes a surprisingly long time to cook in a thick coconut curry sauce!

    If your heat is too strong and the sauce reduces and thickens too quickly, lower heat and add a splash of water.

  5. Prawns and bamboo shoots: Add prawns and bamboo shoots. Stir, then cook for 3 minutes until prawns are just cooked.

  6. Plate up! Once the prawns are cooked, remove the curry out of the hot skillet into a serving bowl to prevent the prawns from overcooking. Overcooked, rubbery prawns in a homemade yellow curry from scratch is a depressing thought!

    Next, we’re going to finish the dish with a few garnishes!

Pour Thai Yellow Curry sauce into bowl

Garnishes for Thai Yellow Curry

Here are the garnishes typically used to serve Thai Yellow Curry.

Toppings for Thai Yellow Curry
  • Thai Basil Leaves – Tastes like regular basil plus a bit of aniseed flavour. Highly recommended to finish this dish off.

    Substitute with coriander/ cilantro (best) or normal Italian basil.

  • Crispy fried shallot pieces (optional)– Salty little fried bits of shallots brings a great finishing touch to the dish both for the flavour and texture. Find it in the Asian section of supermarket but cheaper at Asian stores.

  • Fresh chilli slices – Purely option, for a splash of colour and extra spice, if desired. Use large chillies if you want the colour without the spiciness.

Thai Yellow Curry ready to be served

Close up of Thai Yellow Curry

Phew! And with that, I am done – you are now armed with everything you need to know to make this Thai Yellow Curry!

A quick and easy recipe, this ain’t!

This is certainly not a quick ‘n easy midweek meal. There’s a fair few ingredients, and to make it as written calls for a trip to the Asian grocery store. It involves sourcing ingredients that may be new to you, and preparing ingredients you haven’t cooked with before.

But is it worth it?

Hundred times over, YES YES YES!

While these days, you can get very good store bought curry paste for Thai Red Curry, Green Curry and Massaman Curry, I am yet to find an acceptable store bought Yellow Curry Paste, even at Asian grocery stores.

And, at the risk of sounding totally obnoxious, this recipe delivers a curry that’s far superior to most standard suburban Thai takeout places that take the jarred curry paste shortcuts.

So if you’re a Thai Curry fan, I urge you to try making this at least once. The taste is incomparable to canned pastes! – Nagi x


Watch how to make it

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Thai Yellow Curry over jasmine rice

Thai Yellow Curry (from scratch!)

Author: Nagi
Prep: 30 minutes mins
Cook: 30 minutes mins
Total: 1 hour hr
Mains
Thai
4.97 from 51 votes
Servings4
Tap or hover to scale
Print
Recipe video above. Thai curries are famous for the sublime aromatic flavours balancing sweet, tart, savoury and spiciness. Thai Yellow Curry is one such magnificent example, with its rich yellow colour, incredible depth of flavour and a heady combination of both fresh and ground herbs and spices.
This is made from scratch with a homemade Yellow Curry Paste. There are quite a few ingredients involved but if you truly want the best, it's worth it!
This is a creation the RecipeTin Team is proud to call our own – we worked damn hard on it! (Then we celebrated by making another 100 as the first meals we donated through RecipeTin Meals ❤️)
SPICINESS: Adjust by varying fresh chilli. Use 1 for extremely mild, 2 for quite mild, 4 for spicy (but not blow-your-head off).

Ingredients

Thai Yellow Curry Paste:

  • 10 dried red chillis (~6cm/2.5" long), chopped into 1cm / 0.5" pieces (Note 1)
  • 1 – 4 fresh birds eye chillis , deseeded, roughly (1 for extremely mild, 4 for fairly spicy, Note 2)
  • 2 lemongrass stems (Note 3)
  • 1 large or 2 small eschalots , roughly chopped (~ 1/2 cup) (Note 4)
  • 2 tbsp fresh turmeric , finely grated (about 2cm / 0.8" piece) (Note 5)
  • 2 tbsp galangal , finely grated (about 2cm / 0.8" piece) (Note 6)
  • 8 cloves garlic , roughly chopped
  • 1 1/2 tbsp Thai shrimp paste in bean oil (Note 7)
  • 1 tsp ground coriander
  • 1 tsp ground cumin
  • 1/4 tsp ground cardamom
  • 1/2 tsp fenugreek powder (Note 8)
  • 1/8 tsp white pepper (sub black)

Curry:

  • 3 tbsp vegetable oil (or canola or peanut oil)
  • 1 medium potato , peeled, cut into 2.5cm / 1″ pieces x 1cm/ 0.4″ thick (Note 9)
  • 1 small carrot , peeled, sliced into 5mm / 0.2″ slices on the diagonal
  • 1 cup chicken stock , low sodium
  • 300 ml / 10oz coconut cream (Note 10)
  • 4 tsp fish sauce , plus more to taste (Note 11)
  • 5 tsp white sugar
  • 2 tsp tamarind puree (Note 12)
  • 350g / 12oz prawns/shrimp , medium, peeled, tail on optional (700g/1.4lb unpeeled) (Note 13)
  • 1/2 cup bamboo shoots , canned, drained, loosely packed (Note 14)

Garnishes & serving:

  • 16 Thai basil leaves (highly recommended, Note 15)
  • 1 Red chilli , finely sliced (optional, use large for not spicy)
  • 2 tbsp Crispy fried shallots (optional, store bought, Note 16)
  • Jasmine rice

Instructions

Curry Paste:

  • Soak dried chillis: Roughly chop chillies and transfer to bowl, leaving behind seeds. Cover with boiling water and soak for 30 minutes then drain (reserve soaking water).
  • Check spiciness: Have a nibble of soaked chilli, should not be that spicy. If it is spicy, only use 1/3 to 1/2 of the amount (Note 1).
  • Prepare lemongrass: Remove woody top half and outer layers of lemongrass. Grate with microplane. (See in post or video for preparation demo)
  • Make curry paste: Place chillis, lemongrass and all remaining curry paste ingredients in a jar just wide enough to fit a stick blender. Add 3 tablespoons chilli soaking water. Blitz with stick blender until smooth so there's no hard grit – rub between your fingers to check – about 15 seconds on high. (Or use small food processor or Nutribullet, scraping down sides well).

Curry:

  • Cook off curry paste: Heat oil in a medium heavy based skillet over medium heat. (Mine is a 26cm / 10.5" Lodget cast iron) Add curry paste and cook for 3 to 4 minutes until it dries out a bit a smells fragrant.
  • Reduce stock: Add chicken stock, stir to dissolve paste, then simmer for 1 minute.
  • Add remaining curry sauce ingredients: Reduce heat to medium low. Add tamarind, fish sauce and sugar. Stir until tamarind is dissolved. Then stir in coconut, carrot and potato.
  • Simmer: Bring to simmer, then simmer gently for 15 minutes or until potato is almost fully soft. Pierce with knife to check, it might take 20 minutes.
  • Prawns and bamboo shoots: Add prawns and bamboo shoots. Stir, then cook for 3 minutes until prawns are just cooked.
  • ADJUST sauce: Taste and adjust the curry sauce at this point. Thin sauce with stock or water, add salt, fish sauce or sugar if needed. See Note 17.
  • Serve! Transfer curry to serving bowl. Garnish with Thai Basil, fresh chilli and crispy shallots. Serve with jasmine rice.

Recipe Notes:

1. Dried chilli – Any dried Chinese or Asian chillis around (~6cm/2.5″ long). They are not supposed to be that spicy, they are mainly for flavour and not that much for spiciness (which we get from fresh chilli).
CHECK spiciness! That said, it’s wise to check. Have a nibble once soaked. If you’re concerned it’s too spicy, reduce the amount you use. You can always add more spiciness at the end using fresh chillies for garnish but can’t undo spiciness! (Note: Standard dried chillies at Asian stores in Sydney are not spicy so can use full amount per recipe)
Do not use small Thai chillies – too spicy!
2. Fresh chilli – Use birds eye or Thai chillis. 1 chilli = barely spicy at all. 2 chillies = quite mild. 4 chillis = quite spicy but not blow your head off. See in post for how I deseed and chop.
3. Lemongrass – Fresh is best but lemongrass paste is an acceptable substitute, use 2 tablespoons. Dried won’t be the same, I’m afraid.
4. Eschalots – Also known as French onions, and called “shallots” in the US. They look like baby onions, but have purple-skinned flesh, are finer and sweeter. Not to be confused with what some people in Australia call “shallots” ie the long green onions.
They differ in size, use ~ 1/2 cup once chopped (1 large or 2 small).
5. Turmeric – STAINS so use gloves and avoid porous surfaces once cut (like plastic cutting boards, stone benches)! Scrape or cut off skin using small knife, spoon or vegetable peeler, then grate using a microplane straight into a ceramic bowl.
Turmeric Powder sub – Not the same, but can be done. Use 1.5 tsp
Leftover turmeric – Make this Golden Turmeric Fish!
6. Galangal – Looks like ginger but is more citrusy and harder. Most recipes will tell you just to toss in chunks, but there’s a strong chance you end up with grainy curry. So best to grate.
Find it in some grocery stores in Australia (Harris Farms and some Woolworths sell it). If you can’t find it, use the same amount of ginger + the zest of 1 lime.
7. Thai shrimp paste in bean oil – I use Por Kwan brand, the most popular one sold at Asian grocery stores here in Australia. Note: many traditional recipes use ordinary dried shrimp (belacan) but shrimp paste yields a better result, see in post for why.
If you can’t find Shrimp Paste in oil, Belacan is a substitute that’s nearly as good which, believe it or not, is sold at Woolworths in Australia. Use 1.5 tbsp, roughly chop then toast on low heat in 1 tbsp oil for 3 minutes. Then use in place of shrimp paste.
8. Fenugreek powder – spice that kind of smells like maple syrup. Available at stores that carry a decent range of spices. I found it at Harris Farms (Australia). Also at Asian and Indian grocery stores.
9. Potato – Don’t cut any bigger than specified else it may not cook through. I kept making this mistake!
10. Coconut cream – Thicker and richer than coconut milk. Look for good quality coconut cream that is 100% coconut like Ayam for better coconut flavour (cheap brands are diluted with water). Coconut milk can be substituted. Low fat not recommended – less flavour and too thin!
11. Fish sauce – The salt for this dish which brings it umami and makes it distinctly Thai. Doesn’t make fishy once cooked. If you sub with soy sauce, you will be disappointed by lack of depth of flavour!
12. Tamarind puree – sour paste used in Asian cooking. Find it in the Asian aisle of large grocery stores (Coles, Woolies).
13. Proteins
  • Prawns – can use frozen, just thaw and drain off excess water well.
  • Fish – Firm white fish fillets cut into 4cm / 1.3″ pieces. Cook as per prawns.
  • Chicken – use 300g / 10oz chicken thighs (boneless, skinless), add with potato
14. Bamboo shoots – Find these in cans in the Asian or canned vegetable aisle of supermarkets. Use leftover in stir fries!
15. Thai Basil Leaves – Tastes like regular basil plus a bit of aniseed flavour. Highly recommended to finish this dish off, it’s a traditional herb used for this dish. Best substitute: coriander/ cilantro, followed by Italian basil.
16. Crispy fried shallot pieces – Salty little crunchy shallots, tasty garnish! Found in the Asian section of supermarket but cheaper at Asian stores.
17. Sauce flavour adjustments – Most fresh curries require a final tweak at the end due to differences in flavour/freshness of ingredients used, how quickly it reduces etc. The final taste should lean mostly savoury, with umami and saltiness from the shrimp paste and fish sauce, with the aromatics subtly coming through. It should be pleasantly sweet but not overly so. The spices should come through. There will be very little tang, just a tiny bit (note tamarind looses much of its acidity when cooked so don’t worry if it initially tastes too sour when you added it). It will be moderately spicy.
  • Thin sauce with water or stock
  • Thicken with extra coconut cream.
  • Salt and umami: fish sauce (1 tsp at time), plain salt if if the fish sauce taste is strong enough but it still needs some saltiness
  • Sweetness: sugar
  • More spice: use fresh chillies for garnish. Don’t add sriracha or chilli sauce into the curry sauce.
Keywords: Thai yellow curry, yellow curry paste
Did you make this recipe?I love hearing how you went with my recipes! Tag me on Instagram at @recipe_tin.

I adore Thai curries!

Proof:

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Life of Dozer

Dozer! You were NOT supposed to go in the water today! 👿

And then of course, he did THIS (5 minutes before I was due home for a zoom meeting 🙄):

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294 Comments

  1. Loren says

    December 8, 2023 at 3:38 am

    5 stars
    Wow. This is truly one of the most delicious recipes I’ve ever made. I moved to the midwest and have been craving yellow Thai curry for over six years. The restaurants in my area just aren’t very good. I can say with confidence this might be the most delicious Thai yellow curry I’ve ever had – even better than the ones from my favorite restaurants that I’d been craving! I spent hours and hours on end in the kitchen for this one, but it was worth every second. Thank you for such detailed instructions as well. PS – your perfect rice recipes also changed my life. Thank you so much! Can’t wait to make more of your dishes. 🙂

    Reply
  2. Susanna says

    October 14, 2023 at 8:18 pm

    Amazing! Incredible flavours and less effort than I thought. I won’t be eating any jar bought ones anymore

    Reply
  3. Khrisna Morgan says

    October 9, 2023 at 3:07 pm

    5 stars
    Omg I was worried that it was gonna be really time consuming but it was well worth it the most amazing curry ever!! I loved it!! I didn’t have tamarind so I left it out but it still tasted so good!! Thank you again your recipes are always on point and sooo delicious!

    Reply
  4. Denisek says

    September 1, 2023 at 8:03 am

    5 stars
    Fabulous! I did have to use a few of the listed substitutes (as I do not have access to a few listed ingredients) but regardless, this dish is a winner! The potato’s add a creamy element which I wasn’t expecting (I used petite Yukon golds). One recommendation I did was to make a large quantity of the yellow curry paste, I had all these fresh ingredients so why not use them?? I divided the paste into several jars and froze the excess (about 1/2 cup per jar). When I made this recipe again, I used one from the freezer and taste remains incredibly! Plus, it definitely simplifies this recipe when your paste is already made!! Thanks for this great meal, we will continue to enjoy this for years to come! Absolutely delicious!!

    Reply
  5. KL says

    August 27, 2023 at 9:32 am

    5 stars
    Brilliant recipe. Curry paste is a lot. Could easily double protein, chicken stock & coconut cream.

    Reply
  6. Wilma van der Giessen says

    August 3, 2023 at 7:47 pm

    great recipes! i enjoy your site so much , which Miyabi knife do you mostly use?
    Thank you very much in advance for your reply!

    Reply
  7. Lisa says

    July 1, 2023 at 2:20 pm

    Hi Nagi I would love to make this curry, could I use the Maesri yellow paste?

    Reply
  8. Carolyn Scott says

    May 5, 2023 at 12:05 pm

    5 stars
    Hi Nagi
    Absolutely love this curry. Is the paste suitable to freeze?
    It would be wonderful to have the paste on hand in the freezer if possible so we can whip this up in a flash.

    Reply
  9. Joanna says

    February 14, 2023 at 11:45 am

    5 stars
    I made this last night and was delicious however the volume of curry paste is enough to cover 1kg of protein as opposed to the 300-350g suggested!

    Reply
  10. Tracey says

    January 19, 2023 at 12:07 pm

    I have found Por Kwan Crab Paste in bean oil will that work instead of Shrimp Paste?

    Reply
  11. Andrew says

    January 5, 2023 at 12:23 am

    5 stars
    Cooked this for my wife for New Year’s Eve and we loved it. We live in the middle of nowhere so I had to go to two local towns to get all the ingredients but boy was it worth it. Cracking recipe Nagi, thank you!

    Reply
  12. Lee says

    December 22, 2022 at 11:19 pm

    5 stars
    Hi Nagi, this recipe sounds amazing. I was just wondering – even though you personally haven’t found a great store-bought yellow curry paste, what would the process be on the assumption that someone did come across a nice paste in their part of the world? Personally I’d really love it if the recipe would include this, like your red and green Thai currys do.

    Reply
  13. Luisa María. says

    September 23, 2022 at 6:06 am

    5 stars
    My husband is belgian, he loves indian and Thai food since he had de opportunity to visit that countries. I am mexican, and we love eat everything.
    So, both love go to restaurants. But when a friend share with me your website, and since I cooked the first recipe. I totally trust you. I don’t stop to be curious about your recipes collection.

    I year ago I wanted to made this recipe. Finally tonight I have the time and mood for do it…

    I didn’t know what to expect, because I never tried before.

    Was so tasty, full of smooth intense flavors and contrast. You can feel every one, but at the same time how they are integrate.
    I can say, is my favorite!
    The touch of tamarind (in México we also use it) with the sweetness of the coconut milk… Wow… heaven for me tonight. And the reste!

    Thanks so much! For your pictures and your way to write, I could say you are a really good vibe person always smiling. Thanks for share.
    I am looking forward too for start cooking from your mom’s website.

    Reply
  14. Sarah says

    August 14, 2022 at 1:56 pm

    5 stars
    After looking at this recipe for a long time and saying I would make it, I finally did!

    It did not disappoint, I was surprised by the peanut butter tasting undertone in the curry, I’m not sure what I had accidentally put more into the curry to make it taste like that? Nevertheless I will make this again!

    Thank you Nagi for sharing your wonderful recipes. I’m looking forward to your cookbook coming out!

    Reply
  15. Caitlin says

    July 26, 2022 at 7:24 pm

    OH.MY.GOD. This is INCREDIBLE!! 😍😍😍😍 Just made this for the fam and if I died now, I’d die a happy happy woman! 😂 amazing Nagi, thankyou!!!

    Reply
  16. epsi says

    June 23, 2022 at 2:49 am

    5 stars
    Amazing. Beautiful flavor, Love this much! Thank you.

    Reply
  17. Michelle H says

    June 4, 2022 at 12:19 pm

    5 stars
    Wow! Your recipes have never let me astray; this one was spectacular. The flavours are incredible. Even though I had to make a couple of substitutions, it all worked and was delicious. I can’t wait to make it again!

    Reply
  18. David says

    May 25, 2022 at 10:13 pm

    Hey Nagi. I absolutely love the flavour and authenticity of your recipes, so thank you. I have what is probably a dumb question re your Thai yellow curry recipe. I made the curry paste as directed (ok, well, maybe I threw in a few more cloves of garlic, but still 🙂 pretty close) and I have more than a cup-and-a-half. That’s more than the coconut cream! Am I meant to use ALL of the curry paste? Won’t that overpower everything else? Even when I just taste it, it makes my tongue go numb and tingly!

    Reply
    • Nagi says

      May 26, 2022 at 7:19 am

      Hi David – you shouldn’t have a cup and a half of paste – the volume of the ingredients doesn’t add up to that (even with the extra garlic!)! I would think it’s between 1/2 cup and 3/4 depending on the size of your eschalots. Did you make sure you measured the ingredients properly? N x

      Reply
  19. Naomi says

    March 30, 2022 at 10:44 pm

    I’m dying to try this, but can’t eat onion (including eschalots) due to fructose intolerance. Can I just leave it out, or do I need to substitute something else to replace it?

    Reply
  20. Maria Moir says

    December 29, 2021 at 2:56 pm

    Hi Nagi,

    Could you use crab with tthis recipe?

    Reply
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I believe you can make great food with everyday ingredients even if you’re short on time and cost conscious. You just need to cook clever and get creative! Read More

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