Thai Yellow Curry Paste
I think most people think of Thai Yellow Curry when they think Thai curries. It seems the most popular when I ask around to people’s preferences. I suppose this is because it is the mildest curry. That being said, when you make your own curry, you can add the ingredients to your liking, so make it as spicy or mild as you like. It’s your recipe!
This recipe uses some sort of hard to find ingredients, Lemongrass, galangal, fish sauce and shrimp paste. It’s worth searching these out, once you buy them, they keep for a long time. I have found them here, to have the biggest choices and prices. Once you have these ingredients in your pantry, you can whip this recipe up any time you need the curry. And once you’ve tried this chicken curry, you’ll NEED curry often!
Thai Yellow Curry Paste:
Ingredients:
1 stalk lemongrass, white part sliced, or prepared lemongrass, or zest of one lemon and juice
4 cloves garlic, chopped
1 inch piece galangal or ginger chopped
1 shallot, or 1/4 cup purple onion
1 yellow chili (these can be difficult to find, unless you grow your own, so red or green chili is fine, Serrano work, or 1/2 to 1 tsp crushed red chili)
1/2 tsp. Chili powder
3/4 tsp turmeric
1 tsp ground coriander
1 tsp. Ground cumin
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp white pepper, or black
1 tsp shrimp paste
2 tbsp fish sauce
1 tbsp lime juice
2 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp ketchup
coconut milk
Place all ingredients in blender or food processor, I use my NutriBullet. Add about 1/4 cup coconut milk to aid blending. Add more if needed to make a smooth paste.
Store in a glass container in the fridge for a few days if not using right away. Best used fresh though.
Thai Yellow Chicken Curry
Serves 3-4
6-8 chicken drumsticks, remove skin if you like
2 cups chopped potatoes
1 c cherry tomatoes or 2 tomatoes quartered
You can use any veges’s you like, carrots, green beans, broccoli, peas, baby corn, instead of tomatoes.
1 cup chicken broth
coconut milk, leftover from making the paste
Fresh coriander, mint, fresh lime and/or lemon wedges for garnish
Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
Note: If you are using a Dutch Oven to bake your chicken in, you can brown the chicken and sauce right in the Dutch Oven and make it a one dish meal!
Heat a large skillet over medium high heat. Salt and pepper the chicken pieces and brown in 1 tbsp oil on all sides until golden. Authentically, the chicken is just added to the sauce and baked, but I think browning it gives it more flavor and texture. After you remove the chicken from the pan, pour out excess fat and add your curry paste. Stir and saute until fragrant. You can skip this step, but I think it makes it taste better. Make it your way!
Mix curry paste with chicken broth and coconut milk in a casserole with a cover. Don’t use all your coconut milk, you ‘ll need to add more at the end. Add browned chicken to the sauce. Add veges’s. Use enough coconut milk to ensure the sauce coats all the ingredients.
Bake at 375 for 1 hour, stir half-way through so veges’s cook evenly. If you are using tomatoes and don’t want them mushy, add them in the last 10 minutes of cooking.
Remove from oven and make sure chicken is cooked through, if not bake another 10-15 minutes, or until done, You don’t want to see any pink near the bone.
When chicken is done, add a few more tablespoons of coconut milk and taste for your curry balance. Salty, sweet, sour, spicy. If you need more salt, add fish sauce, if too salty or sweet, add some lime juice, too spicy add more coconut milk or chicken broth. If you would like it more spicy, add thinly sliced chili peppers along with your garnish, or pass a bottle of hot sauce at the table so each person can adjust the heat level to their liking.
Spoon into dishes, top with cilantro, mint, sliced pepper, pass the hot sauce and enjoy! Pass a bowl of hot steamy rice to soak up the extra sauce.
Please let me know how you like this recipe, I’d love to hear more ideas!