Thai yellow curry paste is easy create at home using just a few basic ingredients and spices. This versatile paste can be used as the base for a number of different Thai curries and is great to have handy in the fridge ready for your next 'fakeaway' Thai curry night.
Whip up this paste in just 5 minutes - see the video below to find out just how easy this is. Plus watch how you can produce three pastes from one.
📖 Making Thai curry paste at home
Thai yellow curry paste is made by adding ground coriander, cumin, curry powder and black pepper to already made or store bought Thai red curry paste. Thai red paste is the starting block for all other Thai curry pastes; apart from Thai green curry paste, which stands alone.
Thai yellow paste is slightly milder than red paste, in both flavour and colour, and can be used in a number of Thai dishes:
- Set aside some Thai red paste before you begin for making a Thai red curry or a jungle curry.
- Use this Thai paste recipe to make Thai yellow curry or Chicken Panang curry.
- Turn Thai yellow curry paste in to Massaman curry paste and then whip up a lovely Massaman curry.
👩🏻🍳 Recipe inspiration
Ive based this recipe on curry paste I made in 2012 in Thailand when attending the Siam Rice cookery school in Chang Mai, Northern Thailand.
On this cookery course I had access to a traditional Thai food market and used fresh, whole spices. I can’t say its always convenient to get out a pestle and mortar and grind whole spices into powders. Nor is it always possible to get hold of all the traditional Thai ingredients that I used in Thailand. However, It is possible to closely match ingredients and of course use pre ground spices for the curry and the Thai yellow curry paste, which is what I have done for this recipe.
🥘 Ingredients you will need for this paste
Full ingredients & recipe instructions in recipe card below: Jump to RecipeFor 4-5 tablespoon of this paste recipe you will need the following:
- 4 tablespoon Thai red curry paste
- ½ teaspoon ground coriander
- ½ teaspoon ground cumin
- 1 teaspoon curry powder
- Black pepper
Substitutions: If you don't have the time or the ingredients to make the red paste you can use a jar of shop bought paste instead.
🔪 Step by step instructions
- Take 4 tablespoon of the Thai red paste (homemade or shop bought) and place in a small bowl.
- To this add ½ teaspoon ground coriander, ½ teaspoon ground cumin, 1 teaspoon curry powder and some Black pepper. Stir together until fully combined.
- At this point, if you like, you can put aside half of the Thai yellow paste for making Thai Massaman curry paste. The rest can then be used to make Thai yellow curry or Panang curry.
- If not using the paste right away then transfer to an air tight jar/container and store in the fridge for 1 week or freeze for up to 3 months.
🌶 Can you substitute red curry paste for yellow?
Red paste is the main ingredient in yellow curry paste and so technically it is already the same paste but with a few extra ingredients added. These additional ingredients create a different flavour and ultimately determine the type of curry you are making (see above).
If you prefer to buy jarred curry paste but are struggling to find Thai yellow paste then yes jarred Thai red is a great substitute and you can use this recipe to turn the shop bought red paste into yellow paste.
♨️ Is red curry paste hotter than yellow?
Red paste is slightly hotter than yellow due to the extra milder ingredients being added to make yellow paste.
💭 Recipe tips
Blending paste: Use a small blender to make the red paste. If the ingredients don't blend together easily then add a bit of water or olive oil to help get it going.
Storage and steralisation: Sterilise some small jars for storing any extra paste. Wash jars in warm water then place on a baking tray and dry in a low oven for 5 to 10 minutes. Fill the jars with paste whilst they are still warm and seal with a lid (use marigolds to help with handling hot jars). Store in the fridge for up to one month. Alternatively place leftover paste in a clean, sealable container (no sterilisation) and store in the fridge for up to 1 week or in the freezer for up to 3 months.
Scaling this recipe: This recipe assumes the use of this Thai red paste recipe, which makes around 8 tablespoon of paste. This recipe also assumes that you would like to save some of the Thai red paste as well as using it to make the Thai yellow paste. Therefore, this recipe calls for half of the red paste (4 tbsp) and will make enough paste to go into 2 curry recipes for serving 4 people. If you want don't want to save half of the paste but want to use it all to make Thai yellow, then double the rest of the ingredients in this recipe. For any other amount just remember that the amount of spices in this recipe is for 4 tablespoon of Thai red paste.
Make in advance: Curry pastes are great to make in advance as they store easily and can be used directly in whatever curry you are making as soon as you are ready to make it. I like to batch make my curry pastes and then split into small containers - each container has enough to make one curry for 4 people. these can be stored in the fridge or freezer (see above) and then called upon when needed. Frozen paste can be microwaved for a minute or 2 and ready to use right away.
🍛 Other curry recipes you might like to try:
- Fish biryani
- Thai green curry
- Chicken tikka masala
- Chicken panang curry
- Homemade Tikka masala paste
- Spicy chicken soup
- Red lentil tarka dahl
- Thai red curry
📖 Recipe
📋 Thai yellow curry paste
Ingredients
- Thai yellow paste
- 4 tablespoon Thai red paste made from the above
- ½ teaspoon ground coriander
- ½ teaspoon ground cumin
- 1 teaspoon curry powder
- Black pepper
Instructions
- Take 4 tablespoon of the Thai red paste (homemade or shop bought) and place in a small bowl.
- To this add ½ teaspoon ground coriander, ½ teaspoon ground cumin, 1 teaspoon curry powder and some Black pepper. Stir together until fully combined.
- At this point, if you like, you can put aside half of the Thai yellow paste for making Thai Massaman curry paste. The rest can then be used to make Thai yellow curry or Panang curry.
- If not using the paste right away then transfer to an air tight jar/container and store in the fridge for 1 week or freeze for up to 3 months.
Video
Nutrition
Notes
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