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Thai Recipes Cooking Tips Thai Curry

In Thailand there are basically two types of curry: water-based and coconut milk-based.

The most typical water-based is sour curry often prepared with fish. The sourness comes from tamarind but a little lime juice also works. Jungle curry is another delicious water-based vegetable curry with or without meat, which is usually very spicy.

Thai coconut-based curries are numerous! Red, yellow, green and masamam are the most well known curries. The key ingredients in Thai curry pastes are mostly wet and fragrant: fresh chilies, lemon grass, galangal, garlic, shallot, kaffir lime, cilantro roots, and shrimp paste. Aroy-dee (delicious!).

Recipes

• Thai Green Curry Recipe
• Easy Green Curry
• Red Curry with Chicken & Bamboo Shoots
• Traditional Red Curry
• Red Duck Curry
• Sour Chicken Curry Recipe
• Yellow Chicken Curry (Gaeng Karee Gy)
• Fish Curry
• Kasma's Spicy Choo Chee Curry with Prawns/Scallops & Mushrooms
• Red Curry with Beef

Thai Curry Basics

Variations of Thai curry pastes are suprisingly numerous. Gaeng massaman (masamam), gaeng phanaeng (panang), gaeng phet (red), and gaeng leuang (yellow), are just a few of the many types. The most popular is either gaeng phet or gaeng kiow wahn (green curry) depending upon which region of Thailand you are in.

The basic ingredients (khreuang gaeng) in red curry paste are dried red chili peppers, whole cloves of garlic, sea salt, fresh lemon grass, fresh tumeric for color, and shrimp paste (ka-pee). You will find most published curry paste recipes with many more ingredients added to this basic recipe, but you can make a delicious simple curry with just these few staples. See our Traditional Red Curry recipe for a simple curry paste like this.

Serving Thai Curry

When searching for a Thai curry recipe, note that often times the water-based curries are categorized with soups. This is because not all gaeng are spicy curries. The word gaeng also encompasses mild flavored soups called Gaeng Joot i.e. clear Thai soups.

The curry dishes of Thailand have no direct equivalent in Western food, making it hard to translate exactly how to serve and eat a dish. Curries are eaten spooned over plain steamed jasmine rice. This helps to cut the heat and the intensity of the flavors. To eat curry as we eat normally eat soup in the West is inappropriate because curries are packed full of intense spices, herbs and hot chilies. Diners normally share a bowl of curry.

Curry in Southern Thailand

Curry is one of the most important dishes of Thai cuisine. The other dishes for a meal are often planned around what type of curry is going to be prepared in the South. In fact the familiar greeting in the Southern countryside is Gin gang ry wahnee? - what kind of curry are you eating today?

The decision as to which type of curry to prepare hinges upon the available ingredients. Coconut curries are especially popular because of the proliferation of coconut palm trees. But the South is also famous for Gaeng Tai Pla (Spicy Fish Stomach Curry) and Gaeng Leung (Yellow Sour Curry with Fish, but known as Gaeng Sohm Plah in the South), both of which are water-based curries.

Some Like it Hot!

Breaking into a sweat is, for many, highly desireable. It is a sort of addiction once you eat curries on a daily basis for about a month. Gradually your tolerence for spicy curry increases to an incredible level you never dreamed possible! Reputedly there are many health benefits from eating chili peppers, including high Vitamic C content and increased metabolism rate.

If you like milder curry, simply omit the fresh whole chiles and/or add less curry paste. Another excellent hint is to cook the rice first and allow it to come to room temperature, making it easier to eat spicy foods with it.

Comparing Curries

Thai curry is not the same as Indian curry. Thais cook their curry dishes for a much shorter time and use more fresh herbs and garlic and fewer dry spices then in Indian curry. Thai curries in general also tend to be more soupy then Indian currries.

Shop for Fresh Curry Paste or Preapared Curry Paste in our Thai Food Store.

Thai Food Newsletter:	Advanced Search	Site Index: Go to page --> ========= Home Page ========= Thai Groceries --- Rice --- Asian Noodles --- Pad Thai --- Satay --- Curry Paste --- Fresh Curry Paste --- Thai Sauces --- Spices --- Thai Pastes --- Fresh Ingredients --- Pickled & Preserved --- Flour and Sugar --- Cooking Kits --- Asian Snacks --- Beverages --- Canned Food --- Thai Fruit --- Curry & Soup --- Convenience Food ========= Asian Cookware --- Mortar & Pestle --- Sticky Rice Steamer ========= Thai Cookbooks ========= Fruit Carving ========= Thai Recipes