Yellow Curry Paste (Nam Prik Kaeng Kari)

Use this homemade yellow curry paste in the recipe for Yellow Chicken Curry. The recipe here combines fresh herbs like galangal and lemon grass with dried spices including coriander, cumin, and dried chilies. For best taste, pulverize in a mortar and pestle or if pressed for time use an electric blender (preferably fitted with a small glass jar container).

Ingredients

3 dried chilies, seeds removed, soaked in water
5 broiled shallots
10 broiled garlic cloves
1 tsp sliced galangal, fresh or dried galangal soaked to soften
1 tbsp lemon grass, fresh
1 tsp broiled ginger
1 tbsp roasted coriander seeds (dry roasted, see how to)
1 tsp roasted cumin seeds (dry roasted, see how to)
2 tsp curry powder
1 tsp sea salt
1 tsp Thai shrimp paste (kapee)

Preparation

Pound or blend all ingredients until ground smooth. (Note: use an electic blender with a small container or preferably a granite stone mortar and pestle).

This recipe is part of the recipe for Yellow Chicken Curry from Authentic Thai Food cookbook, available in our Thai cookbooks section.