Curry pastes you should know

I. The six major pastes

Red curry paste (gaeng phet): the workhorse, built from dried red chilis, galangal, lemongrass, kaffir lime peel, garlic, shallot, shrimp paste, white pepper, and coriander root. Versatile across meat, poultry, and seafood.

Green curry paste (gaeng khiao wan): built from fresh green chilis. The hottest of the common Thai curries — fresh chili capsaicin in larger quantities than the dried-chili heat in red paste.

Yellow curry paste (gaeng luang / gaeng gari): the most Indian-influenced, incorporating turmeric and curry powder. Milder and more spice-complex than red or green.

Massaman paste (gaeng massaman): the most complex, incorporating cinnamon, cardamom, star anise, cloves, cumin, coriander. Closer to Indian korma than to other Thai curries.

Panang paste: similar to red but with roasted peanuts pounded in, giving the curry a thicker consistency and a nuttiness the other red-paste curries lack.

Khao soi paste: northern, from Chiang Rai. Combines dried red chili with more turmeric and less lemongrass, reflecting Chinese and Burmese influences on northern Thai cooking.

II. If you make one, make this

If you are new to making curry paste, start with red. It is the most forgiving — the dried chilis do not require immediate use, the aromatics are robust, the finished paste is the foundation for the widest range of dishes.

If you are choosing a paste because it is most worth the effort and most different from the jarred version, make khao soi. The northern Thai spice profile is the hardest to reproduce commercially because the aromatics are more specific and the balance is more delicate. A fresh khao soi paste and a jarred one are the most different-tasting versions of the same paste across the six.

III. The making

Dried chilis, soaked in warm water until pliable, squeezed dry, added first because they are the driest and hardest. Pound until broken down. Galangal, sliced thin, added next. Lemongrass, bottom third only, thinly sliced. Kaffir lime peel, scraped thin to minimize the pith. Garlic and shallot. Shrimp paste (kapi), toasted briefly in foil, added last.

The correct paste is uniform in texture — no large pieces remaining — and intensely fragrant. The process takes 20 to 45 minutes depending on quantity and mortar size. A larger mortar is more efficient. A smaller mortar requires patience.

Recipe — Khao Soi · Northern Thai Coconut Curry Noodles

Wilai Chumphon · Chiang Rai · serves 4 · 45 minutes

• Serves 4
• 45 min total
• 25 min simmer
• 2× noodles

Khao Soi Paste

• 6 dried red chilis, soaked and drained
• 1 in galangal, sliced
• 2 stalks lemongrass, bottom third sliced
• 4 garlic cloves
• 3 shallots
• 1 tsp shrimp paste, toasted
• 1 tsp turmeric

For the Curry

• 400 ml coconut cream
• 400 ml coconut milk
• 600 g chicken thighs, bone-in
• 2 tbsp fish sauce
• 1 tbsp palm sugar
• 400 g fresh egg noodles (half boiled, half fried)
• Pickled mustard greens, sliced shallots, lime to serve

The method

1. Pound all paste ingredients in a mortar until smooth.
2. Separate fat from refrigerated coconut cream. Fry the paste in the fat for 3 minutes, until deeply fragrant.
3. Add chicken, stir to coat with paste.
4. Add coconut milk, fish sauce, palm sugar. Simmer 25 minutes until chicken is tender.
5. Fried topping: deep-fry the remaining fresh noodles until crisp. Drain.
6. Boil the remaining noodles, divide into bowls. Ladle curry over.
7. Top with crispy noodles, sliced shallots, pickled mustard greens, and a wedge of lime.

About the contributor

Wilai Chumphon

Wilai Chumphon writes about Thai curry pastes and northern Thai cooking from Chiang Rai, Thailand. She makes her khao soi paste from scratch every time and freezes the leftovers in ice cube trays.

Editor’s notes — the longer view

A note on the freezer. Curry paste freezes well. After thirty minutes of pounding, the only thing worse than that effort is having to do it again next week. Make a triple batch. Freeze in ice cube trays. One cube is enough for two portions. Six months in the freezer.

A note on kapi. Shrimp paste smells strong. Toasted briefly in foil, the smell mellows and the flavor deepens. Without it, no curry paste tastes Thai. With it, almost any combination starts to.

A note on substitutions. Fresh galangal is preferred. Dried galangal is acceptable. Ginger is not galangal — they are different rhizomes with different flavors. If you cannot find galangal, leave it out rather than substitute ginger.

A note on the northern table. Khao soi is not eaten alone in Chiang Rai. It comes with a small plate of accompaniments — pickled mustard greens, raw shallot, lime, ground chili — that the diner adds to taste. The bowl is the cook's contribution. The plate is yours.

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