# Thai Curry - Restaurant Style



## tzakiel (Feb 11, 2010)

A while ago I posted here asking about Thai curry recipes.  (sorry I can't seem to bump the thread due to age?)  I got some good replies and learned a lot.

However, I have since found that authentic thai pastes work the best, for me, to get the consistent flavor and consistency found in restaurants.

I wrote about it (and linked to my old attempts) here:
Learning to Eat » Blog Archive » Easy Thai Curry

For anyone who is interested in making Thai curries.


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## CherryThai (Feb 13, 2010)

Hi, I also use curry pastes in all my Thai cooking, for the same reasons you do - you can be sure of the consistency and flavour, they still taste great, and they are so much easier to work with. I posted some thai curry recipes on my website http://www.HomeThaiRecipes.com including videos of me making each dish. Hopefully the results are pleasing to the eye and tasty so I don't think using pastes degrades the dish in any way.

Cherry


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## tzakiel (Feb 18, 2010)

Honestly the paste has worked so well and it makes it so quick.  I am glad I tried the various "from scratch" recipes, however... I learned what really makes curry taste like curry.


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## Claire (Mar 1, 2010)

Oh, lord.  So many restaurants in so many locations.  I settle for "southeast Asian style" when I cook; if I had a Thai restaurant here I'd eat there and not bother!  My favorite thing that I did a couple of years ago was make my own paste from garden herbs and other things, and froze it.  When I can get ahold of it, I do buy Thai curry pastes (sometimes I can get green or red) to supplement my own frozen pastes.  Because of where I live (but even when I lived in Florida), even Thai restaurants have fallen down in the fresh herbs that were part of the experience in Hawaii (no, I've never been to Thailand) and DC.  But my blend of herbs from the summer garden, turned into a pesto-like paste, does give us a fresh herb feeling for a Thai dinner (this week we had green curry soup and it was, if I do say so myself, to die for).


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## ThaiTeaGal (Jun 2, 2010)

tzakiel said:


> A while ago I posted here asking about Thai curry recipes.  (sorry I can't seem to bump the thread due to age?)  I got some good replies and learned a lot.
> 
> However, I have since found that authentic thai pastes work the best, for me, to get the consistent flavor and consistency found in restaurants.
> 
> ...




My mom uses curry paste too. She always gets Mae Ploy brand.


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## frozenstar (Jun 3, 2010)

Haven't tried to cook this one as well and I think it's a good challenge!  Hope to try it some other time... Nice looking blog by the way!


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## yourstrulyewalani (Jun 3, 2010)

I love the Mae Ploy and I have a couple thai friends that cook with it too.   Can't be too bad!  I get big tubs of it at the Cash & Carry and make curry with it.  SO GOOD.  We have some good thai place here in WA but when I have everything it's easier and less expensive to make a huge dinner here.  Why not?  Thank goodness for bulk!


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## ThaiTeaGal (Jun 4, 2010)

yourstrulyewalani said:


> I love the Mae Ploy and I have a couple thai friends that cook with it too.   Can't be too bad!  I get big tubs of it at the Cash & Carry and make curry with it.  SO GOOD.  We have some good thai place here in WA but when I have everything it's easier and less expensive to make a huge dinner here.  Why not?  Thank goodness for bulk!



I heard that Mae Ploy is the best brand, and we use the same brand for sweet chili sauce. I love to dip chicken, egg rolls, and fried wonton with the sweet chili sauce.


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## AZFoodie (May 29, 2012)

I use Mae Ploy brand curry pastes as well, but the salt content in the paste bothers me.  I like my curries to be a little stronger - more robust - than what you get in a typical Thai restaurant.  So when I increase the curry paste content to boost flavor, the sauce often becomes salty.  Right now, I am trying to learn to make curry pastes from scratch so that I can control the salt content.  Not yet perfected that art, though.  So in the mean time, I am going to try to make my version of curry paste from scratch and then mix it with an equal amount of store-bought curry paste.  I am going to experiment with a pork and potato curry tomorrow, so we'll see how successful this method turns out to be.


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## Greg Who Cooks (May 29, 2012)

Ah, AZFoodie stirs the stick!  I think we need more stick stirring on Thai food topics.

I too like Mae Ploy brand sweet chili sauce. It's a great dipping sauce and good in recipes too.

Even better, chop up some limes and add that to your Mae Ploy sauce. Just chop up the whole limes and remove nothing but the seeds. Make the lime pieces really small. The bitter taste of the lime peels plus the sweet/garlicy taste of the chili sauce makes it sublime!

I'm glad I grew up in a place (Los Angeles) where Asian food is so popular and so widely enjoyed. I remember (many decades ago, too many) when Thai food was unknown, when there was only Chinese food and some Japanese food. I had to drive for 40 minutes (to Pasadena) to get Thai food. Now I can walk to Thai restaurants, or drive only several minutes for a selection of several.

Or just cook my own! Duh!


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## Bolas De Fraile (May 30, 2012)

This is a simple but very good Green Curry that I make, if you want to use beef or lamb poach it till nearly tender in some  stock before cooking in the coconut milk.
Thai Green Chicken Curry (HD) - YouTube


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## yen (May 30, 2012)

I'm always use carry pasta too....


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## Harry Cobean (May 30, 2012)

i use mae ploy paste & another brand we get over here,thai taste,which is also very good.to make a super healthy curry(i want to lose about 7 pounds..not looking as good in the lycra as i used too!) i use kara coconut alternative to dairy milk instead of canned coconut milk.it's only 27 cals/100ml,2% fat,zero cholesterol,soya & lactose free.it's great on cereal & in tea/coffee too.just need to add a bit of sugar/simmer a bit longer to reduce the sauce & bring out the coconut taste.
i don't drink milk,prefer to get my dairy fix from cheese/yogurt!


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## CraigC (May 30, 2012)

Never been satisfied with any "premade" paste. Why bother with those when the ingredients, even kaffir leaves are available? I make extra and freeze it.


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## AZFoodie (May 30, 2012)

CraigC said:


> Never been satisfied with any "premade" paste. Why bother with those when the ingredients, even kaffir leaves are available? I make extra and freeze it.



Any way we can twist your arm to get you to post a recipe or two for curry paste????  Thx.


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## CraigC (May 30, 2012)

AZFoodie said:


> Any way we can twist your arm to get you to post a recipe or two for curry paste???? Thx.


 
I posted a recipe from one of Norman Van Akins books. The post was removed as it violated the rules, even though credit was given. The recipes I use/follow are from a Thai cookbook and I imagine the same rules would apply.


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## taxlady (May 30, 2012)

CraigC said:


> I posted a recipe from one of Norman Van Akins books. The post was removed as it violated the rules, even though credit was given. The recipes I use/follow are from a Thai cookbook and I imagine the same rules would apply.


Don't you make any changes? If you rewrite the instructions to make them more clear, you won't be violating the rules.


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## Greg Who Cooks (May 30, 2012)

It would be nice to make the paste from spices, herbs and fresh ingredients all the time. Some people don't have shopping access to the fresh ingredients. Others like me sometimes don't have the time or the will to spend that much time. I like to use the paste and then augment it with whatever fresh ingredients I have on hand.

Due to copyright laws you cannot post recipes from books or copyrighted Internet sites, and giving credit provides no exemption. A list of ingredients cannot be copyrighted. The best of all situations is to post the ingredients and a link to the website that describes the method. If there is no such site then in most cases if you describe the method in your own words you may be okay copyright wise.

I like to start out with the paste and then I add lemongrass, Kaffir leaves, fish sauce, etc. I prefer to use coconut cream rather than coconut milk because I like the thicker sauce.


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## Steve Kroll (May 30, 2012)

I'm not normally a big fan of canned curry paste, but I really like the little Mae Ploy cans. They're just the right size and the flavor is pretty authentic. I've taken a couple of Thai cooking classes through community ed. In one such class, the instructor made curry paste from scratch, and then proceeded to recommend canned paste, saying that the end result "isn't much different."


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## Greg Who Cooks (May 30, 2012)

It would be interesting to know how many Thai restaurants make paste from scratch and how many use canned paste and augment it. Probably impossible to know...

I have one recipe I make the paste from scratch and it's better than all my other curries.


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## CraigC (May 30, 2012)

I've tried jared paste, not impressed. I'm not going to continue to waste money on different premade paste, just to find out I did waste my money. I'd rather not have something, than have something sub-par.


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## Andypants (Nov 30, 2014)

I like Maesri canned pastes a little better, Mae Ploy in the plastic tubs is probably more economical but I find they have kind of a rank odor (from the shrimp paste/fish sauce)?  I've never seen Mae Ploy cans.


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## GotGarlic (Dec 1, 2014)

I'm not crazy about the jarred paste by itself, either, but I use it as a base and add more Thai seasonings till I like it. I bought some kaffir lime leaves and galangal online (they keep in the freezer forever) and have lemongrass growing in the garden, and of course fish sauce, etc., in the cupboard, so I can add authentic flavors.


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## CraigC (Dec 1, 2014)

GotGarlic said:


> I'm not crazy about the jarred paste by itself, either, but I use it as a base and add more Thai seasonings till I like it. I bought some kaffir lime leaves and galangal online (they keep in the freezer forever) and have lemongrass growing in the garden, and of course fish sauce, etc., in the cupboard, so I can add authentic flavors.



LOL, I have have a kaffir lime tree and grow galangal, but not the lemongrass.


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## GotGarlic (Dec 1, 2014)

Hm, I might try growing galangal next year. I'd love to have a lime tree, but we would have to bring it inside for the winter and we don't have space near a sunny window to put it.


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## jennyema (Dec 1, 2014)

GotGarlic said:


> Hm, I might try growing galangal next year. I'd love to have a lime tree, but we would have to bring it inside for the winter and we don't have space near a sunny window to put it.


 

Id love to have a lime tree too!!

My lemongrass plant was a beut this year but it got out of hand and I had an impossible time harvesting ...


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## GotGarlic (Dec 1, 2014)

Mine got really big, too. DH is going to cut off the leaves and harvest some of the roots for me. I want to move it because it shaded out too many of my other herbs. It's beautiful, but it just gets too big.


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## jennyema (Dec 1, 2014)

GotGarlic said:


> Mine got really big, too. DH is going to cut off the leaves and harvest some of the roots for me. I want to move it because it shaded out too many of my other herbs. It's beautiful, but it just gets too big.


 

Please send him up here next summer!!


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## GotGarlic (Dec 1, 2014)

Lucky for me, he loves to work in the yard  Hey, a trip to Boston in the fall might not be a bad idea, though. We don't get great fall color here.


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