I love Thai curries for their ease and flexibility; I use them quite often when I need to use up random vegetables left in the fridge. Got some leftover sweet potato, zucchini and peas – great – just simmer them in this sauce!
The basics of the sauce are yellow curry paste (this one has slightly sweet Indian flavors like turmeric), coconut milk and fish sauce. Everything else can really be tweaked, but here’s the common recipe we make most often.
- 1 can coconot milk
- 2 tbsp yellow curry paste
- 1 cup water
- 3 tbsp fish sauce
- 1 tsp sugar
- 1 can bamboo shoots
- 1/2 cup frozen peas
- 1 zucchini chopped
- 1 red bell pepper sliced into thin strips
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Pour 1/5th of cocnut milk into large sauce pan and heat until it begins to bubble
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Stir in curry paste and quickly work into hot coconut milk until evenly mixed
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Add half of remaining coconut milk to pan. Heat on medium-hihght heat until the sauce thickens and oil seperates. 5-10 minutes.
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Add one cup of water and the rest of the coconut milk. Stir until well mixed.
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Add fish sauce and sugar. Stir. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat.
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Add veggies, cook until happy with texture.
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Serve over steamed jasmine rice and with protein of choice.
In the above recipe I’m using air fried tofu as the protein. You can happily adapt to whatever you have on hand. Typically I’d cook a protein on the side to about the half way point, then simmer in the yellow curry sauce for the remainder of the cooking time, so as to integrate the flavors. Fish, pork and chicken would work really well in the sweet flavors here.
My curry paste of preference is Mae Ploy. Sure you can make your own, but Mae Ploy will get you 90% to where you want to be flavor wise which is good enough for me. Moreover, you can find this in many grocery stores around the country and you can also buy Mae Ploy curry paste on Amazon (affiliate link) for very little money. The price is reasonable, it usually ships on Prime, and it lasts for months if not years in the fridge.
Easy, cheap, flexible – what more do you want from a standby recipe!
Hi, I’m Stuart, nice to meet you! I’m the founder, writer and wrangler at Gastronomic SLC – Utah’s biggest and oldest online food magazine; I’m also a former restaurant critic of more than five years, working for the Salt Lake Tribune. I’ve worked extensively with multiple local publications from Visit Salt Lake to Salt Lake Magazine, not least helped to consult on national TV shows.
I’m a multiple-award winning journalist and have covered the Utah dining scene for the better part of fifteen years. I’m largely fueled by a critical obsession with rice, alliteration and the use of big words I don’t understand. I started Shop Smart to catalogue my adventures in the grocery store and kitchen. Follow along on Instagram too!