Thai Yellow Curry

I am a huge lover of Thai food! While I love all Thai food, I am super partial to a good yellow curry.

But far too often, I can never find the perfect yellow curry. For me, a good yellow curry is not too thick but also not too soupy. It’s perfectly spiced and it features potatoes, carrots and onions. Don’t even think about throwing tomatoes, or any other veggie in there! While there we have our favorite Thai places we order from frequently who get it right, sometimes you just gotta make it for yourself.

While this recipe may look slightly intimidating by the sheer amount of ingredients and steps, it’s mainly taking advantage of your average pantry ingredients and staples probably have on hand. The curry paste is perfect for use in this very Thai yellow curry recipe, but also for soups, meats, whatever your heart desires! The result of the curry is silky smooth and perfectly spiced, and reminiscent of your favorite takeout joint.

Thai Yellow Curry

Inspired and adapted mainly from Pinch of Yum's Thai Yellow Curry 

Ingredients

Yellow Curry Paste

• 2 heads garlic

• 2 shallots, peeled

• 3 tablespoons ginger paste or chopped fresh ginger

• 3 tablespoons lemongrass paste

• 3 tablespoons yellow curry powder

• 1 large handful cilantro leaves

• 3 tablespoons tumeric

• 2 teaspoons coriander

• 1-2 tablespoons red chili flakes (depending on how spicy you like it! I used two tablespoons and it resulted in a medium spice curry, so use that as your baseline)

• 1 tablespoon salt

Thai Yellow Curry 

• 2 tablespoons olive oil

• 1 pound chicken breasts, cut into bite size pieces

• 1 onion, thinly sliced

• 2 carrots, peeled and cut into bite size pieces

• 1 sweet potato, peeled and cut into bite size pieces

• 2-3 yukon gold potatoes, peeled and cut into bite size pieces

• 1 can full-fat coconut milk

• 1 cup water

• 2 tablespoons fish sauce

• Cilantro for serving

Directions

Yellow Curry Paste: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Drizzle shallots with olive oil and salt and wrap in a foil pouch. Cut the pointy top off garlic heads so the cloves are partially exposed. Drizzle with olive oil and wrap each head in foil. Bake foil packets for 35 minutes.

Put everything in a food processor and puree until it reaches a thick, paste-like consistency. Store in mason jars. For whatever you don't use for this recipe, use for marinades and/or freeze!

Thai Yellow Curry: Heat oil in a large pot or dutch oven over medium low heat. Add onions and saute for a few minutes until the onions are fragrant and softened. Add chicken and curry paste and saute for 3-5 minutes. Add the potatoes, carrots and sweet potatoes and stir to coat with the curry paste.

Add coconut milk and water and let simmer for about 30 minutes or until the chicken and potatoes are fully cooked. Stir in the fish sauce and cook for another 5 minutes. Serve over cauliflower or jasmine rice and top with cilantro. Tastes just like better than takeout!