Whenever you go to a Thai restaurant, you might notice a variety of curries being served: red, yellow, orange, and green. It pretty much goes with just about any meat, seafood or vegetable available. Curry is made from a paste of ground chiles and spices. The variations depend on the kinds and proportions of chiles being used in the paste. So which ones are for the hot adventurous tastebuds and which ones are for the mild dabblers?
1) Yellow Curry (Nam Prik Kaeng Kari)
This is the mildest of the curries. Yellow or dried red chiles are used in preparing the paste. The addition of turmeric is what gives yellow curry its color. Other ingredients in the paste include garlic, shallots, lemongrass, gingerroot, salt and peppercorns. It is often cooked with coconut milk over any kind of meat, seafood or vegetable to give it a creamy texture.
2) Red Curry (Gaeng Phet Daeng Kai)
Red curry is actually medium in spiciness, which is slightly counterintuitive. It is made from dried red chiles, hence its red color. Other ingredients used to make the paste are coriander, cumin, shrimp paste, shallots, garlic, galangal, lemongrass, kaffir lime leaves, salt and peppercorns. Like yellow curry, it can be cooked in coconut milk with any meat or vegetable.
3) Green Curry (Gaeng Kiow Wahn)
This is made with fresh green chiles, which gives it a slight green color. Fresh green chiles are hotter than dried red ones. That is why this is the hottest curry of all. It uses essentially the same spices as red curry (see above) with the exception of the green chiles. Green curry can be used like any of the other colored curries in dishes.
4) Masaman Curry (Gaeng Masaman)
Masaman curry is orange in color. No, it is not because it is made from orange chiles. It is actually made with dried red chiles just like red curry. However, it is made with the addition of palm sugar, cardamon pods, cinnamon and tamarind juice. This gives the curry a sweeter taste than the others. The name Masaman is derived from the word Muslim and is popular among Thai Muslims.
5) Penang Curry (Gaeng Panang)
This curry originally comes from Penang, a state in Malaysia (I would argue that it is the food capital of Malaysia). Its popularity has made it a part of Thai cuisine. Similar to red curry it is made with red chiles and similar spices. Peanuts or peanut butter might be added to the paste. The main difference however, is in the preparation of the curry. Instead of boiling it with coconut milk, penang curry is fried in coconut milk which makes it a drier curry.
All these curries can be prepared at home with a food processor or blender to grind and mix the spices. However, that would require being able to handle hot chiles, which has oils that can burn your hands. (And then if you ever make the mistake of rubbing your eyes and nose with those hands…) Another difficulty is actually finding all those wonderful ingredients like galangal, kaffir lime leaves, and lemongrass.
I am all for making it from scratch if you can get pass those hurdles. Luckily, you can go to any Asian food market and there are cans and tubs of curry pastes in all colors ready for purchase. All you have to do is then buy coconut milk and the meat or vegetable of your choice and you are ready to go. Maesri brand makes a variety of Thai curry pastes that have excellent flavors. For mild tasters like me, I often use a tablespoon or two of the paste and store the rest in a container in the freezer for future use. At 89 cents a can, it can last a good 3 to 4 meals. Curry chicken recipes cannot be any simpler and cheaper.
Yummy rainbow curry!