Red curry (, , , lit. 'spicy curry') is a Thai cuisine consisting of red curry paste cooked in coconut milk with meat such as chicken, beef, pork, duck or shrimp added, or else a vegetarian protein source such as tofu.
Red curry paste
The base Thai red curry paste (, ) is traditionally made with a mortar and pestle, and remains moist throughout the preparation process. The red coloring is derived from dry red spur chillies (, ) – which is dried
phrik chi fa red chilies. The main ingredients include (dried) red
,
garlic,
,
galangal,
shrimp paste,
Edible salt,
makrut lime leaves,
coriander root, coriander seeds,
cumin seeds,
and
lemongrass.
Today, the prepared Thai red curry pastes are available at markets produced in mass quantities, and also available in bottles and jars produced by some brands.
Ingredients and preparation
The prepared red curry paste is cooked on a saucepan with cooking oil, to which coconut milk is added.
Then the meat as protein source is added into the curry-base soup. Various kinds of meats are used in red curry, such as chicken, beef, pork, shrimp, and duck, and exotic meats such as
frog and
. The most common, however, are chicken, pork and beef. The meat is cut into bite-sized pieces. Common additives are
fish sauce, sugar, chopped
makrut lime leaves,
Thai eggplant,
bamboo shoots, and
Thai basil (
bai horapha).
Tofu, meat analogues or vegetables such as pumpkin can be substituted as a pseudo-vegetarian option, but due to the presence of shrimp paste in curry paste, substituting protein does not make the dish vegetarian. There are, however, vegetarian red curry pastes available.
This dish normally has a soup-like consistency and is served in a bowl and eaten with steamed rice.
Red curry paste itself is the core flavouring for a number of other dishes such thot man pla (fish cakes) and sai ua (grilled Chiang Mai sausage).
See also
External links
