Thai curry (, ) is a dish in

Thai cuisine Thai cuisine (, , ) is the national cuisine of Thailand. Thai cooking places emphasis on lightly prepared dishes with aromatics and spicy heat. The Australian chef David Thompson (chef), David Thompson, an expert on Thai food, observes that ...

made from curry paste,

coconut milk Coconut milk is a plant milk extracted from the grated pulp of mature coconuts. The opacity and rich taste of the milky-white liquid are due to its high oil content, most of which is saturated fat. Coconut milk is a traditional food ingred ...

or water, meat, seafood, vegetables or fruit, and herbs.

Curries Curry is a dish with a sauce or gravy seasoned with spices, mainly derived from the interchange of Indian cuisine with European taste in food, starting with the Portuguese, followed by the Dutch and British, and then thoroughly internation ...

in Thailand mainly differ from the

Indian subcontinent The Indian subcontinent is a physiographic region of Asia below the Himalayas which projects into the Indian Ocean between the Bay of Bengal to the east and the Arabian Sea to the west. It is now divided between Bangladesh, India, and Pakista ...

in their use of ingredients such as fresh rhizomes, herbs, and aromatic leaves rather than a mix of dried spices.

Definition

The first Thai dictionary from 1873 CE (2416 in the Thai Buddhist calendar) defines ''kaeng'' as a watery dish to be eaten with rice and utilizing

shrimp paste Shrimp paste or prawn sauce is a Fermentation, fermented condiment commonly used in Southeast Asian cuisine, Southeast Asian and Coastal Chinese cuisines. It is primarily made from finely crushed Shrimp and prawn as food, shrimp or krill mixed ...

, onions or shallots,

chillies Chili peppers, also spelled chile or chilli ( ), are varieties of fruit#Berries, berry-fruit plants from the genus ''Capsicum'', which are members of the nightshade family Solanaceae, cultivated for their pungency. They are used as a spice to ...

, and garlic as essential ingredients. Coconut milk is not included in this definition and many Thai curries, such as and , do not feature it. Curries in

Lanna The Lan Na kingdom or the Kingdom of Lanna (, , "Kingdom of a Million Rice Fields"; , , ), also known as Lannathai, was an Indianized state centered in present-day Northern Thailand from the 13th to the 18th centuries. The cultural developme ...

(northern Thai) cuisine, with only a few exceptions, do not use coconut milk due to coconut palms not growing well, if at all, in the climate of the Thai highlands. The

spiciness Pungency ( ) is the taste of food commonly referred to as spiciness, hotness or heat, found in foods such as chili peppers. Highly pungent tastes may be experienced as unpleasant. The term piquancy ( ) is sometimes applied to foods with a lower ...

of Thai curries depends on the amount and kind of chilli used in the making of the paste. Even within one type of curry the spiciness can differ widely. The word "curry" figures in the

Thai language Thai,In or Central Thai (historically Siamese;Although "Thai" and "Central Thai" have become more common, the older term, "Siamese", is still used by linguists, especially when it is being distinguished from other Tai languages (Diller 2008:6 ...

as ''"kari"'' (), and refers to dishes using either an Indian-style

curry powder Curry powder is a spice mix for curry originating from the Indian subcontinent, adapted from but not to be confused with the native spice mix of garam masala. History As commercially available in Western markets, curry powder is comparable t ...

, known as ''phong kari'' in Thailand, or to the dish called ''kaeng kari'', an Indian-influenced curry that is made with spices that are common to Indian dishes but less often used in these proportions in Thai cuisine. ''Kung phat phong kari'' (prawns fried with egg and curry powder) is an example of a dish using the Indian style curry powder. Although is also defined as being of "watery" substance, the thickness of the sauce can vary considerably from

broth Broth, also known as bouillon (), is a savory liquid made of water in which meat, fish, or vegetables have been simmered for a short period of time. It can be eaten alone, but it is most commonly used to prepare other dishes, such as soups ...

-like to that of a thick

stew A stew is a combination of solid food ingredients that have been Cooking, cooked in Soup, liquid and served in the resultant gravy. Ingredients can include any combination of vegetables and may include meat, especially tougher meats suitable for ...

, and it can even be a completely dry dish. Representatives of dry curries, dishes which are (stir-)fried with a curry paste, are and . and are representatives of the more broth-like curries. and resemble stews. (a

steamed Steaming is a method of cooking using steam. This is often done with a food steamer, a kitchen appliance made specifically to cook food with steam, but food can also be steamed in a wok. In the American Southwest, steam pits used for cooking ha ...

fish curry), (curry

aspic Aspic () or meat jelly is a savoury gelatin made with a meat stock (food), stock or broth, set in a mold to encase other ingredients. These often include pieces of meat, seafood, vegetable, or eggs. Aspic is also sometimes referred to as ''aspic ...

from northern Thailand) and noodle dishes such as are also seen as Thai curry dishes as they all use curry pastes in their preparation. The dish called is an exception to the rule that a should contain chillies, garlic, onions and shrimp paste. It is a clear Chinese-style meat and/or vegetable broth with mixed vegetables and often also minced pork,

tofu or bean curd is a food prepared by Coagulation (milk), coagulating soy milk and then pressing the resulting curds into solid white blocks of varying softness: ''silken'', ''soft'', ''firm'', and ''extra (or super) firm''. It originated in Chin ...

and

glass noodles Glass noodles, or fensi (), sometimes called cellophane noodles, are a type of transparent noodle made from starch (such as mung bean starch, potato starch, sweet potato starch, tapioca, or canna starch) and water. They originated in China. A s ...

. The name translates as "bland curry" but it is seen as being a ''tom'', a soup, and it is therefore also often called ''tom chuet''. Curries are eaten in combination with rice, the long-grained

jasmine rice Jasmine rice (; ; ) is a long-grain variety of fragrant rice (also known as aromatic rice). Its fragrance, reminiscent of ''pandan'' ('' Pandanus amaryllifolius'') and popcorn, results from the rice plant's natural production of aroma compounds, ...

in central and

southern Thailand Southern Thailand (formerly Southern Siam and Tambralinga) is the southernmost cultural region of Thailand, separated from Central Thailand by the Kra Isthmus. Geography Southern Thailand is on the Malay Peninsula, with an area of around , bo ...

and

sticky rice Sticky may refer to: Adhesion *Adhesion, the tendency of dissimilar particles or surfaces to cling to one another *Sticky mat, an adhesive mat used in cleanrooms to lessen contamination from footwear *Sticky note, a generic term for a Post-it Note ...

in northern and

northeastern Thailand Northeast Thailand or Isan (Isan/, ; ; also written as Isaan, Isarn, Issarn, Issan, Esan, or Esarn; from Pāli ''isāna'' or Sanskrit ईशान्य ''īśānya'' "northeast") consists of 20 provinces in northeastern Thailand. Isan is T ...

, and with noodles such as (fermented rice noodles). Certain curries can also be eaten with ''roti'', the Thai version of the Indian-style fried flat bread from

Malaysia Malaysia is a country in Southeast Asia. Featuring the Tanjung Piai, southernmost point of continental Eurasia, it is a federation, federal constitutional monarchy consisting of States and federal territories of Malaysia, 13 states and thre ...

called . Khao kaeng or , meaning "curry-on-rice", is a traditional type of

fast food Fast food is a type of Mass production, mass-produced food designed for commercial resale, with a strong priority placed on speed of service. ''Fast food'' is a commercial term, limited to food sold in a restaurant or store with frozen, preheat ...

restaurant in Thailand which specialises in ready-made curries, and often several other dishes as well, served with rice. Their popularity in

Bangkok Bangkok, officially known in Thai language, Thai as Krung Thep Maha Nakhon and colloquially as Krung Thep, is the capital and most populous city of Thailand. The city occupies in the Chao Phraya River delta in central Thailand and has an estim ...

as a place for a quick lunchtime meal is in decline.

Typical ingredients

Curry paste

Thai curries are always made with a curry paste. Common ingredients used in many Thai curry pastes are: *

Shrimp paste Shrimp paste or prawn sauce is a Fermentation, fermented condiment commonly used in Southeast Asian cuisine, Southeast Asian and Coastal Chinese cuisines. It is primarily made from finely crushed Shrimp and prawn as food, shrimp or krill mixed ...

Chillies Chili peppers, also spelled chile or chilli ( ), are varieties of fruit#Berries, berry-fruit plants from the genus ''Capsicum'', which are members of the nightshade family Solanaceae, cultivated for their pungency. They are used as a spice to ...

; depending on the curry these can be dried or fresh, red or green *

Onion An onion (''Allium cepa'' , from Latin ), also known as the bulb onion or common onion, is a vegetable that is the most widely cultivated species of the genus '' Allium''. The shallot is a botanical variety of the onion which was classifie ...

s or

shallot The shallot is a cultivar group of the onion. Until 2010, the (French red) shallot was classified as a separate species, ''Allium ascalonicum''. The taxon was synonymized with '' Allium cepa'' (the common onion) in 2010, as the difference was t ...

s *

Garlic Garlic (''Allium sativum'') is a species of bulbous flowering plants in the genus '' Allium''. Its close relatives include the onion, shallot, leek, chives, Welsh onion, and Chinese onion. Garlic is native to central and south Asia, str ...

Lemongrass ''Cymbopogon'', also known as lemongrass, barbed wire grass, silky heads, oily heads, Cochin grass, Malabar grass, citronella grass or fever grass, is a genus of Asian, African, Australian, and tropical island plants in the grass family. Some ...

Galangal Galangal () is a rhizome of plants in the ginger family Zingiberaceae, with culinary and medicinal uses originating in Indonesia. It is one of four species in the genus ''Alpinia'', and is known for its pungent, aromatic flavor. Greater gal ...

Coriander Coriander (), whose leaves are known as cilantro () in the U.S. and parts of Canada, and dhania in parts of South Asia and Africa, is an annual plant, annual herb (''Coriandrum sativum'') in the family Apiaceae. Most people perceive the ...

(cilantro) root Depending on the type of curry, additional ingredients for the paste can include spices such as

turmeric Turmeric (), or ''Curcuma longa'' (), is a flowering plant in the ginger family Zingiberaceae. It is a perennial, rhizomatous, herbaceous plant native to the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia that requires temperatures between and high ...

, pepper, coriander seeds,

cardamom Cardamom (), sometimes cardamon or cardamum, is a spice made from the seeds of several plants in the genus (biology), genera ''Elettaria'' and ''Amomum'' in the family Zingiberaceae. Both genera are native to the Indian subcontinent and Indon ...

pods, and

cumin Cumin (, ; ; ''Cuminum cyminum'') is a flowering plant in the family Apiaceae, native to the Irano-Turanian Region. Its seeds – each one contained within a fruit, which is dried – are used in the cuisines of many cultures in both whole ...

, or other ingredients such as boiled fermented fish, and

fingerroot ''Boesenbergia rotunda'' (, , , ), commonly known as Chinese keys, fingerroot, lesser galangal or Chinese ginger, is a medicinal and culinary herb from China and Southeast Asia. In English, the root has traditionally been called fingerroot, beca ...

. Ingredients are traditionally ground together with a

mortar and pestle A mortar and pestle is a set of two simple tools used to prepare ingredients or substances by compression (physics), crushing and shear force, grinding them into a fine Paste (rheology), paste or powder in the kitchen, laboratory, and pharmacy. ...

, though increasingly with an electric

food processor A food processor is a kitchen appliance used to facilitate repetitive tasks in the preparation of food. Today, the term almost always refers to an electric-motor-driven appliance, although there are some manual devices also referred to as "food ...

. With many curries, the paste is first stir-fried in

cooking oil Cooking oil (also known as edible oil) is a plant or animal liquid fat used in frying, baking, and other types of cooking. Oil allows higher cooking temperatures than water, making cooking faster and more flavorful, while likewise distributing h ...

before other components are added in to the dish. This allows certain flavours in the spices and other ingredients in the paste to develop that cannot be released at the lower temperature of boiling water. Both ''khrueang kaeng'' () and ''

nam phrik ''Nam phrik'' (, ) is a type of Thailand, Thai Spice, spicy chili sauce typical of Thai cuisine. Usual ingredients for ''nam phrik'' type sauces are fresh or dry chilies, garlic, shallots, Lime (fruit), lime juice and often some kind of Fish past ...

kaeng'' () are used to describe "curry paste" in Thailand. The latter is sometimes even shortened to only ''phrik kaeng'' (). Thai curry pastes can be made at home from the bare ingredients, bought freshly made at markets in Thailand, or they can be had packaged at shops and supermarkets.

Main ingredients

Most Thai curries are made with meat, fish or

shellfish Shellfish, in colloquial and fisheries usage, are exoskeleton-bearing Aquatic animal, aquatic invertebrates used as Human food, food, including various species of Mollusca, molluscs, crustaceans, and echinoderms. Although most kinds of shellfish ...

as their main ingredient. Vegetables and fruit, but also certain tree leaves such as from the '' Acacia pennata'' (''cha-om'') and the '' Ficus virens'' (''phak lueat''), and flowers such as those of the '' Sesbania grandiflora'' (''dok khae'') and

banana A banana is an elongated, edible fruit – botanically a berry – produced by several kinds of large treelike herbaceous flowering plants in the genus '' Musa''. In some countries, cooking bananas are called plantains, distinguishing the ...

(''hua pli''), can be added. Curries that contain mainly vegetables are, for example, ''kaeng liang'' (mixed vegetables) and ''kaeng nomai'' ( bamboo shoots). Ingredients were dictated by regional and seasonal availability: both

pork Pork is the culinary name for the meat of the pig (''Sus domesticus''). It is the most commonly consumed meat worldwide, with evidence of pig animal husbandry, husbandry dating back to 8000–9000 BCE. Pork is eaten both freshly cooke ...

and

chicken The chicken (''Gallus gallus domesticus'') is a domesticated subspecies of the red junglefowl (''Gallus gallus''), originally native to Southeast Asia. It was first domesticated around 8,000 years ago and is now one of the most common and w ...

(possibly first domesticated from wild jungle fowl in what is now Thailand) are easily available, and so are many varieties of fish, and shellfish, both fresh water species from the many rivers, lakes and rice paddies, as well as salt water species from the

Andaman Sea The Andaman Sea (historically also known as the Burma Sea) is a marginal sea of the northeastern Indian Ocean bounded by the coastlines of Myanmar and Thailand along the Gulf of Martaban and the west side of the Malay Peninsula, and separated f ...

and the

Gulf of Thailand The Gulf of Thailand (), historically known as the Gulf of Siam (), is a shallow inlet adjacent to the southwestern South China Sea, bounded between the southwestern shores of the Indochinese Peninsula and the northern half of the Malay Peninsula. ...

. Other traditional ingredients in Thai curries include

frog A frog is any member of a diverse and largely semiaquatic group of short-bodied, tailless amphibian vertebrates composing the order (biology), order Anura (coming from the Ancient Greek , literally 'without tail'). Frog species with rough ski ...

snake Snakes are elongated limbless reptiles of the suborder Serpentes (). Cladistically squamates, snakes are ectothermic, amniote vertebrates covered in overlapping scales much like other members of the group. Many species of snakes have s ...

snail A snail is a shelled gastropod. The name is most often applied to land snails, terrestrial molluscs, terrestrial pulmonate gastropod molluscs. However, the common name ''snail'' is also used for most of the members of the molluscan class Gas ...

wild birds ''Wild Birds'' () is a 1955 Swedish drama film directed by Alf Sjöberg and starring Maj-Britt Nilsson, Per Oscarsson and Ulf Palme.Qvist & Von Bagh p.121 It was shot at the Råsunda Studios in Stockholm and on location in Gothenburg. The fi ...

and

game A game is a structured type of play usually undertaken for entertainment or fun, and sometimes used as an educational tool. Many games are also considered to be work (such as professional players of spectator sports or video games) or art ...

such as

Sambar deer The sambar (''Rusa unicolor'') is a large deer native to the Indian subcontinent, South China and Southeast Asia that is listed as a vulnerable species on the IUCN Red List since 2008. Populations have declined substantially due to severe huntin ...

and

wild boar The wild boar (''Sus scrofa''), also known as the wild swine, common wild pig, Eurasian wild pig, or simply wild pig, is a Suidae, suid native to much of Eurasia and North Africa, and has been introduced to the Americas and Oceania. The speci ...

. Commonly used vegetables in curries are Thai eggplant (''makhuea pro''), yardlong beans (''thua fak yao''), and different types of squash and

pumpkin A pumpkin is a cultivar, cultivated winter squash in the genus ''Cucurbita''. The term is most commonly applied to round, orange-colored squash varieties, but does not possess a scientific definition. It may be used in reference to many dif ...

s (''fak'').

Additional ingredients

Fresh

kaffir lime ''Citrus hystrix'', called the kaffir lime, Thai lime or makrut lime, (, ) is a citrus fruit native to tropical Southeast Asia. Its fruit and leaves are used in Southeast Asian cuisine, and its essential oil is used in perfumery. Its rind and cr ...

leaves (''bai makrut''),

(''krachai''), or fresh herbs such as

Thai basil Thai basil is a type of basil native to Southeast Asia that has been cultivated to provide distinctive traits. Widely used throughout Southeast Asia, its flavor, described as anise- and licorice-like and slightly spicy, is more stable unde ...

(''horapa'') are often added to Thai curries. Kaffir lime leaves and ''krachai'' are often cooked along with the other ingredients but fresh herbs such as Thai basil are nearly always added at the last moment to preserve the full taste and serve as a contrasting note to the flavours of a curry.

Fish sauce Fish sauce is a liquid condiment made from fish or krill that have been coated in salt and fermented for up to two years. It is used as a staple seasoning in East Asian cuisine and Southeast Asian cuisine, particularly Myanmar, Cambodia, L ...

is not only used when cooking the curry as a flavouring and for its salty taste, but it is usually also available at the table as a

condiment A condiment is a preparation that is added to food, typically after cooking, to enhance the Flavoring, flavour, to complement the dish or to impart a specific flavor. Such specific flavors generally add sweetness or pungency, or sharp or piquant ...

, mixed together with sliced green bird's-eye chillies for those that prefer their curries more salty and spicy. Sugar (traditionally

palm sugar Palm sugar is a sweetener derived from any variety of palm tree. Palm sugar may be qualified by the type of palm, as in coconut palm sugar. While sugars from different palms may have slightly different compositions, all are processed simila ...

) is used with curries that need to be sweetened. Besides lime juice,

tamarind Tamarind (''Tamarindus indica'') is a Legume, leguminous tree bearing edible fruit that is indigenous to tropical Africa and naturalized in Asia. The genus ''Tamarindus'' is monotypic taxon, monotypic, meaning that it contains only this spe ...

juice can also see use in sour curries as the souring agent such as in ''kaeng som''. To achieve the most fragrance from the ingredients in a curry paste, the curry paste is often first fried together with vegetable oil or coconut oil that has separated from the coconut cream, before adding in the other ingredients.

Popular Thai curries

* (, it is known as " yellow curry" in the West) *, a curry of northern Thai cuisine * (, it is known as " green curry" in the West) * (, in addition to the curry paste, it uses whatever is available in nature) * (, it is known as " red curry" in the West) * (, every region has its own variety) * (; the name is supposedly derived from " mosalman", an archaic word for "Muslim") *'' Kaeng ranjuan'' (a leftover food with spicy, sour, sweet, and salty beef curry seasoned with no more than fermented shrimp paste chili sauce) * (a Burmese-influenced curry

noodle soup Noodle soup refers to a variety of soups with noodles and other ingredients served in a light broth. Noodle soup is a common dish across East Asia, Southeast Asia and the Himalayan states of South Asia. Various types of noodles are used, such as ...

from northern Thailand) * (the name possibly refers to the

n island state of

Penang Penang is a Malaysian state located on the northwest coast of Peninsular Malaysia along the Strait of Malacca. It has two parts: Penang Island, where the capital city, George Town, is located, and Seberang Perai on the Malay Peninsula. Th ...

; this is a creamy and generally mild curry) * (, this Thai curry actually does not contain

ginger Ginger (''Zingiber officinale'') is a flowering plant whose rhizome, ginger root or ginger, is widely used as a spice and a folk medicine. It is an herbaceous perennial that grows annual pseudostems (false stems made of the rolled bases of l ...

)

Gallery

File:Curry paste fried with coco cream.JPG, ''Phanaeng'' paste is fried together with coconut cream File:Kaeng phak lueat.JPG, ''Kaeng phak lueat'', a northern Thai curry with ficus leaves File:Thai style Otah.JPG, ''Ho mok pla'', steamed fish curry File:Khua kling.JPG, ''Khua kling'', an extremely spicy, dry fried curry from southern Thailand File:2014 1204 Khao Soi in Chiang Mai.jpg, ''Khao soi'', a curry

from northern Thailand File:Kaeng kradang.jpg, ''Kaeng kradang'', a pork curry

File:Tom jued tahoo.jpg, ''Kaeng chuet'', the curry that isn't curry, but actually a soup. File:Kaeng tai pla34.JPG, ''

Kaeng tai pla ''Kaeng tai pla'' (, ) is a curry of southern Thai cuisine. Its name is derived from ''tai pla'', a salty sauce made from fermented fish entrails, which gives the curry a strong smell and flavor. This curry is usually served with fresh vegetabl ...

'', made from fermented fish entrails File:Thai Seafood Curry.jpg, A seafood curry in the United States inspired by the flavors of Thai cuisine File:แกงฮังเล ที่ หลู้ลำ.jpg, '' Kaeng hang le'', a northern Thai curry with Burmese influences

Sources and references

External links

Templeofthai.com: About Thai curry

highheelgourmet.com: Thai curry paste and ingredients that don't belong in them
{{Cuisine of Thailand