Thai Yellow Curry with Minced Pork
My recipe for Thai yellow curry features ground pork – it’s surprisingly amazing! A fragrant coconut sauce is just perfect for the tiny morsels of meat – it’s even better spooned over fragrant Jasmine rice. Get the from-scratch recipe below…
My Thai Yellow Curry with Minced Pork is a perfect combination of all that I love about Thai food - and South East Asian Curries in particular. The perfect balance of spice, sweetness, sourness and salt - this curry has it all.
Less known than its counterparts the green and red curry, yellow curry is by no means the poor cousin! It has plenty to bring to the table. The colour for one is vibrant and inviting - a sunny hue brought from the use of the new fad-favourite, turmeric. The taste in general is milder too - although I have eaten mind glowingly hot versions of yellow curry, but when I make mine, I make it mild.
I've not eaten a minced meat version of curry in any restaurant, but was inspired by eating a delicious Chicken Larb at my local Thai recently and wondered it minced meat would work as a curry - almost like a Thai bolognese sauce! I can report that it does indeed work - very well!
Holy-Moly Delicious
Because it's a milder sauce, I like to up the fragrance of the dish by adding lots of Thai Basil (often called Holy Basil) and fresh coriander at the end. I also added some fried peanuts one time and LOVED it so they're now a staple ingredient for this recipe. Similarly, I garnished the curry with sliced red onion that I'd marinated in lime juice one time and that too stuck! This curry has been a work in progress so who knows when it will end!
You can make this curry with or without coconut milk - without coconut milk, it becomes a jungle curry - just replace coconut with water. Personally I prefer the creaminess of the coconut milk - it also helps mellow the spice out too but if you forgot to buy coconut milk (i never do) you can make it without (I never do!)
Hope you enjoyed my Thai Yellow Curry with Minced Pork recipe - if you do cook it yourself, let me know what you thought in the comments below.
How to make my Thai Yellow Curry with Minced Pork
Ingredients
For the paste
- 1 lemon grass stalk (white part only, finely chopped)
- 1 tsp fresh galangal (chopped)
- 2 fresh red Thai chillies (chopped)
- 2 Kaffir lime leaves (finely sliced)
- 2 shallots (chopped)
- 1 coriander root and stalk (chopped)
- 4 cloves garlic (chopped)
- 2 tsp fresh turmeric (peeled & chopped) or 1 teaspoon powdered
- 1 tsp shrimp paste
- 1 tsp white pepper
- 1 tsp ground coriander
- 1 tsp ground cumin
- 1/2 tsp salt
For the curry
- 4 tbsp peanut oil
- 500 g pork mince
- 1 400g can coconut milk
- 2 tbsp fish sauce
- 1 lime (juice of)
- 1/2 cup Thai basil leaves (whole)
- 1/2 cup fresh coriander (for garnish)
- 2 spring onions (thinly sliced, for garnish)
- 1/3 cup unsalted peanuts
Instructions
- Using a stick blender or food processor, or a pestle & mortar blend everything together until you have a smooth paste. If you're using a pestle & mortar, add each fresh item separately in the order they're listed then stir in the powdered items.
- Heat a wok over a high heat with the oil until hot. Add the paste and fry for 1 minute until fragrant.
- Now add the pork mince and stir well for about 3-4 minutes.
- Pour in the coconut milk and 125ml water along with the fish sauce then bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer gently for 25 minutes partially covered.
- Remove from the heat and stir in the lime juice and Thai basil.
- Just before serving, scatter over the coriander, peanuts and onion and serve alongside lots of fluffy jasmine rice and more lime wedges to squeeze over.
Nutrition
More is more! 5 minutes before cooking is over, i've been known to add a cup of fresh veg to this curry to make up my 5-a-day - small florets of broccoli, carrot batons, green beans or sugar-snap peas.
Did you make my Thai Yellow Curry with Minced Pork?
How did you go? Let me know in the comments below and be sure to tag @cookeatworld at Instagram.
That was lovely- great recipe!
I sometimes throw some Thai basil over when I cook this, but it’s more difficult to find. Probably as it’s more delicious than regular basil.
WOW!!! delicious,… this would be my favourite thai recipe i have tried. i did add…1 tab.s mango pickles…1tsp belacan (shirmp paste)…1tsp palm sugar…10 fresh thai basil (shredded)