You might have heard Thai chefs say that red curry paste is the most versatile of the Thai curry pastes you can buy at your local super market or Asian grocery store. This is because red curry paste is foundational of so many other dishes! Be is soup, salad dressing, dipping sauces or even sausage, red curry can be found in recipes for each of these categories. Here are some examples of what you can do with the 1 jar of RED curry paste in your freezer (sorry, green and yellow wont work for this!).
Creative Ways to use up Leftover Thai Curry Paste at Home
Use it to make Northern Thai Sausage, Sai Ua
Out of everything suggested on this list, this is the one to make. This sausage isn't very easy to find outside of Thailand and it's one of the best sausages you'll ever eat. The most important ingredient in this recipe, however, can be tricky to find, and that's Makrut lime leaves. They show up in Asian markets in the fresh produce section once in a while and I have heard they can be found in the frozen sections as well. The bright fresh aroma of the lime leaves perfume the recipe and elevate it to a place no other sausage has ever reached. Find the recipe for Sai Ua here.
Use your leftover curry paste to make Soup! Kao Soi
It may be surprising to some, but the very popular Northern Thai curry noodle soup, Kao Soi, uses a red curry as it's base. This soup has a very distinct flavor profile from the turmeric and the black cardamom, so all that's needed is to supplement your leftover store bought Thai curry paste with those ingredients! I have had very good success using a store bought paste for this purpose. For a serving of 4 people, add in 3T curry past, 1T coriander powder, 1T turmeric powder and 1/4 t black cardamom (lightly toasted in a pan and ground up in a mortar and pestle) into 2 cups of coconut milk. Bring to a boil. Add chicken pieces (4+ thighs) and enough water to cover the chicken, or at least 2 cups, and 2t Thai soy sauce. Simmer until the chicken is cooked. Cook noodles in boiling water. Serve soup over noodles. Garnish with red chili flake, pickled mustard greens and sliced fresh shallot.
(The example photo is for the vegan version of this recipe, recipe found here)
Make some other type of curry with your leftover paste
There are other curries out there that use a Red Curry as a base. Panang Curry, Masaman Curry and Kua Curry with crab (pictured) are all options at your disposal. My strategy for using a store leftover bought tub of Thai red curry paste to make different curries is to always first mix with curry past into the coconut milk so it's well emulsified, then I put it in a little pot to bring to a boil. Using this little tool I made a while back, I will check which ingredients need to be added to my red curry paste, to turn my recipe into Masaman or Panang etc and add them in to the simmering curry pot. For adding spices, I'd add about about 1 - 1/2 teaspoon of each, depending on potency.
Make a salad dressing using leftover curry paste
Yam Ta-Wai, Thai-Burmese Salad is a salad made of vegetables poached in coconut milk and enjoyed with a thick curry dressing. You can make this exact salad recipe, or you can riff on it and do some kind of delicious noodle salad thing with your favorite protein and crunchy veg. This is a great way to put your leftover Thai red curry paste to use!
Make a Dipping Sauce for Satay or really anything!
The base of a traditional Thai satay dipping sauce is red curry paste. So adapting your tub of leftover Thai curry paste into a satay sauce is quite easy. Here's a quick and dirty recipe for a satay sauce using a store bought paste. You don't have to cook satay to enjoy this sauce- add it to a roasted or BBQ chicken meal and see how happy it makes everyone. (Bonus points for serving with sticky rice and fresh cucumber slices)
1) Mix 3T of red curry paste into 1 Cup coconut milk.
2) Add to pan and simmer until red oil begins to puddle on the top. like in this video.
3) Add in 1-3 T palm sugar (to taste, this is often a quite sweet dipping sauce)
4) Add 1/2 C crushed roasted peanuts.
5) Add 1-2 T fish sauce to taste, continue to simmer until it reaches a thick consistency, similar to oatmeal.
Serve right away or refrigerate until ready to use. Bring it out of the fridge at least 30 min before serving.
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