A curry paste of dried yellow chillies (prik leung or dried yellow spur chillies), fresh turmeric, shallots, garlic, and lemongrass — producing a paste whose colour is a vivid, warm yellow from the turmeric and the yellow chilli. Yellow curry is the mildest of the Thai curry pastes in heat and the most accessible to palates unfamiliar with Thai chilli intensity. Its aromatic profile is less complex than red or green — the turmeric provides an earthy depth, the yellow chilli a mild, sweet-mellow heat, and the lemongrass a bright aromatic top note.
**The yellow chilli:** Dried yellow spur chillies provide both the colour contribution (their carotenoid compounds, different from the red carotenoids of dried red chillies) and a mild, fruity heat. Where unavailable: dried Anaheim or mild dried yellow chillies. **The paste components:** - Dried yellow chillies: soaked, drained. - Fresh turmeric: sliced (or dried turmeric as a substitute, though fresh produces a more vivid colour). - Lemongrass. - Shallots, garlic. - Shrimp paste. - Coriander seed: toasted, ground. - Cumin: toasted, ground. **Applications:** Yellow curry is used for chicken, potato, and onion (gaeng leuang gai man farang) — the combination that most closely resembles the Indian-influenced yellow curry familiar internationally. Thompson positions yellow curry as one of the most historically direct expressions of the Indian culinary influence on Thai court cuisine through the Malay-Muslim trade connections.
David Thompson, *Thai Food* (2002); *Thai Street Food* (2010)