Yellow Curry Sauce (Sốt cà ri vàng)

November 13, 2020

Yellow Curry Sauce (Sốt cà ri vàng) © kvalifood.com

A Vietnamese-style yellow curry sauce - rich with coconut cream, fragrant with coriander root, and layered with both curry powder and red curry paste. This sits somewhere between a Thai and Indian curry, which makes sense given Vietnam’s position as a crossroads of culinary influences. Use it as a sauce for chicken, seafood, or vegetables.

Ingredients

¼ cup vegetable oil
½ cup shallots, sliced
¼ cup coriander root, pounded
1 heaped tbsp curry powder
¾ cup red curry paste
1 tbsp fish sauce
½ tbsp palm sugar
2 tbsp soya sauce
½ cup chilli oil (see page 337)
3 cups coconut cream
1 cup water

Directions

Heat the vegetable oil in a non-stick wok or large saucepan over medium heat.
Add the sliced shallots and stir. Add the pounded coriander root and cook, stirring, for about 2 minutes until fragrant.
Add the curry powder, red curry paste, and chilli oil. Stir constantly until the spices are fragrant and the paste is well combined with the oil.
Add the fish sauce, palm sugar, and soya sauce. Stir and cook for 2-3 minutes.
Pour in the coconut cream and water. Stir to combine.
Bring the sauce to a boil, then reduce the heat and let it simmer for about 10 minutes until it thickens slightly and the flavours come together.

Notes

Optionally, strain the sauce through a sieve after cooking to remove fibre from the coriander root and lemongrass in the curry paste. This gives a smoother result.
The chilli oil referenced is the annatto-based Vietnamese chilli oil from this collection.
This makes a generous batch of curry sauce - enough for a meal for 4-6 people.