Thai food recipes: Southern-style crab yellow curry

Inspired by his travels to Phuket and Southern Thailand, Thai chef Nawamin Pinpathomrat, aka Dr Boss, brings you this mouth-watering yellow crab curry recipe. For more Thailand travel and food inspiration from Dr Boss, follow our Master Chef Turns Master Tour Guide series.

Southern-style crab yellow curry with betel leaves and garlic rice noodles

Ingredients

For the curry paste 

• 10 Thai bird’s eye chillies  
• 4 cloves of garlic
• 4 shallots 
• 1 stem fresh galangal 
• 2 stems of lemongrass 
• 1 tsp of kaffir lime rind (optional)
• 1 stem fresh turmeric 
• ½ tbs of black peppercorns
• ½ tbs of sea salt flakes
• 1 tbs of shrimp paste

For the curry sauce 

• 200g of crab meat
• 3 tbs of the yellow curry paste
• 1 can of coconut milk 
• 1 tbs of palm sugar 
• 1 tbs of fish sauce
• 1 tsp of sea salt flakes
• 4 kaffir lime leaves
• 20 betel leaves or Thai basil

For the garlic rice noodles

• 2 tbs of vegetable oil
• 4 cloves of garlic
• 100g of rice noodles
• 1 tsp of sea salt 

Method

For the curry paste

• Chop the chillies, garlic, shallots, galangal, lemongrass, turmeric, black peppercorns and kaffir lime rind  
• Crush them into a smooth paste using pestle and mortar 
• Add salt and shrimp paste to the paste and mix the paste again
• Remove the curry paste from the mortar and leave it aside

For the curry sauce 

• Add 2 tbs of coconut milk into the heated saucepan 
• Stir fry the paste for 10 minutes until fragrant 
• Add 3 tbs of coconut milk to the pan and keep stir frying for 5 minutes
• Add the crab meat and the rest of the coconut milk
• Season the sauce with palm sugar, fish sauce and sea salt
• Reduce the sauce to the right consistency 
• Add betel leaves and kaffir lime leaves before taking off the heat

For the garlic rice noodles

• Add vegetable oil to the hot pan
• Add chopped garlic in the pan and fry until it turns light yellow
• Take off the heat and leave it aside; the garlic will keep cooking and turn to golden brown
• Boil the rice noodles in salted boiling water
• Transfer the boiled rice noodles into cold water
• Drain the water and mix the noodles with the garlic oil before serving 

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