Top 8 Thai green pastes to spice up a home-cooked curry

Gently fry the vegetable chunks with onion and garlic in a little oil, add the paste, toss around, and then the coconut milk/cream. Cover the saucepan and allow to bubble gently until the vegetables are cooked through. Add water if it dries out. Or roast at 180C in the oven or an air fryer with a little coating of the paste until soft.

Curried soup is deliciously warming. Add vegetable stock to vegetables, paste and coconut cream with a handful of noodles to bulk it out.

This Top 8 selection of Thai green curry paste stood out because of their interesting flavours. These sauces are fresher than other curry styles, and a spoonful makes a great rescue remedy for dull dishes.

Fused Thai green curry paste 95g €2.99

Light, bright, fresh flavoured, this was easily the favourite. Water is the main ingredient and is thickened with just enough cornflour to keep the texture natural. Shallots, soy sauce, green chilli, galangal, lime leaves, coriander, garlic and ginger purées, honey, rice vinegar, lemongrass, cumin, black pepper, ground coriander and lime juice, provide a wonderful complexity. Salt at 2.9% is moderate. A good product made in Co Kildare.

Score: 9

Mae Ploy Green curry paste 400g €3.75

Green chilli at 31% provides a lot of heat. Salts are a high 13.5%. A decent 21% lemongrass, 18.5% garlic, galangal 8.5%, shrimp paste 4%, kaffir lime peel 2%, all add to a rich flavour with no thickeners. 

Serve with plenty of coconut milk to counteract the saltiness.

Made in Thailand.

Score: 8

Blue Dragon Thai Green curry paste 170g €2-€2.65

The first hit is of sugar, which is fourth on the list after water (thickened with modified maize starch and soybean paste), lemongrass (11%), and garlic purée (11%). There is also onion purée, galangal, chillies (3%), Thai basil (2.5%), coriander leaf, salt (2.2%), lime leaves (1.5%), coriander, black pepper, cumin, and turmeric. The flavour which is medium (two chillies) is overpowered by the 13% sugar sweetness.
Score: 7

Terra Sana Thai Green curry paste 120g €3.99

A high 45% chilli and some lemongrass, kaffir lime, and galangal root make for an interesting citrus flavour, softened by cumin and coriander for good echoes of Thailand where it is produced. While quite salty at 13.5%, the flavours still come through and are particularly good with fish. From Asian food shops, we bought at SensAsian Ballincollig Cork.

Score: 8.5

Aldi Thai Green Curry paste 140g €1.49

With water at the top of the list, it is thickened with cornflour for a flavoursome sauce, with a three-chilli indication of heat on the label. This comes from 13% green chilli, with 11% lemongrass, onion, ginger, garlic powder, lime, anchovy extract, coriander, cumin and turmeric. Salt comes to a moderately high, but not overdone, 3.6%. Produced in Co Cork.

Score: 8

Thai Gold Green curry paste 113g €2.39

The first hit here is of salt which at 5.8% is not surprising. Other ingredients include green chilli, galangal, garlic, shallots (for texture), lemongrass, coriander root, kaffir lime, pepper, and chilli pepper, all playing a supportive role. There is no thickener so the texture is quite dense and natural.

Widely available.

Score: 8

M&S Thai Green curry paste shots 190g €3

Green chillies 11% provide the three chilli heat label for this nicely light and oily (from rice bran oil) paste, with 10% lemongrass, 8% galangal gently sweetened with palm sugar for balance. There is shrimp paste (not fishy), and salt at 1.9% is not overdone. Paste delivers a gentle backtaste of garlic and lime zest, with warm cumin and turmeric. Toasted coconut adds texture. Milder shots (four for €3.75) will suit the uninitiated. Made in Thailand.

Score: 8.5

Spice Tailor Thai Green curry 275g €4.95

This caught our eye for its three packs – a pouch of spice paste with another pouch of coconut sauce, which is creamy and mild. Another small one has kaffir lime leaves and a dried chilli. Salt is commendably just 1%, and the chilli is mild with more lemongrass and galangal, which makes a good introduction to Thai flavours. This won’t satisfy those who want a strong chilli kick, but for those who want to experiment with Thai flavours, it’s worth a try.

Score: 7.75