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Recipes by Category » Thai Green Papaya Sour Curry with Shrimp | Kaeng Som

Published: Feb 26, 2019 · Modified: Aug 1, 2020 by Nart · This post may contain affiliate links.

Thai Green Papaya Sour Curry with Shrimp | Kaeng Som

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a bowl of Thai green papaya sour curry

Did you ever think you could use papaya in a curry? As far as I can remember, I was introduced to the Thai green papaya sour curry at my kindergarten school. Yes, kindergarten! Sounds crazy and amazing at the same time, doesn’t it? Of course, it wasn’t spicy spicy and I can see why the school wanted to include this curry in their lunches. First of all, the sour curry is one of the healthiest Thai curries. You get fiber from the papaya and protein from the shrimp. There’s no coconut cream in it, so not a lot of fat. Also, this curry has all the flavors to get kids excited about their meal. While it’s predominantly sour, this curry is a mix of salty, sour, and sweet, which I think is quite an interesting taste for children.

two bowls of thai green papaya sour curr

a bowl of thai green papaya sour curr

In Thailand, we eat the green papaya sour curry with rice, and more often than not, it’s paired with Thai-style omelette or Thai sun-dried salted beef. The sour curry is especially good with something fried and on the saltier side. This basically defeats everything healthy about the dish. 🤣🤣 But nah, if you stick to just rice and sour curry, you’ll be absolutely fine. You might want to use more shrimp than I use in the recipe below to make it more filling.

Thai sour curry paste ingredients in a white plate

Thai Sour Curry Paste

Moving on to the fun part, which is the curry paste! Though we don’t always make a paste for every curry we make at home, the Thai sour curry paste is one my mom always makes by herself. In other words, we don’t ever buy the ready-made paste for this curry. For one thing, it’s not as good. I remember getting a powder version once when I was living abroad. And although it was better than nothing, I have to admit it wasn’t great at all.

And once you see how easy it is to make the paste, you won’t question why. The paste is basically a blend of dried chillies, shallots, fermented shrimp paste, fingerroot, and cooked shrimp or fish. If you don’t live in Thailand, your only problem might be finding the ingredients needed. If you can find them, definitely go for the homemade version!

Thai sour curry paste

While some people like their paste smooth, I prefer it a little coarse because I think it helps me get the curry consistency I like. No, this curry isn’t supposed to be thick. At the same time, it shouldn’t be as runny or transparent as water either. If you’ve never made this curry before, maybe try it coarse first and see if you like it.

tamarind paste

Tamarind Juice in Thai Cooking

The next thing I want to talk about is the tamarind juice, in case you’re not familiar with it. We use tamarind juice in many Thai dishes. Take pad Thai, somtam (papaya salad), stir-fried tamarind shrimp, or even tom yum for example. Basically we can buy dried tamarind pods from markets. These are the sour variety and they add tartness to food.

You might wonder why we don’t use limes for this curry. Despite the fact that the lime scent is amazing, it’s not right for every dish. Also, lime juice is very runny. If you’re looking to make a sweet and sour sauce or something that has more of a texture to it, limes are probably not the best choice. Another reason is, to reach the same level of tartness, you need a smaller amount of tamaraind juice than lime juice. Believe it or not, limes can get as expensive as 5 baht each in the Summer. This is why we sometimes use tamarind juice in tom yum as well.

sliced green papaya

Lastly, I’d like to talk a little bit about how to slice the green papaya. Basically the pieces don’t need to look neat or be exactly the same size. On one hand, you want to make sure that it’s not too thick because that won’t be nice when you eat it. On the other hand, you don’t want it to be too thin because it’ll easily break when cooked or reheated — not good either. I took a picture of my raw green papaya and hope you can use it as a reference. 🙂

And that’s all I have to tell you about the Thai green papaya sour curry! Oh wait, did I say it’s easy to make? I did? Well, please try this recipe. I’m sure you’ll love it!!!

a bowl of Thai green papaya sour curry

Thai Green Papaya Sour Curry | Kaeng Som Recipe

Healthy and delicious Thai sour curry with green papaya and shrimp. So good with rice!
5 from 18 votes
Print Rate
Cuisine: Thai
Prep Time: 30 minutes
Cook Time: 15 minutes
Servings: 2 -3 bowls
Author: Nart

Ingredients

For the paste

  • 15 dried chilies 5 large and 10 small, or 10 large
  • 3 shallots peeled
  • 3 fingers fingerroot grachai, chopped
  • 1 teaspoon fermented shrimp paste gapi
  • 1 shrimp peeled and deveined

For the curry

  • 1.25 liter water
  • 4-5 dried tamarind pods or 6 tablespoons tamarind juice
  • 1 green papaya about 0.4-0.5 kg, peeled and sliced
  • 5 tablespoons fish sauce
  • 4 tablespoons granulated sugar
  • 2 shrimp peeled and deveined

Instructions

  • Add 11⁄4 liter of water to a pot and bring to a simmer.
  • Cook 1 shimp in the water. Remove the shrimp from the pot with a slotted spoon and turn off the heat for now.
  • To the blender, add dried chillies, shallots, fingerroot, fermented shrim paste, cooked shrimp, about 1⁄4 cup of water and blend until a little coarse. Set aside.
  • Make tamarind juice by placing dried tamarind pods in a bowl and adding about ½ cup of water to it. Massage the tamarind pods in the water until you get tamarind juice. Note that the tamarind juice shouldn't be runny.
  • Turn the heat back on and bring the pot to a boil.
  • To the pot, add the curry paste, 6 tablespoons of tamarind juice, fish sauce, sugar, and stir to dissolve.
  • Add the green papaya and cook for about 5-10 minutes.
  • Add the shrimp and cook until done. Taste the curry and adjust seasoning as needed.
  • Remove from heat and serve with rice.

Notes

You can make this curry as hot or sour as you like by adjusting the amount of chillies or tamarind juice to your preference.
Tried this recipe?Mention @cookingwithnart or tag #cookingwithnart!

Please also remember to pin me! 🙂

All images & content are copyright protected. Please do not use my images without prior permission. If you want to republish this recipe, please re-write the recipe in your own words, or link back to this post for the recipe.

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Comments

  1. Angela says

    August 05, 2020 at 6:15 am

    5 stars
    I love most curry recipes but the sour versions like this one are my favorite.

    Reply
    • Nart says

      August 27, 2020 at 11:53 am

      Yes, they’re really good!

      Reply
  2. Liz says

    August 05, 2020 at 4:32 am

    5 stars
    Shrimp, you can’t go wrong with shrimp.

    Reply
    • Nart says

      August 27, 2020 at 11:53 am

      I know right?

      Reply
  3. Jere Cassidy says

    July 14, 2020 at 12:49 am

    5 stars
    Wow, I was introduced to peanut butter and jelly sandwiches in kindergarten, not something like this savory Thai curry dish. Papaya is something I don’t cook with so this is a unique recipe for me to try.

    Reply
    • Nart says

      July 19, 2020 at 11:45 am

      It’s interesting to see the difference of foods in different cultures, right?!

      Reply
  4. Jacque Hastert says

    July 14, 2020 at 12:39 am

    5 stars
    I can only imagine the flavor that packs within this dinner! I love that you have added shrimp and all the health benefits that curry brings.

    Reply
    • Nart says

      July 19, 2020 at 11:43 am

      Thank you Jacque!

      Reply
  5. Noelle says

    July 14, 2020 at 12:14 am

    5 stars
    Wow this was delicious! I loved all the flavors, saving to make again soon for sure!!

    Reply
    • Nart says

      July 19, 2020 at 11:43 am

      Thank you!

      Reply
  6. kim says

    July 13, 2020 at 11:52 pm

    5 stars
    Love this recipe! It was so tasty and really easy. Will definitely be making again!

    Reply
    • Nart says

      July 19, 2020 at 11:42 am

      Thanks so much Kim! So glad you like it 🙂

      Reply
  7. veenaazmanov says

    July 13, 2020 at 11:32 pm

    5 stars
    Definitely a delicious lunch option. I love the Thai flavor too. Combination yum.

    Reply
    • Nart says

      July 19, 2020 at 11:42 am

      Thank you!

      Reply
  8. Nikki says

    April 17, 2020 at 10:45 pm

    5 stars
    Can’t wait to try. These flavors sound amazing! 💚

    Reply
    • Nart says

      April 27, 2020 at 10:35 pm

      Thank you!

      Reply
  9. Sisley White says

    April 17, 2020 at 10:40 pm

    5 stars
    Papaya is my favourite and this was just out of this world with flavours.

    Reply
    • Nart says

      April 27, 2020 at 10:35 pm

      Thank you so much!

      Reply
  10. Laura Arteaga says

    April 17, 2020 at 10:31 pm

    5 stars
    Never heard of this curry, but it looks delicious! I guess we can make it with tofu to have it vegetarian? It should still taste delicious!

    Reply
    • Nart says

      April 27, 2020 at 10:32 pm

      Yes, you can use tofu or just go with just the papaya! Also, you can replace the shrimp paste with fermented soybeans. 🙂

      Reply
  11. stephanie says

    April 17, 2020 at 10:10 pm

    5 stars
    This curry was absolutely yummy!!! Thank you for sharing!

    Reply
    • Nart says

      April 27, 2020 at 10:32 pm

      You’re welcome!

      Reply
  12. Sharon says

    April 17, 2020 at 10:04 pm

    5 stars
    This is such a unique dish with one of my favorite ingredients, shrimp.

    Reply
    • Nart says

      April 27, 2020 at 10:33 pm

      Agreed – it’s a unique dish. 🙂

      Reply
  13. nart says

    March 01, 2019 at 9:30 am

    Thanks!

    Reply
  14. Ida says

    February 28, 2019 at 1:30 am

    This recipe sounds great! I’ve lived back and forth in Thailand during the past ten years, but now as I’ve permanently relocated back to Finland, I find myself really longing after Thai food. Glad I found your blog, will have to take a look at your other recipes!

    Reply
    • nart says

      March 01, 2019 at 9:33 am

      Thank you so much! It’s awesome that you’ve lived in Thailand. Hope you try this recipe, and if you do, please let me know how it goes! 🙂

      Reply
  15. Alexandra says

    February 27, 2019 at 7:55 pm

    I can imagine that this is truly delicious – I have pinned to try soon! 🙂

    Reply
    • nart says

      March 01, 2019 at 9:28 am

      Thank you! Hope you try it. 🙂

      Reply
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