My older brother was a head chef for years, whereas I am a completely novice home cook. He made a Thai Green Curry for dinner one day when I was visiting and I was blown away. He used the mae ploy paste and wrote me a recipe I could confidently do myself when at home. he passed away a few years back but I still have his handwritten recipe framed in my kitchen and make it every few months. My supermarket stopped carrying Mae Ploy a few years back so I have to travel a bit further to get it, but i'll never use anything else.
I'm so sorry your brother is no longer with you. 😢 If you are willing to share the recipe, I'd love a copy to write up for myself. Think of as sprinkling his talent and spirit all over the world to live on through his beautiful cooking. ❤
Yeah it seems like they just throw ingredients into a big vat and then immediately bottle them without simmering, blooming spices, or reducing anything. Terrible brand
For a long time where I lived it was all you could find. Once I found a good Asian market, though, I was happy to find Mae Ploy and Maesri, as not only were they better, but the price for what you get is more economical.
Perfect timing. I've been on a liquid diet for nearly a month due to surgery and craving Thai curry. I have a can of green Maesri in the pantry and since I can't yet have real solids I planned to make a green curry gravy and rice. Glad to find this brand did better in the green than the red. I really appreciate your videos on these products, Pailin. They are so useful. I have a Zogarushi rice cooker now and LOVE it.
My wife likes Mae Ploy and I like Aroy-D. We buy both brands and we use them alternatively in our cooking. For Red Curry and Green Curry we use both Aroy-D and Mae Ploy respectively.
Thanks for including the Lobo mention at the end... it's a nice option here in Europe because it's one of very few brands who has smaller portions of paste (for when you just want to taste test them or simply don't need a whole tub).
The three chili warning on Thai Kitchen is like how Superstore labels their “hot peppers” as very spicy, but then I take a bite and it’s like I have a long and skinny red bell pepper.🙄
Anyone else have a problem with jalopenos being "nadapenos"? Lately, maybe the last year or so, grocery stores, mostly Safeway, but others as well, have NO heat! I asked them how they order, and they order jalopenos, but end up getting no-heat nadapenos. AARGH!
@@lindas.8036 Yeah, it happens sometimes. It’s a little crappy, but sometime peppers can be like that. Like the Korean green chilis; sometimes they’re spicy, and sometimes you bite into one expecting pain, but all you get is a sweet chili flavour. Lol
So freakin' accurate. I watched the red curry paste video and I can't handle a ton of spice, so I still thought "ok well, I'll try Thai Kitchen's red curry paste".... NO spice at all, barely ANY flavor. My god it's such a disappointment. That chili warning is such a lie. Taco Bell's mild sauce is spicier. Feels like such major false advertising lol
So you just confirmed what I already knew. It was fascinating to see everybody’s reactions. This makes me want to make some green curry for dinner tonight!
Thanks for clearing my confusion. After I've been to Blue Elephant Cooking School in Phuket. I started practicing/cooking a few Thai dishes for myself. Lobo and Mae Ploy were my go-to pastes. Here in South Africa, I can only get Mae Ploy. I'm now happy to know I can get the best here at home
From my point of view, all the work you put into these comparisons is worth it. I hope your numbers reflect that, but I really enjoy these. Seriously, knowing which product to buy when you have nothing to go on is so helpful. I'm pretty sure your fish sauce video influenced me because I somehow have both a regular fish sauce and a finishing fish sauce in my fridge now, lol. I love how you try to make as fair a test as you can.
I’m not surprised the green curry video is your most popular. It was how I discovered your channel and website and I literally watch it every time I’m about to make a quick green curry 😂
Mae Ploy paste is always a winner in Poland and UK. I love red curry, and cooked it on my few visits back home in Poland. On the other hand I’m glad that one of the stores in Poland, is selling Aroy-D coconut milk, which I’m finding the best to cook curries. I love your channel, and thank you so much for sharing your hints and opinions😀 In two weeks I’m hoping to have some red curry in Scotland. Cooked and adapted by my friend. She’ll be using Mae Ploy Red Curry Paste of course. I’m just bringing my companion and a palm sugar. Imported from Thailand 😀 All the best Pailin and waiting for more hint 😀
Im based in BKK and if you can get hold of the Lobo brand Thai Green Curry Paste, thats great too but luckily local markets have their own hand made pastes you can buy by the 100g. Fun fact, due to the eae and quality of pastes hardly anyone make their own anymore.
I am lucky, because I have an international grocer close by (Global Foods in greater STL). I can get galangal, lemongrass, cane sugar pucks, Thai basil, a zillion kinds of Asian eggplant, fish sauce, etc. I have used your recipe for homemade green curry paste and it's an all-afternoon adventure. It is fun and meditative, yet the prepared curry pastes are such excellent shortcuts. I just checked and have about 2T left of Mae Ploy in my fridge... it's my favorite, too. I always keep some galangal and lemongrass in the freezer (as well as red and green Thai chilis), so I can adjust to taste. It's amazing to be able to create restaurant-quality curry in your own kitchen. Excellent channel! Great and fun episode.
Makes sense that Mae Ploy won. Here in Seattle every Thai restaurant uses that brand. I use it when I’m really craving green curry, but I use much more than recommended. Unfortunately, it’s still not even close to the fresh paste in Thailand. Then again, nothing ever is.
@@ChiliCrisp88 About 1 1/2x the recommended amount. I think when Thai restaurants ask for preferred spiciness, the recommended amount is "medium" and I'd imagine they adjust up and down from there. 50% more makes it "hot," yet not inedible
p.s., with more paste, there is also more flavor from the aromatics - not just heat. I am a nerd and keep galangal, lemongrass stalks and chilis in the freezer. If you are making this for friends or family who have different tolerances for heat/spiciness, I'd advise to add more aromatics if you have them, plus a bit more sweet (1t cane or brown sugar), a bit more umami (about 1 t fish sauce or 1 t soy) and then offer thinly sliced chilies as an optional garnish for the heat-seekers :)
Based on your last video, I amazon shopped a few types of Maeploy (red/yellow/panang/massaman) and will start making this at home. Can't wait to start this adventure.
I have used Thai Kitchen as it is the most readily available, but I switched to Aroy-D even before I saw your taste test for the red curry pastes. I have been on the look out for Mae Ploy as I really want to see the difference! I may do my own little taste test as I have some Thai Kitchen green curry paste still 😄 Thank you so much for your videos!
I love these videos! I definitely don’t have the time or patience to make my own thai curry paste so having these brands ranked has been so helpful. I definitely make more thai curries at home after discovering Pai! I watch every cooking video that HTK releases
The part you said about people doing their own recipes instead of the ones on the jar is so true. I actually went to see what people do with curry paste after just following my own recipe and using paste instead of just powdered spices or pre-made cooking sauce (and making a salty, oily mess that only I could eat -.-'). Had me wondering if the paste I got (Aroy D) was bad or something. I'll just follow a proper recipe next time.
I just bought 5kg of chicken thighs together with all other necessary ingredients and I have randomly chosen the red and the green Mea Ploy pastes for my first home-made Thai dishes. I'm happy I've got the best ones. Thanks for your videos, they are very informative!
Absolutely love your channel, the brand I use for paste is Lobo but i have to buy in Thailand for me its the same flavour of the small local restaurants around Thailand. Picked up many good tips from your videos and learned a lot. Thank you for such a fantastic channel.
Wow. That is quite a thorough taste test. Most folks would just make sauce. But this way is much more meaningful. Best taste testing I’ve ever seen on TH-cam. Watching for 10+ years. 💁🏻♀️
Great video! I’ve been using Maesri lately because I love that I can use the entire can without having any leftover to take up precious fridge space…but maybe I need to go back to Mae Ploy!
So glad to see Adam again with his opinions. It makes me feel validated that both East Asian and Western teams agree on the delicious flavours. Honestly, this was a helpful video. Question: If I've made a massive batch of Thai chilli paste, when does the flavour go off/gone?
I feel happy with the winner. Makes me feel better 😂 MP really is the best. Also they now offer vegan pastes without the shrimp. They sell them at my Asian market.
I’m glad that Mae Ploy is the kind we have in my normal supermarket here in Sweden. I think my local store has all 4 curry pastes, green, panang, red, and massaman.
Im so glad you made a green curry version after the red curry version! I loved the red curry brand you recommended so im sure i will also try the green curry 💚 Thank you!
I bought Mae Ploy from a local supermarket and it’s cheaper than Asian stores! It’s amazing and I love the flavour - it is a bit salty imo so make sure don’t add too much fish sauce.
Pailin! I stumbled upon this channel about six years ago with your green curry video, and your recommendation for Mae Ploy set me on the right direction. Personally I prefer it over Maesri, though often end up purchasing Maesri because it comes in a smaller quantity and can be cheaper for my budget. As a westerner who doesn’t do a ton of Thai cooking (though I LOVE it), it helps to get the shrimp paste from Mae Ploy in the package.
Very cool vid! I've been on a Thai kick lately, but it gets pretty costly ordering take-out or dining out. I've decided to learn how to make Thai curry at home. I've already learned how to make pad thai, thanks to your awesome pad thai vids (which I highly recommend for everyone to check out!) Thanks for posting, Pailin!
When I first started cooking Thai food at home, all I could find was Thai Kitchen, and it was so disappointing. I did try using the whole jar, and it still didn't taste right. I now use Mae Ploy for all of my curries at the suggestion of a friend. I am so happy to see that you recommend it!
THANK YOU so much for doing this!!! (I followed up and watched the red curry taste test) I use Maesri and never strayed because it’s what my mom always used and so it never occurred to me to try other brands😂 Now I realize why I always end up using the whole can (and sometimes needing 1 1/2 cans). I live in Atlanta. There are a lot international markets here so I have many brands available to me. I am running out to get Mae Ploy, Namjai, Aroy-D and Lobo🤣 I’m eager to try Mae Ploy first! What’s funny is I use Lobo Thai seasoning mix as marinade base for chicken and pork pretty frequently.
Great video! I just used Maesri last night and it was delicious. Nice flavor and spicy. Now, I will try Mae Ploy and see if I notice a difference. Thanks for doing this comparison video.
I'm in Thailand and use Namjai routinely (My local 7/11 stocks it). When in the UK I use Mae Ploy but it's disappeared from my two local supermarkets (Asda and Morrison's) where the ubiquitous (UK brand) 'Blue Dragon' seems to have displaced it.
My favorite is still lobo brand curry paste for both green and red. Lobo is well balanced with salt and spices plus has shrimp undertones. Plus it comes in packets so I don't have to worry about wasting a large tub or forgetting about it in the back of my freezer.
I get the tub of Mae Ploy, and keep it in my freezer, since I don't use it every week, but use it before it starts tasting like the fridge. The packaging is super good for freezer storage.
Made green curry using nam jai and your amazing recipe, it was good but like you said it was weak! Even putting 1-2 spoons! I even added lemongrass and other strong spices. Thank you for the thorough video.
Lobo is the most popular brand of Thai paste and seasoning you can find in Ho Chi Minh City (Vietnam) actually, I've been using this for years and it performed well. Another takeaway for me it the package instructions - which was true with what you said in this video - I used your recipe and adjust without really reading into the instructions. Then I did follow through with what the package told me, it was not as good, and it also told me to add things I thought should not have been there. I've bought some paste, made (kinda) fresh from a place called Nittaya Curry in Bangkok - can't wait to try it out and compare with store-bought paste.
Red Curry might be my favorite dish ever. I tried so hard to recreate it and our local grocery stores only carried Thai Kitchen. I tried using that garbage and it came nowhere close to what I tried at restaurants until I used like a whole jar and ever then.. meh. Then a couple years ago, an amazing Asian supermarket opened near my office. It took over a big box store sized store and even had a great Vietnamese restaurant inside where they used to serve food. I live in the Midwest so this was huge for us. I found a dozen different curry paste that took up half an aisle, and I too can say that Mae Ploy is my go to as well. I always have a large open jar in the fridge and another in the panty on stand by.
Thank you for doing this Pailin! I wonder if now there will be a shortage of Mae Ploy in international markets! Everybody watching is going to order Mae Ploy and cause a hitch in the supply and they won’t know why all of a sudden the international markets are having shortages! It’s Pailin, she is so influential! We have tasted and cooked or Vice versa, her recipes and are out to buy what she recommends! 😂
I love Mae Ploy, having discovered it via Pailin's Red Curry comparison, and cannot recommend this brand highly enough for producing a really decent Thai curry very quickly at home. I have the Red, Green, Panang and Massaman pastes in my fridge (I'm less keen on yellow curry), and it means a restaurant quality Thai curry for me at least once a week. Absolute pantry/fridge treasure!
Thanks for the taste test. It is super helpful for people like me not familiar with Thai cuisine who want to expand their horizons. BTW I found LoBo on Amazon.
I was lucky enough to begin my Thai food cooking journey with Mae Ploy over a decade ago. It's actually harder to find where I live now (still Northeast US), so I've had to rely on Aroy-D. They both seem to have better ingredients than the other options I've seen on the market. But I'm also a bigger fan of Mae Ploy because it seems to have more going on rather than just being spicy. I'm also a shrimp paste fan. Happy it won this time!
I use Mae Ploy that I buy from Amazon since the stores around me in middle Georgia (USA) only sell Thai Kitchen. Coincidentally I’m eating massaman curry watching this made with Mae Ploy. Meanwhile, I just watched one of your older videos that said I’m supposed to store unused paste in the freezer so I just tossed the old green curry paste from Mae Ploy I had sitting in the back of my fridge. 😅 Thanks for the tips!
I have been using Maesri, as it is easy to find at local ethnic markets but i will have to try the other brands . glad to know i didnt make a bad choice though
Mae Ploy has been my go to for decades, and our pantry is filled with five or six of them. MaeSri is good also, with a whole different texture and flavor. What I really like was how you took a bit of the coconut milk and cooked it down before adding the paste; that'll be my next try.
thank you for the time to do this...helps a lot for me...I have tried "Thai" brand, but the small tin, is usually my go-to, but I will try #1 and #2, if I find them. thanks again!
Great video, loved to see many people taste and give their opinion. Only downside? Now I am literally CRAVING green curry!! Luckily, I have a tub of Mae Ploy in my fridge, so it will happen soon :D
Interesting experiment. I love curries, both red and green, but more often red. The Thai Kitchen brand is available in my local grocery store, and I have used it before. It is a fine "entry level" condiment but certainly does not have the same depth of flavor as more authentic brands. I have a couple of local Asian markets nearby, so I will search out the top two winners and see for myself. Thanks for sharing.
I love this video! Loved the red curry testing one too. I don't eat meat so I would go with one of the veg options. I felt very proud that I had accidentally chosen Aroyo-D at the Asian store near me. I have had Maersi too but returned to Aroyo-D for red and then picked it for green after tour red curry testing video. I know that took a lot of time and work to make all of that delicious food. I've made many of your recipes and adapted them to tofu etc and they are always so yummy. I live in Alabama and have a few Asian shopping options locally. I love to experiment and try new to me flavors. Thanks for your hard work!
Really like that you showed how you made the recipe. 👍 In England we've also got a few other brands, tried quite a few, but the Mae Ploy has ended up being my favourite red or green paste. At first I could only get it from a Thai shop, but now many of the main supermarkets seem to have it.
A Canadian in the southern Philippines and we're able to get Thai Heritage brand( looks similar to Thai Kitchen) it does the trick, but I've just ordered Mae Ploy through Shopee🤞🤞🤞 Love your channel 😍 Keep up the great work
I think that Mae Ploy came second to Arroy-D is because when you make Green curry for you to eat, instead of making a comparison taste test, you adjust the taste while cooking, so you end up with something you prefer. It would have taken a lot of time, but you could have adjusted the sugar and fish sauce depending on what is already in the curry paste, I was about to ask about Lobo, because I think it is quite common in France (but I don't cook thai food when visiting France :)
Love that you do these taste test Pailin, it's so important to understand brands and which is best. It would also be appreciated if you could tell us, how long they last, especially after opening. I hope you continue and Thank you to you, your friends and family.👍❤️
I bought a tub of Mae Ploys red curry paste and it states that it lasts for a whole year as long as you refrigerate it after opening. I hope that helps 😊
My wife use Nam Jai She just use all of the package it turn out great As you said it need to put more but i quite think that more natural for the RTU product
If I don't have a homemade batch I've processed before (I can it instead of freeze it after), I go with arroy D and roast some shrimp paste. Just came back from another month in Thailand, it's close enough. Heat of the paste doesn't matter, I throw in 10 birds eye's anyway to a pot.
Wonderful video! Thank you for doing this. It would be great to see you do another blind taste test with your family and friends between Mae Ploy green cury paste, and your scratch made green cury paste. It would give us a good idea if scratch made paste is worth the efforts.
Hi Pai, love your channel. So informative and well presented. I’m in the UK, we get Lobo brand pastes and seasonings, would be great to have a review of the red/green pastes and also the Tom yum , Tom Kai soups. Also love your cook books. Keep up the excellent work. 😊
came here after watching your recipe video, i've been trying to find a good recipe for Thai green curry because I haven't quite gotten it down yet! i was wondering if it was the curry paste but after watching this, it seems it was the recipes i was following 😂 definitely will use your recipe next time
I’ve tried Mae Ploy, Maesri, and Thai Kitchen. Mae Ploy is definitely the way to go. Although I thought both their red and green curry pastes were too salty. Will have to give Aroi D a try, if I can find it.
Your cameraman is exceptionally tall 😂. I love either mae ploy or aroy-d. I think they're both delicious. How do you store yours? I used to just store it in the container it came in in the deep freezer and take it a bit before needing it.
I use Aroy-D cause that's the only actual Thai brand available in stores around my parts, but I do mix it with shrimp paste cause I've tasted it without it and it really isn't the same.
Excellent comparison. I have a Thai Kitchen red curry in my pantry needing a reason to throw it out, now i have one, thanks! Have been using the Aroy-D curry and coconut milk for a number of years, much better. Thanks!
Thank you for your hard work. I'm sure this was very time consuming and really appreciate your hard work. This is my first time watching you and I have subscribed 💜
Nice video. I'd become frustrated about the unreliability of finding pastes (aside from TK) in the big stores, and sometimes even in the Asian stores, so I stopped an Asian lady on the street (total stranger) and asked for a recommendation. She thought for a moment and then told me of a specific shop. It was in a quite sorry part of town, and inside, it was also on the shabby side; some vegetables didn't look very fresh, poor labeling/signage, and several packaged products were past their expiry, but, it had an impressive selection of pastes, including I think three of the ones in this video. I stocked up. I also learned that Aroy-D has, in addition to the red & green & yellow, two other pastes, Tom Yung and Panang.
It's interesting to see that someone else prefers Aroy-D in green and Mae Ploy in red. ^.^ Always nice to see someone who knows how it should taste do these tests.
Wow thx for making the fun and helpful video! No wonder my red curry didn’t make a big hit bc I used the paste from Thai Kitchen 😂 now I know which brands to go!
I have tried making green curry at home with Thai Kitchen. I ended up using 2x the recommended amount, then 3x, and it still just tasted like plain coconut milk. I went out for Thai food last night and it occurred to me that the brand might be the problem. Glad to hear that there are better alternatives. My wife and I love Thai curry, so if we can make it at home, that's even better!
I’m a Thai living in Thailand. It’s very common for a home cook to buy these pre made paste. And here in Thailand e have so many brands to choose. I personally have my favorite which is “Nittaya”. It’s quite difficult to find as it’s not sale in any supermarket unless you buy on line or go directly to their shop. Some people mix 2 brand together. However at this moment I’m p obsessed with making my own paste I have found a channel that teach a super easy way to make my own paste. Since then I wouldn’t want to buy any store bought ever again. It’s much more fragrant and I can totally control the level of spiciness that I like by tailor pick the type of chili that I use.
I've used Aroy-D and it's totally yum but my favourite is always Mae Ploy, it's the one that matches my experience growing up in 90s Thailand (Oh Thailand, how I miss you ❤) Oh and I seem to remember seeing Lobo quite often here in the UK but it's got much harder to find in recent years. Not sure why
From the UK and have fond memories of having to take a two hour train day trip to London to buy Thai curry pastes or sauces like sweet chilli. This was 30 years ago but Mae ploy or Aroy d were always the choices for an aroy dinner.
My older brother was a head chef for years, whereas I am a completely novice home cook. He made a Thai Green Curry for dinner one day when I was visiting and I was blown away. He used the mae ploy paste and wrote me a recipe I could confidently do myself when at home.
he passed away a few years back but I still have his handwritten recipe framed in my kitchen and make it every few months. My supermarket stopped carrying Mae Ploy a few years back so I have to travel a bit further to get it, but i'll never use anything else.
Agree 100% Mae Ploy all the way. Sorry for your tremendous loss. 😭💐🙏
any chance you could share the recipe?
i would be honored to make it and keep his culinary legacy going, and enjoy a tasty TGC!
@@armukThat is a lovely message. 😊
What a sweet story. Thank you for sharing.
Save yourself the long trip and order online. Amazon carries it.
I'm so sorry your brother is no longer with you. 😢
If you are willing to share the recipe, I'd love a copy to write up for myself. Think of as sprinkling his talent and spirit all over the world to live on through his beautiful cooking. ❤
I've half convinced myself that the thai kitchen brand single-handedly convinces people they can't make good thai food at home
I think you're right.
Yeah it seems like they just throw ingredients into a big vat and then immediately bottle them without simmering, blooming spices, or reducing anything. Terrible brand
i used to buy thai kitchen brand, but noticed i had to practically use the whole jar because i couldn’t taste the curry. now i know its not just me.
For a long time where I lived it was all you could find. Once I found a good Asian market, though, I was happy to find Mae Ploy and Maesri, as not only were they better, but the price for what you get is more economical.
Maybe it’s a conspiracy to drive people to Thai restaurants instead of cooking at home /s
big props in taking the efforts to try to standardize it across all 5.
not often seen in comparison videos here on YT
I luv your reviews, honest and without paid sponsor. I really appreciate that. Thank you very much.
Perfect timing. I've been on a liquid diet for nearly a month due to surgery and craving Thai curry. I have a can of green Maesri in the pantry and since I can't yet have real solids I planned to make a green curry gravy and rice. Glad to find this brand did better in the green than the red. I really appreciate your videos on these products, Pailin. They are so useful. I have a Zogarushi rice cooker now and LOVE it.
My wife likes Mae Ploy and I like Aroy-D. We buy both brands and we use them alternatively in our cooking. For Red Curry and Green Curry we use both Aroy-D and Mae Ploy respectively.
accidental relationship advice
Or you could mix it to one paste
Thanks for including the Lobo mention at the end... it's a nice option here in Europe because it's one of very few brands who has smaller portions of paste (for when you just want to taste test them or simply don't need a whole tub).
The three chili warning on Thai Kitchen is like how Superstore labels their “hot peppers” as very spicy, but then I take a bite and it’s like I have a long and skinny red bell pepper.🙄
😂😂😂
Anyone else have a problem with jalopenos being "nadapenos"? Lately, maybe the last year or so, grocery stores, mostly Safeway, but others as well, have NO heat! I asked them how they order, and they order jalopenos, but end up getting no-heat nadapenos. AARGH!
@@lindas.8036 Yeah, it happens sometimes. It’s a little crappy, but sometime peppers can be like that. Like the Korean green chilis; sometimes they’re spicy, and sometimes you bite into one expecting pain, but all you get is a sweet chili flavour. Lol
So freakin' accurate. I watched the red curry paste video and I can't handle a ton of spice, so I still thought "ok well, I'll try Thai Kitchen's red curry paste".... NO spice at all, barely ANY flavor. My god it's such a disappointment. That chili warning is such a lie. Taco Bell's mild sauce is spicier. Feels like such major false advertising lol
@@alorachan Lmao damn. You know you failed when you’ve been beat by Taco Bell, of all places.
Thanks for sharing. It was hilarious. Lol
Omg, I was hoping and wishing you’d make one about green curry paste… you did! We love you Khun Pai!!
So you just confirmed what I already knew. It was fascinating to see everybody’s reactions. This makes me want to make some green curry for dinner tonight!
Thanks for clearing my confusion. After I've been to Blue Elephant Cooking School in Phuket. I started practicing/cooking a few Thai dishes for myself. Lobo and Mae Ploy were my go-to pastes. Here in South Africa, I can only get Mae Ploy. I'm now happy to know I can get the best here at home
I appreciate the amount of diligence you put in to making sure blind taste testes were fair and consistent. Excellent Job!!!
From my point of view, all the work you put into these comparisons is worth it. I hope your numbers reflect that, but I really enjoy these. Seriously, knowing which product to buy when you have nothing to go on is so helpful. I'm pretty sure your fish sauce video influenced me because I somehow have both a regular fish sauce and a finishing fish sauce in my fridge now, lol. I love how you try to make as fair a test as you can.
I’m not surprised the green curry video is your most popular. It was how I discovered your channel and website and I literally watch it every time I’m about to make a quick green curry 😂
your face when smelling the Thai Kitchen from McCormmick was PRICELESS!!!! I'm glad you did this video as Green Curry Chicken is MY FAVE!!!
Mae Ploy paste is always a winner in Poland and UK. I love red curry, and cooked it on my few visits back home in Poland. On the other hand I’m glad that one of the stores in Poland, is selling Aroy-D coconut milk, which I’m finding the best to cook curries. I love your channel, and thank you so much for sharing your hints and opinions😀 In two weeks I’m hoping to have some red curry in Scotland. Cooked and adapted by my friend. She’ll be using Mae Ploy Red Curry Paste of course. I’m just bringing my companion and a palm sugar. Imported from Thailand 😀 All the best Pailin and waiting for more hint 😀
Im based in BKK and if you can get hold of the Lobo brand Thai Green Curry Paste, thats great too but luckily local markets have their own hand made pastes you can buy by the 100g. Fun fact, due to the eae and quality of pastes hardly anyone make their own anymore.
Yes Lobo is very good and affordable. It’s on Amazon here, in Florida.
I’m partial to the Blue Elephant cooking school paste available at Tops! Not the cheapest but there’s no shrimp and its pretty tasty 😀
I am lucky, because I have an international grocer close by (Global Foods in greater STL). I can get galangal, lemongrass, cane sugar pucks, Thai basil, a zillion kinds of Asian eggplant, fish sauce, etc. I have used your recipe for homemade green curry paste and it's an all-afternoon adventure. It is fun and meditative, yet the prepared curry pastes are such excellent shortcuts. I just checked and have about 2T left of Mae Ploy in my fridge... it's my favorite, too. I always keep some galangal and lemongrass in the freezer (as well as red and green Thai chilis), so I can adjust to taste. It's amazing to be able to create restaurant-quality curry in your own kitchen. Excellent channel! Great and fun episode.
These taste tests are always so fun, excited for a new one!
Makes sense that Mae Ploy won. Here in Seattle every Thai restaurant uses that brand. I use it when I’m really craving green curry, but I use much more than recommended. Unfortunately, it’s still not even close to the fresh paste in Thailand. Then again, nothing ever is.
I use much more than recommended, too! I may use a tissue to wipe my eyes, but it is soooo worth it :)
I always use way more, too. 😂
How much more do you use?
@@ChiliCrisp88 About 1 1/2x the recommended amount. I think when Thai restaurants ask for preferred spiciness, the recommended amount is "medium" and I'd imagine they adjust up and down from there. 50% more makes it "hot," yet not inedible
p.s., with more paste, there is also more flavor from the aromatics - not just heat. I am a nerd and keep galangal, lemongrass stalks and chilis in the freezer. If you are making this for friends or family who have different tolerances for heat/spiciness, I'd advise to add more aromatics if you have them, plus a bit more sweet (1t cane or brown sugar), a bit more umami (about 1 t fish sauce or 1 t soy) and then offer thinly sliced chilies as an optional garnish for the heat-seekers :)
Im so glad mae ploy came out as the best, as this is the only one I can get hold of in the uk - and I’ve always loved it .
Based on your last video, I amazon shopped a few types of Maeploy (red/yellow/panang/massaman) and will start making this at home. Can't wait to start this adventure.
I have used Thai Kitchen as it is the most readily available, but I switched to Aroy-D even before I saw your taste test for the red curry pastes. I have been on the look out for Mae Ploy as I really want to see the difference! I may do my own little taste test as I have some Thai Kitchen green curry paste still 😄 Thank you so much for your videos!
I really appreciate your effort to do this in such a properly scientific and objective method
I love these videos! I definitely don’t have the time or patience to make my own thai curry paste so having these brands ranked has been so helpful. I definitely make more thai curries at home after discovering Pai! I watch every cooking video that HTK releases
The part you said about people doing their own recipes instead of the ones on the jar is so true. I actually went to see what people do with curry paste after just following my own recipe and using paste instead of just powdered spices or pre-made cooking sauce (and making a salty, oily mess that only I could eat -.-'). Had me wondering if the paste I got (Aroy D) was bad or something. I'll just follow a proper recipe next time.
I just bought 5kg of chicken thighs together with all other necessary ingredients and I have randomly chosen the red and the green Mea Ploy pastes for my first home-made Thai dishes. I'm happy I've got the best ones. Thanks for your videos, they are very informative!
Absolutely love your channel, the brand I use for paste is Lobo but i have to buy in Thailand for me its the same flavour of the small local restaurants around Thailand.
Picked up many good tips from your videos and learned a lot. Thank you for such a fantastic channel.
Wow. That is quite a thorough taste test.
Most folks would just make sauce. But this way is much more meaningful.
Best taste testing I’ve ever seen on TH-cam. Watching for 10+ years. 💁🏻♀️
Great video! I’ve been using Maesri lately because I love that I can use the entire can without having any leftover to take up precious fridge space…but maybe I need to go back to Mae Ploy!
So glad to see Adam again with his opinions. It makes me feel validated that both East Asian and Western teams agree on the delicious flavours. Honestly, this was a helpful video. Question: If I've made a massive batch of Thai chilli paste, when does the flavour go off/gone?
It should last a long time in the fridge so I never worry about storage, and you can freeze it.
I feel happy with the winner. Makes me feel better 😂 MP really is the best. Also they now offer vegan pastes without the shrimp. They sell them at my Asian market.
Oh good to know! Haven't seen it here.
I’m glad that Mae Ploy is the kind we have in my normal supermarket here in Sweden. I think my local store has all 4 curry pastes, green, panang, red, and massaman.
What about yellow curry paste? It's really tasty, my family's favourite)
Happy to see that my two favorites are your faves as well. I always try to use Mae Ploy or Aroy-d and love them both
Pai and Adam in the same shot is my favorite. The size difference always makes me laugh.
lol the difference is even more obvious on camera :) I usually don't really notice.
Auntie's hubby is cuuuuuuute! Great job on this, Pailin! ❤
Im so glad you made a green curry version after the red curry version! I loved the red curry brand you recommended so im sure i will also try the green curry 💚 Thank you!
I bought Mae Ploy from a local supermarket and it’s cheaper than Asian stores! It’s amazing and I love the flavour - it is a bit salty imo so make sure don’t add too much fish sauce.
Pailin! I stumbled upon this channel about six years ago with your green curry video, and your recommendation for Mae Ploy set me on the right direction.
Personally I prefer it over Maesri, though often end up purchasing Maesri because it comes in a smaller quantity and can be cheaper for my budget. As a westerner who doesn’t do a ton of Thai cooking (though I LOVE it), it helps to get the shrimp paste from Mae Ploy in the package.
Very cool vid! I've been on a Thai kick lately, but it gets pretty costly ordering take-out or dining out. I've decided to learn how to make Thai curry at home. I've already learned how to make pad thai, thanks to your awesome pad thai vids (which I highly recommend for everyone to check out!) Thanks for posting, Pailin!
When I first started cooking Thai food at home, all I could find was Thai Kitchen, and it was so disappointing. I did try using the whole jar, and it still didn't taste right. I now use Mae Ploy for all of my curries at the suggestion of a friend. I am so happy to see that you recommend it!
Such a great taste test, Pai. Thanks so much for both red & green tests!
THANK YOU so much for doing this!!! (I followed up and watched the red curry taste test) I use Maesri and never strayed because it’s what my mom always used and so it never occurred to me to try other brands😂 Now I realize why I always end up using the whole can (and sometimes needing 1 1/2 cans).
I live in Atlanta. There are a lot international markets here so I have many brands available to me. I am running out to get Mae Ploy, Namjai, Aroy-D and Lobo🤣 I’m eager to try Mae Ploy first! What’s funny is I use Lobo Thai seasoning mix as marinade base for chicken and pork pretty frequently.
Great video! I just used Maesri last night and it was delicious. Nice flavor and spicy. Now, I will try Mae Ploy and see if I notice a difference. Thanks for doing this comparison video.
Hi, I'm from Australia and I LOVE the Valcom curry pastes, and yes, they have shrimp paste in them.
Love your reviews, keep up the good work ❤
I'm in Thailand and use Namjai routinely (My local 7/11 stocks it). When in the UK I use Mae Ploy but it's disappeared from my two local supermarkets (Asda and Morrison's) where the ubiquitous (UK brand) 'Blue Dragon' seems to have displaced it.
My favorite is still lobo brand curry paste for both green and red. Lobo is well balanced with salt and spices plus has shrimp undertones. Plus it comes in packets so I don't have to worry about wasting a large tub or forgetting about it in the back of my freezer.
I get the tub of Mae Ploy, and keep it in my freezer, since I don't use it every week, but use it before it starts tasting like the fridge. The packaging is super good for freezer storage.
Made green curry using nam jai and your amazing recipe, it was good but like you said it was weak! Even putting 1-2 spoons! I even added lemongrass and other strong spices. Thank you for the thorough video.
Next time just double the paste :)
Have been going back to your videos in the past 6 months (recent discovery), and just ordered your latest cookbook!
Lobo is the most popular brand of Thai paste and seasoning you can find in Ho Chi Minh City (Vietnam) actually, I've been using this for years and it performed well. Another takeaway for me it the package instructions - which was true with what you said in this video - I used your recipe and adjust without really reading into the instructions. Then I did follow through with what the package told me, it was not as good, and it also told me to add things I thought should not have been there.
I've bought some paste, made (kinda) fresh from a place called Nittaya Curry in Bangkok - can't wait to try it out and compare with store-bought paste.
Red Curry might be my favorite dish ever. I tried so hard to recreate it and our local grocery stores only carried Thai Kitchen. I tried using that garbage and it came nowhere close to what I tried at restaurants until I used like a whole jar and ever then.. meh. Then a couple years ago, an amazing Asian supermarket opened near my office. It took over a big box store sized store and even had a great Vietnamese restaurant inside where they used to serve food. I live in the Midwest so this was huge for us. I found a dozen different curry paste that took up half an aisle, and I too can say that Mae Ploy is my go to as well. I always have a large open jar in the fridge and another in the panty on stand by.
Thank you for doing this Pailin! I wonder if now there will be a shortage of Mae Ploy in international markets! Everybody watching is going to order Mae Ploy and cause a hitch in the supply and they won’t know why all of a sudden the international markets are having shortages! It’s Pailin, she is so influential! We have tasted and cooked or Vice versa, her recipes and are out to buy what she recommends! 😂
I love Mae Ploy, having discovered it via Pailin's Red Curry comparison, and cannot recommend this brand highly enough for producing a really decent Thai curry very quickly at home. I have the Red, Green, Panang and Massaman pastes in my fridge (I'm less keen on yellow curry), and it means a restaurant quality Thai curry for me at least once a week. Absolute pantry/fridge treasure!
Thanks for the taste test. It is super helpful for people like me not familiar with Thai cuisine who want to expand their horizons. BTW I found LoBo on Amazon.
I was lucky enough to begin my Thai food cooking journey with Mae Ploy over a decade ago. It's actually harder to find where I live now (still Northeast US), so I've had to rely on Aroy-D. They both seem to have better ingredients than the other options I've seen on the market. But I'm also a bigger fan of Mae Ploy because it seems to have more going on rather than just being spicy. I'm also a shrimp paste fan. Happy it won this time!
I use Mae Ploy that I buy from Amazon since the stores around me in middle Georgia (USA) only sell Thai Kitchen. Coincidentally I’m eating massaman curry watching this made with Mae Ploy. Meanwhile, I just watched one of your older videos that said I’m supposed to store unused paste in the freezer so I just tossed the old green curry paste from Mae Ploy I had sitting in the back of my fridge. 😅 Thanks for the tips!
I have been using Maesri, as it is easy to find at local ethnic markets but i will have to try the other brands . glad to know i didnt make a bad choice though
Mae Ploy has been my go to for decades, and our pantry is filled with five or six of them. MaeSri is good also, with a whole different texture and flavor. What I really like was how you took a bit of the coconut milk and cooked it down before adding the paste; that'll be my next try.
Sneaking past the camera! lol, Great video, Thanks for this.
thank you for the time to do this...helps a lot for me...I have tried "Thai" brand, but the small tin, is usually my go-to, but I will try #1 and #2, if I find them. thanks again!
Great video, loved to see many people taste and give their opinion. Only downside? Now I am literally CRAVING green curry!! Luckily, I have a tub of Mae Ploy in my fridge, so it will happen soon :D
Been a while since I’ve seen your posts. Nice to see your circle of friends and family!
Interesting experiment. I love curries, both red and green, but more often red. The Thai Kitchen brand is available in my local grocery store, and I have used it before. It is a fine "entry level" condiment but certainly does not have the same depth of flavor as more authentic brands. I have a couple of local Asian markets nearby, so I will search out the top two winners and see for myself. Thanks for sharing.
My favourite thing to make for dinner is reservations, but after this video, I think I could concoct a genuinely good Thai dinner at home!
Thanks for doing this, as I have bought different brands to notice the obvious difference. Some have been truly disappointing.
I mainly use Mae Ploy since that's the most available one here in my part of London, glad to see it's a good one
Mae Ploy was my go-to for decades but it got a bit more salty than it used to. I'm now using Aroy D or Maesi whichever available at the store.
Thai food is my MOST favorite! So happy I've found you!! Thanks for all your teaching 😀
I love this video! Loved the red curry testing one too. I don't eat meat so I would go with one of the veg options. I felt very proud that I had accidentally chosen Aroyo-D at the Asian store near me. I have had Maersi too but returned to Aroyo-D for red and then picked it for green after tour red curry testing video. I know that took a lot of time and work to make all of that delicious food. I've made many of your recipes and adapted them to tofu etc and they are always so yummy. I live in Alabama and have a few Asian shopping options locally. I love to experiment and try new to me flavors. Thanks for your hard work!
Really like that you showed how you made the recipe. 👍
In England we've also got a few other brands, tried quite a few, but the Mae Ploy has ended up being my favourite red or green paste. At first I could only get it from a Thai shop, but now many of the main supermarkets seem to have it.
A Canadian in the southern Philippines and we're able to get Thai Heritage brand( looks similar to Thai Kitchen) it does the trick, but I've just ordered Mae Ploy through Shopee🤞🤞🤞
Love your channel 😍
Keep up the great work
I think that Mae Ploy came second to Arroy-D is because when you make Green curry for you to eat, instead of making a comparison taste test, you adjust the taste while cooking, so you end up with something you prefer.
It would have taken a lot of time, but you could have adjusted the sugar and fish sauce depending on what is already in the curry paste,
I was about to ask about Lobo, because I think it is quite common in France (but I don't cook thai food when visiting France :)
Love that you do these taste test Pailin, it's so important to understand brands and which is best. It would also be appreciated if you could tell us, how long they last, especially after opening. I hope you continue and Thank you to you, your friends and family.👍❤️
I bought a tub of Mae Ploys red curry paste and it states that it lasts for a whole year as long as you refrigerate it after opening. I hope that helps 😊
otakugamer6657
Thank you!
Kaan, do you want green curry?
Noooo!
Such Rejection!!
So cute he understands Thai
I loved that too!
😂😂😂❤
😂😂😂
My wife use Nam Jai
She just use all of the package it turn out great
As you said it need to put more but i quite think that more natural for the RTU product
If I don't have a homemade batch I've processed before (I can it instead of freeze it after), I go with arroy D and roast some shrimp paste. Just came back from another month in Thailand, it's close enough. Heat of the paste doesn't matter, I throw in 10 birds eye's anyway to a pot.
Wonderful video! Thank you for doing this. It would be great to see you do another blind taste test with your family and friends between Mae Ploy green cury paste, and your scratch made green cury paste. It would give us a good idea if scratch made paste is worth the efforts.
Hi Pai, love your channel. So informative and well presented. I’m in the UK, we get Lobo brand pastes and seasonings, would be great to have a review of the red/green pastes and also the Tom yum , Tom Kai soups. Also love your cook books. Keep up the excellent work. 😊
came here after watching your recipe video, i've been trying to find a good recipe for Thai green curry because I haven't quite gotten it down yet! i was wondering if it was the curry paste but after watching this, it seems it was the recipes i was following 😂 definitely will use your recipe next time
I’ve tried Mae Ploy, Maesri, and Thai Kitchen. Mae Ploy is definitely the way to go. Although I thought both their red and green curry pastes were too salty. Will have to give Aroi D a try, if I can find it.
Your cameraman is exceptionally tall 😂. I love either mae ploy or aroy-d. I think they're both delicious. How do you store yours? I used to just store it in the container it came in in the deep freezer and take it a bit before needing it.
I use Aroy-D cause that's the only actual Thai brand available in stores around my parts, but I do mix it with shrimp paste cause I've tasted it without it and it really isn't the same.
Excellent comparison. I have a Thai Kitchen red curry in my pantry needing a reason to throw it out, now i have one, thanks! Have been using the Aroy-D curry and coconut milk for a number of years, much better. Thanks!
Thanks a lot for your review.
You have a sweet family, I'm happy to see that 😃
Thank you for your hard work. I'm sure this was very time consuming and really appreciate your hard work. This is my first time watching you and I have subscribed 💜
"most people are not cooking from backs of packages"
I actually first learned to cook from the back of a Mae Ploy package 😂
lmao. Me too. 30 years ago.
@@peetiegonzalez1845 I was gonna say: that's something people did in the 80/90's!
We all start somewhere, and the back of a package is the most obvious place ;)
@@PailinsKitchen Especially back in the pre-internet pre-Hot-Thai-Kitchen days!
Not a thing I do a lot, but I still
use the recipe from the back of the suet package to make dumplings for beef stew.
All the staff are starving !!
Great video. Thanks for spending time on this. I found this and your red curry paste tests very helpful.
Nice video. I'd become frustrated about the unreliability of finding pastes (aside from TK) in the big stores, and sometimes even in the Asian stores, so I stopped an Asian lady on the street (total stranger) and asked for a recommendation. She thought for a moment and then told me of a specific shop. It was in a quite sorry part of town, and inside, it was also on the shabby side; some vegetables didn't look very fresh, poor labeling/signage, and several packaged products were past their expiry, but, it had an impressive selection of pastes, including I think three of the ones in this video. I stocked up. I also learned that Aroy-D has, in addition to the red & green & yellow, two other pastes, Tom Yung and Panang.
It's interesting to see that someone else prefers Aroy-D in green and Mae Ploy in red. ^.^ Always nice to see someone who knows how it should taste do these tests.
Squid brand fish sauce! Good (the best?) choice! Loved the video and bought myself a Mae Ploy green curry paste today!
Mae Ploy is always my go to brand...as always, love your videos and thank you for making the comparision for us.
Wow thx for making the fun and helpful video! No wonder my red curry didn’t make a big hit bc I used the paste from Thai Kitchen 😂 now I know which brands to go!
I have tried making green curry at home with Thai Kitchen. I ended up using 2x the recommended amount, then 3x, and it still just tasted like plain coconut milk. I went out for Thai food last night and it occurred to me that the brand might be the problem. Glad to hear that there are better alternatives. My wife and I love Thai curry, so if we can make it at home, that's even better!
I’m a Thai living in Thailand. It’s very common for a home cook to buy these pre made paste. And here in Thailand e have so many brands to choose. I personally have my favorite which is “Nittaya”. It’s quite difficult to find as it’s not sale in any supermarket unless you buy on line or go directly to their shop. Some people mix 2 brand together. However at this moment I’m p obsessed with making my own paste I have found a channel that teach a super easy way to make my own paste. Since then I wouldn’t want to buy any store bought ever again. It’s much more fragrant and I can totally control the level of spiciness that I like by tailor pick the type of chili that I use.
I've used Aroy-D and it's totally yum but my favourite is always Mae Ploy, it's the one that matches my experience growing up in 90s Thailand (Oh Thailand, how I miss you ❤)
Oh and I seem to remember seeing Lobo quite often here in the UK but it's got much harder to find in recent years. Not sure why
I used Thia House it's better than the Trader Joe's Thai Curry brand, but it is still weak. I just bought the Aroy-D, so I'm happy to try this one.
Arroy-D Thai green curry paste has been my favourite for years. It was interesting to watch this.
I’ve always only ever bought or Mae Ploy or Aroy D when Mae Ploy wasn’t available, this video has validated my choice there
From the UK and have fond memories of having to take a two hour train day trip to London to buy Thai curry pastes or sauces like sweet chilli. This was 30 years ago but Mae ploy or Aroy d were always the choices for an aroy dinner.