Vegetarian Panang Curry (Fish Sauce Substitute)

Hey all. I'm making Panang/Penang curry tonight for a friend, who is a veg. Normally I use the small cans of curry paste, but the Panang variety has shrimp paste added. I'll instead be using the red curry base, but am having a hard time coming up with a good sub for the fish sauce. A chef friend suggested a dash of soy along with a small bit of sugar.

Do you all have another way to go that I've not thought of? Thanks!

This came up in another thread...my inclination is for a substitution you will need something aged; maybe miso paste would work? It won't be the same, no matter what you try, so you're going to have to experiment a bit.

David Thompson, author of the superlative Thai Food cookbook, has this to say:

Chinese or Japanese soy sauce should not be used as substitutes–although light soy sauce can be used as a vegetarian alternative to fish sauce, with varying degrees of success.

I'm sure you checked, but most red curry (and green, and yellow, and masaman, for that matter) pastes I've seen have shrimp paste added to them as well.

Apparently, vegetarian fish sauce does exist. I've never tried looking for it, but that article says Vietnamese places often carry it. Check the Argyle area.

PennyLane wrote:Do you all have another way to go that I've not thought of? Thanks!

You'll be better off with plain old salt by itself or dissolved in water, depending on the dryness/wetness of the curry. Don't use soy sauce. It doesn't belong in Thai curries, at least based on the recipes I've come across so far.

I was up in the Argyle area last night, and I checked and Hoa Nam Grocery, on Winthrop and Argyle, sells two kinds of vegetarian fish sauce, under the name nuoc mam chay. They have two different brands next to each other, one says "Vegetarian Fish Sauce" on the bottle, and the other is labeled as "Soy Sauce," but they're both nuoc mam chay, and neither look like soy sauce (they both have a pale yellowish color to them.)

Hoa Nam Grocery
1101-3 W. Argyle St
Chicago, IL 60640
(773) 275-9157

These are wonderful suggestions, everyone. Thank you. Re: vegetarian curry paste, I found a brand they sell at all of the stores on Argyle and while the Panang curry paste lists shrimp, the red curry does not. I believe adding a bit of sugar to the red may make it a bit more like Panang (though not exactly). My vegetarian days are over, but my friend is still committed to it.

Also, I was given the tip to use both coconut milk and coconut cream and last time I made Panang, it was well worth it. Between that and the lime leaves, I seemed to get pretty close to the real deal.

PennyLane wrote: I believe adding a bit of sugar to the red may make it a bit more like Panang (though not exactly). My vegetarian days are over, but my friend is still committed to it.

You can also try a healthy dose of crushed peanuts and a bit of nutmeg to make it a panang. The main difference I notice between a panang and red curry paste is the addition of the peanuts and sometimes an aromatic like nutmeg.