Gaeng Hung Lay - Northern Thai Braised Pork Curry

Published: Feb 9, 2018 · Modified: May 23, 2025 by Pailin Chongchitnant · This post may contain affiliate links

Gaeng Hung Lay แกงฮังเล is one of the most iconic dishes of Northern Thailand, and arguably one of the tastiest! Pork belly and pork ribs are slowly stewed in a WHOLE bunch of herbs and spices. The result is tender fatty pieces of pork that has been entirely permeated by the rich and aromatic sauce. It is a dish to impress, and though it takes time, most of the process is hands-off!

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This dish came to Northern Thailand via Myanmar, which in turn has a lot of Indian influences on their cuisine. This is why there are a lot of spices in this recipe, and why you can use Indian garam masala which you can buy from Indian grocery stores instead of making your own hung lay curry powder.

Ingredients and Notes

Here are all the ingredients you'll need to make this recipe and important notes about them. For amounts, check out the full recipe card below.

The Curry

Pork belly, cut into big chunks
Pork spare rib tips, chopped
Tamarind paste, if buying tamarind paste, look for tamarind in a jar that is from Thailand (sometimes labeled as tamarind concentrate). It should have a pourable consistency. If it is very thick and not pourable, add one tablespoon at a time and taste before adding more. You can also make it from pulp using this recipe.
Dark brown sugar or palm sugar
Black soy sauce or dark soy sauce, optional, you can add more or less to get the colour you like.
Fish sauce
Garlic, peeled, but keep cloves whole
Pearl onions or Thai small shallots
Julienned ginger

Hung Lay Curry Paste

Tip: No time to make the curry paste? "Cheat" by combining 3-4 tablespoon store bought red curry paste with 2 tablespoon hung lay curry powder or garam masala.

Dried mild red chilies. I use dried guajillo peppers for colour because they're mild, and then add a few dried arbol or Thai chilies to adjust the heat. In Thailand, the mild dried chilies you're looking for is spur chilies or "prik chee fa."
Garlic
Chopped shallots
Lemongrass, bottom half only, chopped
Galangal
Turmeric (or 1 ½ teaspoon powdered turmeric)
Hung lay curry powder (recipe below, or use garam masala)
Fermented shrimp paste (gapi)

Hung Lay Curry Powder

Whole spices are always preferred as the flavours are more aromatic when freshly ground, but if you don't have it, ground version can be substituted.

Cinnamon stick or ground cinnamon
Black peppercorns
Turmeric powder, you can also pound fresh turmeric root into the curry paste
Green cardamom
White cardamom, these can be found a Chinese grocery stores.
Cumin seeds
Coriander seeds, this is the one spice I ask you use whole because in my experience ground coriander has so much less flavour than whole.
Star anise
Cloves
Nutmeg
Fennel seeds

How to Make Gaeng Hung Lay

Here are all the steps to make this recipe. If this is your first time, I highly recommend watching the video tutorial to ensure success.

Make Hunglay Curry Powder:

For whole spices, toast them in a dry saute pan until aromatic and darkened slightly. You can combine spices of similar size and toast them at the same time.
Then combine all spices in a coffee grinder or blender and grind into a powder.
Once made, store in an airtight container in a cool, dark place. You will have more than you need for this recipe, so feel free to use it as rubs, marinades, or on vegetables!

Make the curry paste:

Grind dried chilies into a powder in a coffee/spice grinder, removing the seeds if you want to reduce the heat.
If using an immersion blender: combine lemongrass, galangal, turmeric, shallots, garlic and shrimp paste, and blend into a paste. Add the ground dry spices and blend just to mix.
If using a mortar and pestle: start by pounding lemongrass and galangal into a fine paste. Then add turmeric and pound until fine, then add shallots and garlic until fine. Then add the shrimp paste and ground dry spices and pound to mix.
If using a regular blender: combine lemongrass, galangal, turmeric, shallots, garlic and shrimp paste, and blend into a paste. If it's too thick you can add a little water to get it going, but only add as much as needed. Pour
Add the dried chilies and the hung lay curry powder and blend just until well combined.

Make the curry:

Preheat a wok or large pot over medium heat, do not add any oil as there will be a lot of pork fat rendered. Add the pork belly pieces in one layer, and without crowding the pan, and let them sear until well browned on 4 sides. They will stick at first but once they are browned they will release from the pan.
Add the pork ribs and give it a quick toss. Then add the curry paste and toss to coat all pieces of pork well. Once the paste is well distributed and it has had a couple of minutes to fry in the pork fat, add water just until it barely covers the pork.
Add fish sauce, black soy sauce, tamarind and sugar, and cook for 1 hour 45 mins to 2 hours, loosely covered, until the pork is fork tender.
Towards the last 20 minutes, check the amount of liquid, and if it's very soupy, uncover the pot completely to allow liquid to evaporate. You want the sauce to be thick and rich in the end.
Once pork is tender add julienned ginger, whole garlic and pearl onions and simmer for another 15-20 minutes until the garlic is tender. You can add a little more water at any point if it gets to dry.
Taste and adjust seasoning.
Garnish with extra fresh julienned ginger if desired and serve with rice, enjoy! This curry can also be made in advance and kept in the fridge, and it'll keep well in the fridge for at least a week.

Watch The Full Video Tutorial!

All my recipes come with step-by-step video tutorials with extra tips not mentioned in the blog post, so make sure you watch the video below to ensure success - and if you enjoy the show, please consider subscribing to my YouTube channel. Thank you!

Recipe Card

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