Thai Red Curry Paste
Published in Curry Pastes
Will keep for about 3-4 weeks.
Ingredients:
- 2 tbl dhania, roughly chopped
- 2 tbl ground coriander
- 1 tbl ground cumin
- 1 tsp turmeric
- 1 tsp black peppercorns
- 1 tsp salt
- 2 tsp shrimp paste
- 2 stalks lemon grass, chopped finely
- 4 garlic cloves, crushed
- 10 large red chillies, deseeded, chopped
- 5 cm piece galangal, finely chopped
- 3 tbl peanut oil
Preparation:
- Place all the ingredients, except the oil in a blender, and blitz to a smooth thick paste, adding a little water to start the process off.
- Heat the oil in a frying pan, over a gentle heat.
- Keeping the heat low, add the paste and cook, stirring constantly, for about 5 minutes, until the paste is very fragrant.
- Leave to cool completely, then refrigerate.
Notes:
- Shrimp paste is readily available in Chinese grocers
- Alternatively, use 1½ teaspoons of bottled chopped lemon grass. It is quite acceptable and saves time.
- I try to use jalapeno chillies, as they have lots of flavour without too much heat. However, use whatever you can get, remembering that a rule-of-thumb guide to chillies is : the smaller the chilli, the hotter it is.
- Fresh galangal is almost unobtainable at the moment. It is available dried and in powder form. I use the powder – about 1 teaspoon – and about 2 teaspoons of grated fresh ginger.
Makes about 150 ml.
