This is the homemade alternative to the store bought red Thai curry paste. Often the store bought versions contain some kind of shrimp or fish, but you can be lucky to find one without it.
This paste has a reddish orangy tint, and when used in coconut milk curries, it makes a slight pink beige colour, not the usual very red colour from store bought pastes, but it has much more flavour than the storebought version.
This batch makes a portion of 150 ml, which is what i use in a coconut curry for 4 people.You can also make a bigger batch and freeze the paste in portion sizes, for later use.
Makes 150 ml (5 oz)
Ingredients
- 1½ stalks of lemongrass
- 4 cloves of garlic
- 1 red Spanish chilies
- 2-4 hot mini red chilies (depends how hot you like it)
- 1 stalk of spring onion
- 1 thumbs of fresh ginger
- 2 teaspoons of grated galangal root
- ½ teaspoon coriander seeds
- ½ teaspoon mustard seeds
- ½ teaspoon cumin
- 2 tablespoons plant oil
What you will need
- Cutting board and knife
- 1 Blender
- 1 tight lid storage jar
Instructions
- Take the outer layer of the lemongrass and garlic off. Roughly chop them.
- Chop the Spanish chilies and small red chilies. If you don’t wish to make the paste too hot, you can deseed all the peppers. I chose to use 3 of the small hot chilies and 1 big red Spanish chili with the seeds. The spanish ones are not too hot, but they add a good flavour.The small ones are very hot. Use as many as you prefer, with or without seeds.
- Peel and chop the ginger, and chop the spring onion. Deseed the red bell pepper and chop roughly.
- Add all the ingredients to the blender with the galangal paste, coriander seeds, mustard seeds, cumin and oil. Blend until smooth.
Store what you need in the fridge for up tp 5 days, freeze the rest in portion sizes and use as needed.
Enjoy !
