Thai Red Curry Paste
This Thai red curry paste recipe is authentic and very easy to follow. Made with fresh ingredients using the right technique, it's pungent and flavorful and totally preservative-free. Spare some time on the weekend to make this and enjoy a quick and easy red curry dish any busy week night!
- Prep time
- 35 min
- Cook time
- 31 min
- Yield
- 1 serving
- Difficulty
- MEDIUM
Ingredients
Quantities are shown as originally provided.
- 12-15 small dried Thai chilies
- 3-5 large dried Thai chilies
- 1 galangal root
- 3 stalks lemongrass
- 1 kaffir lime
- 10 cloves garlic
- 7 shallots
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 tablespoon shrimp paste
Instructions
- 1
Soak the dried chilies in water.
- 2
Rinse the galangal root under running water until there is no dirt left. Slice it into ten 0.5 cm slices, about 1 ounce. Then, chop the 10 slices into small pieces.
- 3
Remove the outermost leaf of each lemongrass stalk. Cut off the root and the tougher part at the top and discard. Then, finely chop the bottom part.
- 4
Use a knife to peel the rind of the kaffir lime. Set aside the rind and discard the fruit.
- 5
Peel the garlic.
- 6
Peel the shallots and slice them thinly.
- 7
Add the galangal, lemongrass, kaffir lime rind, dried chilies, salt and shrimp paste into the mortar and pound until relatively fine, about 10-15 minutes (picture reference in the post). These herbs are quite fibrous so they need to go in first.
- 8
Add the garlic and shallots and continue to pound for another 10-15 minutes so that everything blends together and the paste is fine enough. You can make your paste a little coarse or very fine. This depends on your preference.
- 9
Use the paste right away or store it in an airtight container for up to 1 week or freeze in an ice cube tray for a few months.