Thai Red Curry Paste Recipe
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!
Servings: 1 cup
Ingredients
- 12-15 small dried Thai chilies
- 3-5 large dried Thai chilies optional, if you want the color of your curry paste to be vibrant, use these as they're only mildly hot
- 1 galangal root about 1 ounce
- 3 stalks lemongrass
- 1 kaffir lime
- 10 cloves garlic
- 7 shallots
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ tablespoon shrimp paste
Instructions
PREPARE THE HERBS AND SPICES (PLEASE CHECK OUT PICTURES IN THE POST FOR MORE DETAILS)
- Soak the dried chilies in water.
- 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.
- 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.
- Use a knife to peel the rind of the kaffir lime. Set aside the rind and discard the fruit.
- Peel the garlic.
- Peel the shallots and slice them thinly.
MAKE THE CURRY PASTE
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
Notes
Though it's much quicker to make this Thai red curry paste in a blender or food processor, the curry paste will be more aromatic if you pound the ingredients in a mortar. That way, the herbs release more of their fragrances.