Thai red curry paste

Red Curry Paste is the starting point for many great Thai dishes. Making your own is easy and much tastier than the stuff you buy in jars. The red curry paste you buy does not usually contain all the herbs and spices required to make Thai dishes. This version does, so uncooked it won't look "red". But once used it will glow.

Ingredients

• 5 whole fresh or dried chilies - I prefer dried Kashmiri chilis for the colour.
• 1 tablespoon coriander seed.
• 2 teaspoons cumin seeds.
• 1 teaspoon black peppercorns.
• ½ spoon salt.
• 2 tablespoons of fresh ginger peeled and roughly chopped. If you can find fresh galangal all the better.
• 4 large cloves of peeled garlic.
• 2 shallots or 1 small red onion peeled and roughly chopped.
• 2 tablespoons of finely chopped coriander root, or coriander leafs and stalks if you can find root.
• 1 tablespoon of finely chopped lemongrass - discard hard outer leaves and base.
• 2 teaspoons of ground turmeric (optional for deeper colour)
• 1 tablespoon of ground paprika (optional for deeper colour)
• 1 teaspoon of shrimp paste or 2 teaspoons of Thai Fish Sauce (Nam Pla).
• The juice and zest of one small lime.

Method:

• De-seed the chilis. This enables you to get more chill flavour without excessive heat.
• Dry roast the coriander and cumin seeds over low heat. Don't let them burn!
• Fine grind the coriander seeds, cumin seeds and black peppercorns. If you are using dried chilis, grind them as well.
• Put all the ingredients in a foot processor and create a smooth paste. A Hand blender will do an equally good job.
• Once you have made the paste freeze it in an ice cube tray, then store the cubes in a bag until needed.

To make a simple red curry:

• Put 1 tablespoon (2-3 frozen cubes) of red curry paste in a frying pan with a little oil.
• Fry for a few minutes stirring constantly to avoid burning the paste.
• Add a tin of coconut milk.
• Bring to the boil and reduce for 5 minutes.
• Add strips of meat, pieces of fish, or vegetables and for a further 5-10 minutes.
• The sauce thicken and the oil will begin to separate when it is ready.
• If you want more heat - add more chilli.

Vegetable Red Curry