Homemade Thai red curry paste, full flavoured and whipped up in just 10 minutes. Use this easy Thai paste recipe in the base of a lovely homemade Thai red curry or jar it up and keep it in the fridge or freezer until its nee
10gjarred ginger pieces or 10g piece of fresh ginger
2large red chillies
1stalk lemongrass
5kaffir lime leaves
1teaspoonground coriander
1teaspoonground turmeric
½tablespoonolive oil
1teaspoonfish sauce
1or 2 tablespoon of water if needed for blending
Instructions
Start by preparing the ingredients: Roughly chop the shallots, red chillies (seeds removed), and lemongrass, and peel and slice the garlic and ginger (if using fresh).
Set up a small blender or smoothie maker. Then add all of the ingredients plus 1 tablespoon of water.
Start the blender and blend until a thick, smooth paste has formed. If the blender has trouble getting going add another tablespoon of water. Make sure to only add small amounts of water otherwise your paste will be too thin.
Use the paste to make a Thai red Curry or transfer to a jar or sealable containers and refrigerate for 1 week or freeze for up to 3 months.
Video
Notes
Is this curry paste hot? Out of all the Thai currys, Thai green curry is the hottest, despite the belief that Thai red curry is the hotter of the two. This is mainly down to the chillies used. Green chillies (particularly green birds eye chilli peppers) tend to be hotter than red. But in general the smaller the chilli (red or green) the hotter it becomes. So whether the paste is hot or too spicy for you, is dependent on the type of chillies used and the amounts.If you like it spicy add plenty of small red chillies. If not, add less and go for a bigger sized chilli pepper or for no head use bell peppers (capsicum). If a milder curry is much more your thing then try Panang curry, or Massaman curry, or even a Thai yellow curry.How much curry paste is needed to make a curry? 2-3 tablespoon of paste is usually enough when making a curry for 2-4 people.How to store? Once made, Thai red curry paste can be transferred to a jar and kept in the fridge for up to a week or in the freezer for up to 1 month.Blending the paste: Use a small blender to make the Thai red paste. If the ingredients don't blend together easily then add a bit of water or olive oil to help get it going. Only add small amounts (1 tbsp) of water or oil each time. Too much and the paste will become thin and runny.Make in advance: Curry pastes are great to make in advance as they store easily and can be used directly in whatever curry you are making as soon as you are ready to make it. I like to batch make my curry pastes and then split into small containers. Each container has enough to make one curry for 2-4 people (3-4 tbsp). These can be stored in the fridge or freezer and then called upon when needed. Frozen paste can be microwaved for a minute or two and can then be used right away.Scaling this recipe: The ingredients for this recipe will make around 6 tablespoons of Thai red curry paste. To make more just increase the amounts of ingredients. Doubling the ingredients will produce 12 tablespoons.