Red Curry Paste

"I like to make my own curry paste. This way I know that the compliments I get for my curries are entirely up to myself. The good thing is that the paste keeps for a couple of weeks in the fridge and can be frozen. The paste makes wonderful presents too. I give them away together with coconut milk, some kaffir lime leaves (I have my own plant), and some ideas how to use it. I also tell them that they can wrap whatever they won't use in tin foil and freeze. The recipe comes from Madhur Jaffrey's Curry Bible, a wonderful book. You will find coriander with roots in Asian stores, but don't worry if you can't find the roots, Madhur Jaffrey writes that you can use a small handful of the leaves instead. However, your paste then won't be as red as when using the roots. This paste is enough for two dishes of pork, beef, chicken, prawns, squid, fish, crabs, lobster meat or hard-boiled eggs."
 
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photo by Simonich photo by Simonich
photo by Simonich
photo by Sandi From CA photo by Sandi From CA
Ready In:
1hr 10mins
Ingredients:
11
Yields:
10 tablespoons
Serves:
8
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ingredients

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directions

  • Soak the chillies in 5 tablespoons hot water for 1-2 hours. (You could also put them in a microwave oven for 2-3 minutes and then let them sit for 20-30 minutes).
  • Put the chillies together with their soaking liquid, into a blender, along with all the remaining ingredients in the order listed.
  • Blend, pushing down with a rubber spatula as many times as necessary, until you have a smooth paste.
  • What you do not use immediately should be refrigerated or frozen.

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Reviews

  1. Never have made red curry paste, i read all the reviews and went to the local farmers market for fresh lemongrass, tumeric and chilies, they were out of coriander root so I bought cilantro. I used the base recipe w/these additions: i put the chilies and water in the microwave, which absorbed the water so I added 5 TBLS more and covered to steam the chilies for 25 minutes...I roasted a red pepper (peeled, cored, seeded and chopped) & added the zest and juice of one lime when I put into my miniblender. I toasted all spices prior to adding to miniblender. Results: delicious! delicious! delicious! thank you for a great curry paste.
     
  2. I was out of red curry paste and did not want to run to the store and thought I would try this recipe. This turned out perfect and it is so easy to make. It was perfect. It may be a little hotter than store bought, but so easy to adjust in each recipe. I should say that I did not use the lime rind, coriander root or cumin as I did not have any in the house. This is a really money saver too. Where I live those little jars are almost $4 each. I will no longer be buying it and will be using your suggestion to freeze any leftovers. Thanks for the recipe.
     
  3. Delicious and easy. Added roasted red pepper to blend, it helped with more moisture and colour and a tsp of fragrant coconut oil. Fabulous :) Thanks tigerduck!
     
  4. This was excellent. I made it for a thai supper I hosted for a cooking group I belong to. The recipe was prepared as directed. The taste was perfect. My only complaint (somewhat silly) is that I found the blender to be the wrong tool for making the paste -- no matter what I did I couldn't get the blender to, well -- BLEND. In any event after a string of expletives and almost being attacked by my spatula I dumped the contents of said blender into my food processor and the paste came together in about 5 seconds. I was a bit skeptical of the shrimp paste which had a very strong odor, but the final product was unbelievable. Thanks tigerduck for posting this recipe. Even my wife who is a real curry hater said it was good.
     
  5. This was fabulous, although I had to sub a couple of ingredients - I am too lazy to go out in the cold and get them myself! I skipped the coriander root, using a bit more cumin and ground coriander, subbed two kaffir lime leaves for the rind, and fish sauce for the shrimp paste. Still, this is delish and an excellent substitute for store-bought. Tastes more like real Thai food than something out of a jar would.
     
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Tweaks

  1. This was fabulous, although I had to sub a couple of ingredients - I am too lazy to go out in the cold and get them myself! I skipped the coriander root, using a bit more cumin and ground coriander, subbed two kaffir lime leaves for the rind, and fish sauce for the shrimp paste. Still, this is delish and an excellent substitute for store-bought. Tastes more like real Thai food than something out of a jar would.
     
  2. This is very good. I did use the coriander roots, and it turned out bright red. Had everything else except the kaffir lime rind. I added some kaffir lime leaves to the curry instead. Thank you very much.
     
  3. I can't speak highly enough in favor of this delicious curry paste. It's fantastic! I omitted the hot chilies (we hurt easily *lol*), and, using what I had on hand, substituted ginger paste for fresh, chili powder for chilies, and omitted the shrimp paste entirely. I wasn't sure if I should still review it, but I couldn't help myself... it was outstanding as made and I will definitely try it next time with the shrimp paste and some mild chilies. I had a heck of a time getting the ingredients to blend in the blender, (there wasn't enough weight to keep it down on the blades), so I added some olive oil to make up for the moisture the missing ingredients would have provided. My fault, not the recipe's. Eventually, my perseverance won out...with the help of a spatula and a bit of patience. Thank you, tigerduck, for revealing your secret!
     

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