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Thursday, November 13, 2008

Thai Red Curry Paste

Thai Red Curry Paste 1

Recently, I had a major craving for Thai curry, red curry in particular. And as I stood there in the aisle at the San Gabriel Superstore reading the ingredients of the canned curry pastes, I decided I could make my own for better and cheaper.

The main reason why I prefer to make my own Thai curry paste is because I don't like the taste of galangal. I know purists will say it's essential, but the taste is so overwhelming in packaged pastes that I just don't like it. And actually, even though it's not "authentic," I much prefer the taste of ginger. I also sub regular lime peel for kaffir lime peel since the latter is harder to find.



Thai Red Curry Paste 2

Thai Red Curry Paste
Adapted from "Step-By-Step Thai Cookery" by Hilaire Walden.

For about 1/2 cup, you'll need:
2 stalks lemongrass, thinly sliced
1 2-inch knob ginger (or galangal if you want to be authentic)
Peel from 1 lime (kaffir if you want to be authentic)
1 tblsp Mam Ruoc (Vietnamese Fermented Shrimp Paste)
1 shallot
4 garlic cloves
2 large chilies or 6 small chilies, or however much heat you can stand, de-seed if necessary
2 tsp brown sugar
1 tsp coriander seeds
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp black pepper

Add all ingredients to a food processor and puree until finely minced, scrapping the sides down if necessary. Freeze any leftover paste.

Thai Red Curry Paste 3

Who else made Thai red curry paste?
Darlene of Blazing Hot Wok uses hers on a sweet, salty, spicy fish recipe.

My Thai curry recipes:
Gaeng Kiaw Waan (Thai Green Curry with Thai Eggplants)
Pumpkin Curry
Thai Red Curry with Roast Duck, Bamboo Shoots, Eggplant, and Pumpkin

*****
1 year ago today, Woodlands Indian Cuisine - Artesia (Little India).

6 comments:

  1. You are into Thai now? So are there more Thai dishes to come? Slurp slurp! Bring it on!

    ReplyDelete
  2. gorgeous and so simple too, but personally a bigger fan of green curry so will likely try that recipe soon!

    Do you have a guesstimate on storage life for this one?

    ReplyDelete
  3. PP,
    Just for a little bit so I can segue into roast duck, which segues into turkey! :)

    HC,
    Use up however much you want, then save the rest in small ziploc bags in the freezer. That'll keep for months and months.

    ReplyDelete
  4. This sounds so easy! I've been wanting to make my own paste.

    ReplyDelete
  5. I know homemade would be so much better, but I am too lazy!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Gay,
    Making your own curry really is very easy. I never realized how easy until I did it.

    Pam,
    Hey, cooking from mixes is fine too. We can't always make everything from scratch.

    ReplyDelete

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