Red Curry Paste

Prepare this authentic Thai curry paste to make our Thai Red Curry recipe with bamboo. Freeze any leftover paste up to 2 months in a zip lock bag, in tablespoon size portions, making it easy to add to future soups or curries as needed.

5 dried whole red chilies, seeded and soaked
5 shallots, sliced
10 cloves garlic
1 tsp galangal, finely sliced
1 tbsp lemon grass, sliced
1 tbsp kaffir lime rind, finely sliced (optional)
2 tsp chopped fresh coriander root
5 black whole peppercorns
1 tbsp ground roasted coriander seed
1 tsp roasted cumin (find out how to dry-roast spices)
1 tsp sea salt
1 tsp shrimp paste

Pound together coriander seeds, cumin, and peppercorns to obtain a fine paste in a mortar and pestle. Spoon into a bowl and put aside.

Pound dried chilies and salt together, add galangal, lemon grass, kaffir lime rind, coriander roots, garlic, shallots and pound well. Add the cumin mixture, follow with shrimp paste. Pound until everything is well-combined.

This recipe is taken from the Step-by-Step Cooking Series,
Popular Thai Cuisine, available in our cookbook section.