Keyword: red curry paste, thai curry paste, thai red curry paste
Prep Time: 10 minutesminutes
Total Time: 10 minutesminutes
Servings: 6servings
Calories: 40kcal
Author: Phasinee Doddeo
Cost: $5
Thai red curry paste is the base paste from which we can make several other curry pastes used in Thai cooking. So it's important to get a really good recipe to work from as a foundation to cooking up much more than red curry dishes.
Soak the dried spur and jinda chilies after chopping into small sections. Remove some or all of the seeds for a milder paste.
Ensure all the solid ingredients are finely chopped to help you pound them more quickly.
Starting with the drier ingredients, one ingredient at a time, pound thoroughly. As you reach the desired fineness add the next ingredient to the mix. Finish with the wetter ingredients such as the garlic, draining the dried chilies after soaking before adding and finish up with the shrimp paste if using.
The finished paste should be moist but definitely not wet and without releasing liquid when standing.
Blender or Processor Method
This method requires about 2 tablespoons or so of water - needed to make the machine properly blend. It is imperative you add as little water as is strictly needed for the machine to make the paste and no more.Also work with small quantities to avoid overloading the machine. The greater the volume of ingredients the more liquid you'll need to add making the paste too wet.
Consider processing in two batches if the volume is too much for your particular machine and especially with the immersion blender. It gets messy quickly!
Add all the ingredients for the batch along with a tablespoon of water and blend or process.If the ingredients start to stick to the sides of the container and so do not get chopped, stop the machine and add another tablespoon of water and settle the ingredients and try again.
Video
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=
Notes
Remember to use only as much water as necessary to get a moist, pliable paste. It should not be wet.The mortar and pestle method will give better color, aroma, and taste. It takes quite a long time to pound - around 20 minutes - but lasts longer and is altogether better.Do not try to process too much at one time as you will end up having to add too much water and end up with a sloppy, poorly colored, and not very tasty finished curry paste.