Recipe: Homemade Thai Red Curry Paste

Many people when they think of curry are thinking of Indian curry, which has more of a spice flavor - hints of cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves, and is a richer, heavier taste which can tend to be overpowering. Thai curry, on the other hand, has a completely different taste - it is a light, fresh flavor which goes well with all kinds of meats and vegetables.

Ingredients for Thai green curry paste. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Thai curry paste is what provides this flavor, and it's actually pretty easy to make at home. I've made both red and green myself several times. They have different flavors, but many ingredients in common. Once made, you can keep in the fridge in a jar for several weeks, but if you're not going to use it that soon, it also freezes very well and will keep for a long time when frozen. My favorite way to store homemade curry paste is to scrape it into ice cube trays and freeze - then pop the cubes in a ziplock bag, and you can use these easily when needed in recipes (one cube = about 2TB). If you are freezing the paste for storage, you don't need to cook it at the end as shown in the video (I've never cooked mine) - you will be cooking it anyway whenever you use it in a recipe. However, the cooking will help preserve it longer if you are storing it in the refrigerator instead of the freezer.

This video shows you each ingredient you will need for making your own Thai red curry paste, and how to prepare them. They also suggest some substitutions if you can't find all the ingredients. (I have used ginger in place of galangal, and red onions in place of the shallots. You can also use a few leaves of the cilantro, OR dried, ground coriander, instead of the stems.)

There are many different versions of Thai curry paste, but this is a good basic one to start with and will give you a great base for making a number of different Thai curry recipes, including the Red Thai Curry Fish we posted on Wednesday.

Enjoy!

Thai Red Curry Paste - Thai Recipes
Printable Recipe: showmethecurry.com