Authentic Thai Red Curry Paste Recipes

Steps:

• Cut dried chiles into 1/4-inch pieces with kitchen shears and soak in warm water until softened, about 20 minutes. Drain well in a sieve.
• While chiles soak, toast coriander in a dry small heavy skillet over moderate heat, shaking skillet, until fragrant, 3 to 4 minutes, then cool. Thinly slice lower 6 inches of lemongrass stalks and finely chop.
• Finely grind coriander and peppercorns with mortar and pestle (or in mini food processor), about 2 minutes, then toss together with lemongrass, galangal, lime leaves, cilantro, shallot, garlic, fresh chiles, and soaked dried chiles in a bowl. Pound mixture in 3 batches with mortar and pestle until a fairly smooth paste is formed, 8 to 10 minutes per batch, transferring to cleaned bowl. (If using food processor, add about 1 1/2 tablespoons water per batch.) Return all of curry paste to mortar, then add shrimp paste and salt and pound (or pulse) until combined well, about 1 minute.

Steps:

• Prepare all ingredients as instructed above.
• Drain the chillies and discard liquid.
• In a food processor, puree the chillies and all the other fresh ingredients until very fine.
• Grind all the spices together (you can use a mortar and pestle - I use a small food processor).
• Add the roasted shrimp paste to the spices and grind again until combined.
• Add the spice/shrimp paste mix to the puree and mix well.
• Store in a tightly sealed glass jar in the refrigerator or freeze in 1/4 cup or 1/2 cup portions.
• 1/2 cup of the paste is sufficient for sauce for 500g/1lb of meat.