There really is no need to buy curry pastes in a jar, ready made. So long as you have a few of the key ingredients to hand it is very easy and quick to make your own pastes. The below recipe is for a green curry paste, originally from Thailand, home of the green curry.
Green Curry Paste Ingredients:
- 3 cloves of garlic
- 10 birds eye green chillies
- 5 shallots
- a large chunk of ginger (thumb sized)
- 2 large hand fulls of fresh coriander leaves
- 2 teaspoons of crushed coriander seeds
- 5 kaffir lime leaves
- zest from one lime
- 1 teaspoon of cumin powder
- 1 teaspoon of shrimp paste
- 10 fresh thai basil leaves
Method:
First of all do not worry if you do not have all of the above ingredients. So long as you have the coriander leaves, chillies, garlic, ginger and lime you’ll be ok.
Simply place all of the ingredients into a food processor and pulse for a few seconds. You may need to add a small amount of water to help form the paste.
This green curry paste can be used immediately by simply adding to a pan of seared chicken, beef or vegetables along with a tin of coconut milk. Then simply cook on a low heat for 20 minutes or so and you have yourself a tasty green curry!
Alternatively if you are not using it fresh the paste can be stored in the fridge for a couple of weeks if you place it in a sealed container or frozen where it will last for a few months.