Spicie Foodie ™

Healthy, Fresh, and Delicious Recipes to Spice up Your Kitchen ™

Red Thai Curry Paste ~Krung Kaeng Phed

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In Thai cuisine curry paste is an essential ingredient to prepare many dishes but of course the main dishes being curries. There are several paste, red, yellow, green, Panaeng and the more Indian influenced Massaman curry paste. I’ve made them all except the Panaeng, which I will try and then post. The first Thai curry paste recipe I have is for red curry paste. This recipe is from my cookbook called , “The Complete Asian Cookbook” by Charmaine Solomon . Home made red Thai curry paste is very easy and fast to make, you may get addicted to making your own and not buy prepackaged again. There is nothing wrong with the couple of prepackaged ones I’ve bought, but I like making my own to control the spiciness and make sure all the necessary ingredients are included and none left out. Of course there’s the preservatives used, yuck, which I try to avoid as often as possible.

One of the ingredients is shrimp paste, I have to leave this out because I have not been able to find here. So to still give the curry paste a seafood taste I add the fish sauce. Shrimp paste also adds a redness to the paste so that’s why I add the paprika, merely for color aesthetics and does not affect the taste. If you are a vegetarian you can omit both or either of the shrimp paste and fish sauce. The recipe below can be doubled or tripled, and you can adjust the heat as you like.
red thai curry paste ingredientsYour ingredients:
4-6 dried red chillies
2 small brown onions, chopped
1 tsp. / 5 ml peppercorns (about 68 )
2 tsp. / 10 ml ground cummin ( 2 1/2 tsp. / 12 ml whole)
1 tbsp. / 15 ml ground coriander ( 1 1/2 tbsp. / 22.5 ml whole seeds)
2 tbsp./ 30 ml fresh cilantro chopped ( including the stems and roots)
1 tsp. / 5ml salt
2 tsp. / 10 ml finely chopped lemon or lime peel
1 tsp. / 5ml lemon grass powder
1 tsp / 5ml ginger powder
1 tbsp. /2-3 cloves , chopped garlic
2 tsp. / 10 ml shrimp paste (Subs. 2 tbsp. / 30 ml fish sauce)
1 tbsp. / 15 ml vegetable oil
1 tsp. / 5 ml turmeric
2 tsp. / 10 ml paprika ( only for color)
home made curry paste
1. In a small bowl pour some hot water and add the dried chillies to soak and soften them for about 8 minutes. If you are using whole spices, first grind those in a mortar and pestle or spice grinder. Next chop the onion, cilantro and lemon peel. Drain the chillies and remove the stems. ( If you want the curry paste a bit milder remove and discard the seeds, otherwise leave them in.)

2. In a blender add all the ingredients including the ground spices, and oil. Blend to a thick paste, if it’s too dry you can add a little water or more oil.
Viola! , red curry paste ready to go and cook any delicious Thai dish. The paste will keep fresh in the refrigerator for a couple of weeks or longer, in the freezer up to 2 months,that’s if you don’t use it up before 2 months:) By the way it does freeze well, I scoop 2- 3 big spoonfuls into small plastic bags and divide into portions that way you only need to defrost what you need for a meal.
easy fast thai curry

Comments

  5. I love curries, but I have not tried using curry paste, just the powder. This looks simple enough to make, I will definitely try this, I have most of the ingredients at hand except for 3, cumin, coriander and cilantro root. Thanks for sharing this :)

  6. raquel~ it is good isn't it:)

    Theresa111~ I think it created a beautiful color palette so I had to shoot it. Thank you:)

    TasteHongKong~ good to hear I'm not the only one:)

    Andrea@WellnessNotes~ Thank you:)

    Olive~ Oh you must try curry paste, it's so fresh and different tasting than powders. It really is a simple and easy thing to make. If you can't find the cilantro with root, just use the whole thing leaves and stalks will still be good.Please come back and let us know how it works out for you Ok? :)

    And all of you I will share a really good and unique recipe for curry using this paste in the coming days.

  8. Would it be okay to use sesame oil instead of vegetable? Or will that alter the taste unfavorably.

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