Thai Green Curry Paste

This can be made ahead of time and stored for all your Thai dishes. It makes use of all the authentic Thai trimmings - lemongrass, coriander seeds, green chillies, galangal, kaffir lime leaves, coconut milk. The main difference between red and green curry paste is its color - which is obvious, and the fact that red curry uses Thai red chillies and green curry uses green chillies. The rest of the ingredients are more or less the same.

Ingredients:

1-3 green chillies - adjust according to taste
2 cloves garlic
1 stalk lemongrass, sliced finely
1 cup fresh coriander - you can use both leaves and stems
2-3 kaffir lime leaves
1 thumb-size piece galangal or ginger
2 shallot / 1 small onion
1/2 tblsp ground coriander
2 tsp jeera/Cumin seeds
3 tblsp soy sauce
1 tsp brown sugar (optional)
1 1/2 tsp dark soy sauce
coconut milk - enough to keep the blades going

Makes 1/2 cup or 8 tblsp

Method:

1. Chop the chillies, garlic, lemongrass, coriander, lime leaves, galangal/ginger and shallot/onion.

2. Place all ingredients in a food processor and grind to a paste.

3. Store in an air tight container in refrigerator for upto 2 weeks.