Thai Red 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, chillies, galangal, kaffir lime peel, 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:

2-3 fresh red chillies - adjust according to taste
1 tblsp fresh Thai red chillies
5 garlic cloves
2 stalks fresh lemongrass
1/2 cup fresh coriander - you can use both leaves and stems
1-inch ginger or galangal
1 large shallot or small onion
2-3 Kaffir lime leaves
1 tsp salt
2 tsp coriander seeds
2 tsp jeera/cumin seeds
1 tsp white or black peppercorns
coconut milk - enough to keep the blades going

Makes 1 cup

Method:

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

2. Place all ingredients in a food processor or blender and ground to a fairly smooth paste.

3. Store in an air-tight jar in the fridge for upto 2 weeks.