I recently tried and really enjoyed Thai style curry. I used a store bought jar of Thai curry paste which was pretty good but I wanted to try to make my own. I picked up a copy of “The Big Book of Thai Curries” which has a lot of great looking curries in it. I decided that I would start with the panang curry paste because it had peanuts and sounded interesting. I was lacking many of the ingredients required for the curry paste and went I went off in search of them. In the end I was unable to find the galangal which I replaced with ginger or the kaffir lime which I replaced with a regular. I was able to find the shrimp paste which is included in all of the curries in the book. The panang curry paste looked pretty good but the shrimp paste made it smell. With the curry paste made the next step is to use it to make a curry.
12/14/2007 – Update – I froze some of the curry paste in individual serving sizes and they came out of the freezer in good condition.
Panang Curry Paste
ingredients
- 5 dried red chilies (toasted)
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 large shallot
- 4 large cloves garlic
- 1 tablespoon galangal (or ginger)
- 2 stalks lemongrass (peeled, lower 2 inches)
- 1 tablespoon kaffir lime zest (or lime)
- 1 tablespoon cilantro root
- 1 teaspoon white peppercorns (toasted and ground)
- 2 teaspoons coriander seeds (toasted and ground)
- 1 teaspoon cumin seeds (toasted and ground)
- 2 tablespoons roasted peanuts (toasted and ground)
- 1 tablespoon shrimp paste
directions
- Mash everything with a mortar and pestle or puree everything in a food processor.
Anonymous says
November 11, 2007 at 4:33 pmHi. If you are interested in Thai cooking try this website
http://www.thaifoodtonight.com
It’s got about 30 recipes each one with a cooking video to go along
Good if you like to try cooking Thai food at home
Daniel Gardner says
November 11, 2007 at 9:49 pmThai curries are some of the tastiest around. If you want to try something that is absolutely divine, try massamun (sometimes spelled ‘musamun’ or ‘mussamun’) curry. It has a bit of sweetness, but not much. It’s a yellowy-orange color. You will really love it. Goes great with chicken, pork, beef, or tofu. If you love panang, you’ll go ga-ga over massamun.
Kevin says
November 13, 2007 at 12:57 amThe massamun curry sounds interesting. I will look it up.
Elaine Kwok says
March 3, 2011 at 4:54 pmI just made this last night based on your recipe. INCREDIBLE!
Thanks for showing me how easy it is to make curry from scratch!