I am a huge fan of curries in all forms and in particular, I am quite fond of Thai curries. It had been a long time since I last had a Thai curry and I had been craving some for the last few days. Unfortunately I was fresh out of curry paste which meant that it was time to make some more. (I have been making my own Thai curry pastes ever since I discovered just how easy it is to make at home and just how much better a homemade curry paste it!) There are many different kinds of Thai curry pastes and given that it is Spring I figured that green curry paste would be fitting. This green curry paste is just packed with fresh ingredients and it is literally as easy to make as pureeing all of the ingredients in a food processor.
Tip: Thai curry pastes freeze well so I like to divide the curry paste into several 2 tablespoon portions and freeze them and that way whenever I fell like a Thai curry I can just pull one out of the freezer and be ready to go.
Thai Green Curry Paste
A Thai curry paste made with fresh green chilies that is just packed with flavour. This curry paste is easy to make at home and it can be used in many dishes.
ingredients
- 6 green Thai chilies (or green chiles de arbol or green jalapenos)
- 4 tablespoons shallots, finely diced
- 3 tablespoons garlic, chopped
- 2 tablespoons galangal (or ginger), grated
- 2 tablespoons lemongrass, the lower 2 inches, peeled
- 2 teaspoons kaffir lime or lime zest
- 1/4 cup cilantro roots, coarsely chopped
- 1 teaspoon white peppercorns, toasted and ground
- 2 teaspoons coriander seeds, toasted and ground
- 2 teaspoons cumin seeds, toasted and ground
- 1 tablespoon shrimp paste
directions
- Puree everything in a food processor.
Charlatan says
June 7, 2011 at 2:12 amWhat kind of shrimp paste are you using? Is it what Malaysians call belacan?
hassall eats... says
June 7, 2011 at 3:58 amUnfortunately I'm too much of a poor student to buy a processer.. would a mortar and pestle work just as well?
Rosa's Yummy Yums says
June 7, 2011 at 6:21 amHomemade curry pastes are so flavorful. Yours looks lovely!
Cheers,
Rosa
Anonymous says
June 7, 2011 at 2:20 pmSounds amazing and handy! You often use different chilies than what I often see around; curious, where in Toronto do you get your chilies from?
Amy says
June 7, 2011 at 2:34 pmCusinart has a mini food processor for $40 that I have and LOVE. sometimes you have to make two patches, but it's not bad. Sometimes a blender can substitute, too.
Thanks for this recipe, Kevin! I love green curry and this will definitely be cheaper than buying the jars of it!
Anonymous says
June 7, 2011 at 4:35 pmi've been looking for a good recipe ever since my friend's ex-boyfriend took my thai cookbook. as you can imagine, i lost the cookbook in their break-up, and this recipe looks great!
Kevin says
June 7, 2011 at 10:16 pmCharlatan: There are many kinds of shrimp paste and belacan is one of them. I am using a Chinese style of shrimp paste as it is all that I have been able to find…
hassall eats…: A mortar and pestle would work great and it will be even more authentic.
ericswanderings: I get the green chiles de arbol at a local Food Basics that also sometimes has the green Thai chilies as well. One of the shops in the basement of the Saint Lawrence Market also has a nice selection of chilies.
Jaime says
June 8, 2011 at 2:56 amoh wow, I never realized how easy it is to make your own curry paste… I have buying it all this time! and great to know that it can freeze well. once I go through my current batch I'm going to try your panang curry paste recipe 🙂 thanks!
Rasa Malaysia says
June 8, 2011 at 9:13 amThis looks great and I agree, if you can spare the small amount of time it takes to make the paste, then the taste is incomparable. Interesting to see that you don't have fish sauce in yours. Any reason?
Kevin says
June 8, 2011 at 11:54 amRasa Malaysia: I like to try to keep the liquid content of the curry paste down so I hold off on adding the fish sauce to the paste but I almost always add it to the dish that I use the paste in.
Madeleine says
June 9, 2011 at 7:19 amThis looks yummy. Home made curry pastes are so much more delicious than store bought versions.
More Cowbell says
June 19, 2011 at 7:55 pmWhat do the cilantro roots taste like? I love the coriander seeds, but cilantro almost makes me hurl. I grow it for the seeds and throw everything else away, but if the roots don't taste like the leaves, I'll definitely give them a try as an ingredient.
Loving your blog!
Kevin says
June 23, 2011 at 9:47 amMore Cowbell: Cilantro roots actually have a stronger flavour than leaves which makes them great for a concentrated paste like this.
Alexa says
August 13, 2014 at 12:40 amThis recipe is absolutely fantastic! I would also mention when I don't have the time to make my paste from scratch I personally love the thai green curry paste from http://www.rawspicebar.com. They make it fresh right before delivery and is truly the most authentic, fresh pastes I've come across- even better than making myself and far less time consuming 🙂