Thai Red Curry Paste- Easy Recipe

Although Thai red curry paste is widely available in the shops, it is well worth the effort of making your own as this has a fresher and more flavoursome taste. It also means you can experiment with the quantities of ingredients to create a paste that suits your taste.

You can then use this paste to make delicious meat, fish, seafood, or vegetarian Thai red curries. It is also possible to make the paste in advance and then store it until a later date, thus saving you time. However, it hardly takes any time at all to make, as there are just four steps, and the process involves no cooking.

Here is how to make a simple and delicious Thai red curry paste in just four steps. (Image credit: https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/)

Thai Red Curry Paste- Easy Recipe

Recipe by Liz FlynnCourse: International Recipes, Recipes, Vegetarian and Vegan RecipesCuisine: ThaiDifficulty: Easy

Servings

6

curries

Prep time

10

minutes

Cooking timeminutes

Vegan

YES

Replace fish sauce

Vegetarian

NO

Replace fish sauce

Gluten-free

YES

Dairy-free

YES

An easy, four-step recipe for a delicious Thai red curry paste that you can use in multiple Thai dishes.

Ingredients

• 2 red chillies

• 3 kaffir lime leaves

• 3 cloves of garlic

• 1 shallot

• 1 tsp cumin seeds

• 2 lemongrass stalks

• 1 teaspoon coriander seeds

• 1 tsp paprika

• 2cm piece of ginger

• 1 tbsp fish sauce ( or 1/2 tsp salt for vegans and vegetarians)

• 1 tbsp olive oil

• 40 g chopped coriander leaves

Directions

• Remove the stalks from the chillies and peel the garlic and shallot.
• Crush the cumin and coriander seeds in a pestle and mortar before transferring them to a food processor.
• Add all the other ingredients into a food processor.
• Blend to create a smooth paste.

Additional Tips

• For vegetarian or vegan curries, omit the fish sauce and add some salt.
• If you do not have a pestle and mortar, you can use ground cumin and coriander seeds.
• If the ingredients are not blending well in the food processor, turn the food processor off and move the ingredients around a little with a spoon. Then, add a little water or olive oil and blitz again.
• If you have some leftover paste, you can store it in the refrigerator for a couple of days or freeze it to use at a later date.

Using Your Thai Red Curry Paste

• Use the paste as a marinade to infuse meat or fish with authentic Thai flavours. The longer you leave the meat or fish marinating in the paste, the more flavour they will take on.
• Use the paste as a basis for a Thai red curry by adding vegetables, meat, or fish along with coconut milk.
• You can also use the paste to make soups with Thai flavours, such as Thai Coconut and Vegetable Soup.
• Furthermore, you can use the paste as a marinade for meat, fish or vegetables before frying or roasting them.
• If you enjoy Thai flavours, you might also like our Thai beef and lettuce boats (Larb Gai), beef massaman curry, or lamb massaman curry.

Have you tried this recipe? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below. Similarly, let us know about the dishes you made using the paste, as this may inspire other readers.

Article updated on 20/01/2024