Red Curry Paste

[CraigC]

Someone asked me to post some Thai curry paste recipes in another thread. This is a version of red. Enjoy!

Thai Red Curry Paste
Ingredients
3 oz dried New Mexico chilis
12 small hot chilis, such as arbol or Thai bird
1 Tbsp whole corriander seed
1-1/2 Tbsp shrimp paste (available @ oriental markets) This gets double wrapped in foil, about a 2" square package.
3/4 C chopped shallots or red onion
1/2 C whole, peeled garlic cloves
1/2 Tbsp minced, fresh Kaffir lime peel or persian lime peel. I usually substitute key lime zest.
2 large stalks lemon grass, outer leaves discarded, using about the first 3" from the root end only. Cut into thin rounds.
!/2 C finely chopped, peeled fresh galanga or fresh ginger. I use frozen galanga.
Bring a small sauce pan of water to a boil. Stem and seed chilis. Cut in 1/2 lengthwise and remove as many veins as possible. Cut halves into 3/4" strips crosswise and reserve. Stem and shake out most of the seeds from the hot chilis or leave them if you really like spicy Thai. Cut the hot chilis into small pieces. When water comes to a boil, remove from heat, add all the chilis and let rehydrate for 30 minutes.
In a small skillet toast the corriander seeds until fragrent, making sure to shake the pan to prevent burning. Transfer seeds to a small bowl to cool. Place the skillet back over medium heat and add the packet of shrimp paste, cook for about 5 minutes, until fragrent, turning packet several times. Set asided to cool. Place the skillet back over medium heat, add the shallots and garlic. Dry fry until soft and slightly browned, anout 5 minutes. In a spice grinder, process the corriander seeds to a powder and transfer to a blender or food processer (metal blade). Add the lemon grass, lime zest, galanga, shallots and garlic to the blender. Add the cooled shrimp paste. Drain the chilis, keeping 1/2 cup of the liquid. Add chilis to the blender. Blend/process ingredients until a thick, smooth paste is formed. You will have to pause to scrape down the sides. You can add a couple Tbsp of soaking liquid to assist in the processing if it appears too thick. This recipe will give you about 1-1/2 cups. It will last about 1 month in an air tight container in the fridge or 3 months in the freezer.

You can add as much heat as you like. Simply add more hot chilis in the paste or fresh chilis in your final dish recipe.

 

[jennyema]

I admire you! Although I have almost all those ingredients hanging around in my kitchen or freezer, I have never made my own!

I just use the canned stuff. But yours has the added virtue of controlling heat and salt, the two dimensions that annoy me about canned Thai curries.

I think you have inspired me to experiment on a rainy Sat. afternoon!

 

[CWS4322]

Someone asked me to post some Thai curry paste recipes in another thread. This is a version of red. Enjoy!

Thai Red Curry Paste
Ingredients
3 oz dried New Mexico chilis
12 small hot chilis, such as arbol or Thai bird
1 Tbsp whole corriander seed
1-1/2 Tbsp shrimp paste (available @ oriental markets) This gets double wrapped in foil, about a 2" square package.
3/4 C chopped shallots or red onion
1/2 C whole, peeled garlic cloves
1/2 Tbsp minced, fresh Kaffir lime peel or persian lime peel. I usually substitute key lime zest.
2 large stalks lemon grass, outer leaves discarded, using about the first 3" from the root end only. Cut into thin rounds.
!/2 C finely chopped, peeled fresh galanga or fresh ginger. I use frozen galanga.
Bring a small sauce pan of water to a boil. Stem and seed chilis. Cut in 1/2 lengthwise and remove as many veins as possible. Cut halves into 3/4" strips crosswise and reserve. Stem and shake out most of the seeds from the hot chilis or leave them if you really like spicy Thai. Cut the hot chilis into small pieces. When water comes to a boil, remove from heat, add all the chilis and let rehydrate for 30 minutes.
In a small skillet toast the corriander seeds until fragrent, making sure to shake the pan to prevent burning. Transfer seeds to a small bowl to cool. Place the skillet back over medium heat and add the packet of shrimp paste, cook for about 5 minutes, until fragrent, turning packet several times. Set asided to cool. Place the skillet back over medium heat, add the shallots and garlic. Dry fry until soft and slightly browned, anout 5 minutes. In a spice grinder, process the corriander seeds to a powder and transfer to a blender or food processer (metal blade). Add the lemon grass, lime zest, galanga, shallots and garlic to the blender. Add the cooled shrimp paste. Drain the chilis, keeping 1/2 cup of the liquid. Add chilis to the blender. Blend/process ingredients until a thick, smooth paste is formed. You will have to pause to scrape down the sides. You can add a couple Tbsp of soaking liquid to assist in the processing if it appears too thick. This recipe will give you about 1-1/2 cups. It will last about 1 month in an air tight container in the fridge or 3 months in the freezer.

You can add as much heat as you like. Simply add more hot chilis in the paste or fresh chilis in your final dish recipe.

Thanks! I like to control the heat and the salt. How important is the shrimp paste? I might not be able to find that...

 

[Greg Who Cooks]

Just leave out the shrimp paste if you can't find it. Of the many dimensions of curry there will just be one less, but there will still be many.

 

[CraigC]

Thanks! I like to control the heat and the salt. How important is the shrimp paste? I might not be able to find that...

Most of the curry pastes require the shrimp paste. Would a picture of the jar help you find it? I have never made the curry paste without the shrimp paste, so I can't tell what difference it makes. IMHO, I can't imagine not using it.

 

[msmofet]

Most of the curry pastes require the shrimp paste. Would a picture of the jar help you find it? I have never made the curry paste without the shrimp paste, so I can't tell what difference it makes. IMHO, I can't imagine not using it.

Yes please post a picture of the shrimp paste. Most of the Asian markets I go to don't have any English on the labels. TIA

Also have you posted any other curry recipes?

 

[pepperhead212]

Here's a photo of the two varieties I buy, msfofet. The large one I have found in several local Asian markets, and online, and the small one I get from ImportFood. It has a stronger flavor, but both are good.
Thai shrimp paste by pepperhead212, on Flickr

What I always do is roast, or toast a large amount of it, since that is the way it is usually used, and I have one of those old small containers, which I keep that in. This way, I have it on had, whenever I need some. I just take the paste, and put it in the double thick foil, pressed out less than 1/4" thick. Then I grill it over med-high heat 5-6 min., turning the pack several times; this can also be done in a dry skillet, but if you have a grill, or a side burner on your grill, you will probably want to do this outside (even my strong, externally vented hood doesn't get it out!), as the aroma that is emitted is unpleasant to some! This would classify as one of those things that my Dad would have threatened to throw me out of his house, if I had cooked it! Another was fermented black beans.

That recipe above looks almost identical to one of my favorite recipes for a red curry paste (I always remove the core, and most seeds, and soak in hot water - not boiling - and small peppers I leave whole), from True Thai, by Victor Sadsook (I think I spelled that right?). His recipes where the best ones that I found, and I tested a lot of them! Many would just say "Thai peppers", and have little flavor of the peppers, but a LOT of heat! The mild Numex, a.k.a. Anaheim, seemed the best of all the ones I tried, and I would just add a dozen of my dried Thai peppers for heat, but those can be left out. Guajillos, Anchos, Medium and hot Numex, and a number of others a friend and I tried, when we were testing recipes, as well as brands of Thai foods, but the mild ones were best!

In the beginning, before the word "umami" got popular, we thought that the shrimp paste was so funky smelling, that we'd try the "vegetarian version" of a curry paste, which, in True Thai simply substituted a Tb of peanut butter for the paste. We, and a number of others sat and sampled them, side by side, and we all thought that the one with the shrimp paste was best, and we were the only two that knew the difference. I'm thinking maybe some darker miso would be better than the peanut butter, for a vegetarian version, but I've not had to make that for anyone, so I haven't tried it.

There are a number of Thai recipes and thread on the
International Cuisines and Ethnic Cookery forum, where you got this. Any other recipes in particular you have in mind?

 

[medtran49]

True Thai is the book Craig got that from.

I really like his Massaman curry paste too.

 

[pepperhead212]

Today, the curry paste recipe that I made from True Thai was the Panang Curry paste - my other go-to red curry paste, this one having everything uncooked, except the shrimp paste, which is always toasted (something I always do outside on the grill, given the aroma emitted, and I do a bunch at a time, to have it on hand).

And this time I tried a new (to me) pepper in it, the Indian Byadagi pepper. When I first found these, I loved the aroma, and knew that it would make a good Thai curry. I left out my usual Thai Dragons - the peppers I usually add about a dozen of, to add heat to the mild Numex - to see how hot the peppers are, but it doesn't taste hot at all. I haven't used the new paste yet, but it smells and tastes very good, and I'll be making another Thai curry soon, to use up that amount that didn't go in the pint jar.
Byadagi peppers, soaked, and ready for curry paste. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Ingredients for Thai curry paste, minus the chiles. . by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Finished Thai red curry paste. by pepperhead212, on Flickr