This easy red curry paste is a foundation recipe for cooking better Thai food. Authentic, simple and cheap to make, once you have it on hand, it becomes a very simple process to make gourmet Thai recipes with very little effort on your part.
All you need is a mortar and pestle to pound up the ingredients and you are all set. Once prepared, you can freeze the paste in an ice cube tray and then you have this wonderful paste at your beck and call.
Today we kick off Thai curry week and what better way than this easy red curry paste? Tomorrow we will use this classic paste in a fantastic, Thai appetizer that goes way beyond spring rolls. On Thursday and Friday, we will conclude the week with Thailand’s most famous curry.
We also discuss the benefits of preparing your own basic pastes rather than buying something pre-prepared from a supermarket. It’s something we are very passionate about in our quest to eliminate food dyes, preservatives with strange names and other odd ingredients from our diet. Read on to find out more.
Home Made Foundation Items
One of life’s greatest pleasures for me is eliminating the purchase of pre-prepared food items from the supermarket and making my own instead. Coupled with a veggie garden you can be more in control of your diet. I admit I love cooking my own things and I find it a relaxing exercise.
I’m talking about sauces, pickles, bottled fruits and vegetables, sauerkraut, stocks and easy red curry pastes like this one. Once you have these basic items on hand you can easily make a quick meal that is generally tastier and much healthier than using store bought. Plus, you have the pleasure of knowing that you made it.
There are some very good, high quality, pre-prepared store-bought items out there but they are almost always expensive as they have used real ingredients. If the item is cheap and/or has a long shelf-life, then it is almost certainly containing ingredients I would be steering away from.
How so? I encourage you to read the labels properly on the back of pre-prepared items from the supermarkets. They are often high in salt or sugar, or contain mysterious sounding names. These are usually preservatives or, even worse, food dyes. The bottom line is if you don’t recognize a name or it contains ingredients with numbers then it is almost certainly not good for you.
World-wide labeling laws are a bit of a joke although some jurisdictions are better at it than others. Those laws are for the benefit of the big companies not for your health, dear reader.
Here is a great article about food production in the US. It has relevance for all countries and I encourage you to read it.
Often lack of time is quoted as being the main reason people buy pre-prepared goods. I think that is a furphy sometimes. Take this recipe for easy red curry paste. It’s 20 minutes of work for having a couple of months supply of high quality, red curry paste in your freezer. Or maybe an afternoon’s work for making 6 month’s supply of bottled tomatoes. Involve your family and kids and make a game of it. You never know they might enjoy it and it could be the start of great, new hobby for them! It’s also good for your family’s health.
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Easy Red Curry Paste
And so to our recipe for one of Thailand’s classic curry pastes. Red curry paste is milder than its more famous cousin, green curry paste. The heat rule for chilies is as follows:
- Long red chilies (mildest)
- Short red chilies (warmer)
- Long green chilies (warmer again)
- Short green chilies (hottest)
So today we are using dried, long, red chilies, with the seeds removed, so it is quite a mild chili paste. If you don’t have a mortar and pestle, you can use an electric food processor. If you have both use the mortar and pestle, you will achieve a better result.
Tomorrow we will publish possibly Thailand’s most renowned appetizer. authentic Thai fish cakes. A great recipe where you can use your easy red curry paste to great effect.
Become a subscriber to Compass and Fork and you can download the Asian Cooking Essentials guide. In it we have cataloged many of the Asian ingredients with a description of the item and a color picture to help you identify it. It covers Vietnamese and Thai ingredients. And you can find both Thai and Vietnamese recipes on the Compass & Fork website.
Some More South East Asian Dishes to Warm You Up
Looking for some more warm, South East Asian foods? If so, you might also enjoy these:
Ema Datshi, the cheese chili, national dish of Bhutan.
Fish Amok. is another national dish, this one from Cambodia.
If you enjoy, Red Curry Paste, then you try a Green Curry Paste. Perfect for Chicken with Green Curry. You can find more Thai recipes here.
Asian salads can also warm you up! But, they are also surprisingly refreshing. Try Chicken Larb from Laos and Green Papaya Salad from Vietnam.
| Servings | Prep Time |
| 8tablespoons | 20minutes |
| Servings | Prep Time |
| 8tablespoons | 20minutes |
- 4 red chilies, dried, long Asian style seeds removed #
- 5 peppercorns, black
- 1 1/2 tsp coriander, seed, whole roasted #
- 1/2 tsp salt, ground sea
- 1 tbsp lemongrass finely chopped #
- 1 tsp galangal finely chopped #
- 1 tsp coriander, root chopped #
- 1/2 tsp kaffir lime leaves finely chopped #
- 1/2 tsp shrimp paste #
- 1 tbsp shallots chopped #
- 1 tbsp garlic chopped #
|
Ingredients
Servings: tablespoons
Units:
|
- Soak your seeded dried chilies for 15 minutes, then chop.
- Place peppercorns and coriander seeds in a mortar and pestle and pound until there is a rough powder.
- Add all remaining ingredients except the shallots and garlic. This includes adding the re-hydrated chilies. Pound until the mixture is almost smooth.
- Add the garlic and shallots and pound until the mixture is smooth. The paste is now ready and can be refrigerated for up to 5 days or frozen by placing into an ice cube tray. 1 portion will equal about 1 tablespoon, which is a good way to divide up the mixture.
# Become a subscriber to Compass & Fork and receive our free, Asian Cooking Essentials guide. The guide includes a catalog of Asian cooking ingredients, including pictures of all the herbs and spices to help you identify the ingredients at your local, Asian grocer. Also access handy shopping lists for both Vietnamese and Thai ingredients so you can cook along with us or have the staples you need to cook great South East Asian food.
Sarah and Laura @ Wandercooks
Wow, how delicious! Love ‘from scratch’ curries. It’s the only way to make them!
Editor
Indeed. It’s more fun to make your own. You know what ingredients you are using and you will be proud of yourself when you taste how good it is. Thanks for your comment.
Shihoko
Great recipe! Thank you for sharing. I have never made curry paste before, always used store bought. I will not buy anymore, as I cam make my own now:D
Editor
Honestly, as you can see it is dead easy and you can successfully freeze them. Thanks for your comment.
Elizabeth
Mmm this sounds like a mouthwatering base for many a dish! I have to try this if I can source the ingredients!
Editor
Find a good Asian grocer (or better supermarket) and you should be right. Thanks for your comment.
Derek
Haha. Love this Mark – I hope the curry makes me cook better Thai! Thanks for sharing this one.
Editor
Good on you Derek. Curry pastes are like having an extra tool in your tool box. Can’t have too many of those. Thanks for your comment.
Kate | The Veg Space
Fantastic – I’ve never tried making my own Thai spice pastes, but this sounds fab. I’m veggie so always look out for pastes without the fish sauce/shrimp paste – but if I made my own I would be sure!
Editor
Indeed and there are substitutes for fish sauce (soy sauce) and shrimp paste (miso paste – also a good soup). Thanks for your comment.
Kortney Kwong Hing
I love how simple this is! The ones I find at the store always contain some sort of oil, generally one I cannot eat. Thanks for making curry paste seem so accessible.
Editor
Kortney, Curry paste seems like it would be hard to make or very time consuming, it is a well kept secret how easy it actually is 🙂 And making it at home you can control what goes in and find your favorite flavor.
Jessica {Swanky Recipes}
This sounds amazing! I’d love to try it sometime. Our family loves curry!
Editor
Jessica, Once you make your own at home you will never by the jar again!
Sam | Ahead of Thyme
This looks so easy! I should stop buying the ones in the store. Thanks for sharing!
Editor
Sam, Making it at home will be better than the store! Give it a try. If you freeze it, it lasts a long time.
Sam | Ahead of Thyme
Thanks for the tip! If I can freeze it then I will definitely be trying this!
Editor
Yes you can definitely freeze them. I do. Thanks for your comment.
Kelly @ Mostly Homemade Mom
I actually haven’t had much Thai food, but I love making homemade sauces and spice mixes – store bought just doesn’t compare!
Editor
Kelly, We agree! The taste is just better at home! And unless you can find sauces without chemicals and preservatives, it is much healthier as well.
Megan Marlowe
I can never find red curry paste in the store so I love that I can make it at home. Thanks for making it so simple!
Editor
Megan, It is really simple to make and if you freeze it in the ice cubes tray, you always have some on hand.
Jessica
This looks great and I love the tip of freezing the curry paste in ice cube trays!
Editor
Jessica, Yes the ice cube try is good for lots of homemade items- pesto. stock, curry pastes. Anything that using calls for 1-2 teaspoons or tablespoons in recipes. Then you always have some on hand.