Thai Red Curry Paste

This one is a doozie! I had to do a lot of research on this paste/spice mix. It is insanely spicy & flavorful. My main sources for this mix are Recipe Tin Eats , Eating Thai Food & of course, my favorite Marion Grasby. I ended up with a super spicy mix.

Ingredients

• 9 Dry Red Chiles (I used Thai)

• 2 Tsp Ground White Pepper

• ½ Tsp Cumin Powder

• ½ Tsp Coriander Powder

• 9 Whole Garlic Cloves

• 1 Tbsp Fresh Chopped Cilantro (Mostly Stems)

• 1 Tbsp Chopped Fresh Lemongrass

• 1 Large Shallot (Or Two Small) Chopped

• 1 Tbsp of Galangal or Ginger, Grated

• Zest of 1 Lime or ½ Peel of Kaffir Lime

• ½ Tsp of Shrimp Paste

• ½ Tsp of Salt

Preparation

1. Rehydrate chiles with hot water for about half an hour. **Reserve water that you use to rehydrate the chiles.

2. Roughly chop chiles and add to your blender. Add all ingredients plus about 4 tablespoons of the chili water.

3. Blend until well incorporated.

Tips

You can make this vegan by using a vegan miso paste instead of shrimp paste.

I used this paste to make a tofu and butternut squash curry that I adapted from this recipe. It was SUPER spicy to me, so I would suggest, if you don't like it too spicy, to scale down the curry paste by one tablespoon. Mine didn't come out too red, though, because I used a lot of butternut squash! :)