Name: How To Make Thai Green Curry Paste
Prep time: 1 h
Cook time: 5 min
Total time: 1 h 5 min
Yield: 1
Ingredients: 1 tsp coriander seeds; 1 tsp cumin seeds; 1 1/2 tsp white pepper; 20 green bird’s eye chillies, roughly chopped, More or less to taste; 2 stalks lemongrass, white parts only, thinly sliced (about 4 generous tbsp); 8 cloves garlic, smashed; 1 thumb sized piece of galangal, thinly sliced; 3 small shallots, roughly chopped; 10 Thai sweet basil stalks (about 1 tbsp); 5 coriander (cilantro) stalks (about ½ tbsp); Zest of ½ lime; 5 kaffir lime leaves, fresh or frozen; 2 tbsp shrimp paste

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Many people make Thai curries with shop-bought curry pastes. That's fine but you will get far superior results when you make your own.

So today I wanted to show you how to make Thai green curry paste. I promise, you will notice the difference.

I used 15 - 20 green bird's eye chillies. This might sound like a lot and at times it can be.

Check your chillies and see how spicy they are before adding that many. Or if you like a really spicy Thai curry, use more.

How to get the best results...

The traditional way to make Thai green curry paste is to pound all the ingredients in a pestle and mortar. By pounding, you release more flavour.

The only problem is it will take you 40 - 60 minutes of pounding to get you Thai green curry paste to look like the photo above.

So if you don't have the time or will to do all that pounding you can cheat with almost as good results. By making your Thai green curry paste with fresh ingredients, it will be better than anything you can purchase in a jar!

You could just pound the ingredients for about 10 minutes to get things started. As a result, you will get the benefit of pounding the ingredients.

Then just put the paste into a food processor to finish it off.

If you are really short of time, you could also simply blend the ingredients. This too will get you better results than anything you can purchase.

How to use Thai green curry paste...

You might have decided to just buy some green curry paste. That's fine but be careful when adding it to a curry.

All of this batch of green curry paste can be added to one curry that feeds 4 - 6. I would never add that much of a shop bought brand.

Commercial brands are often very salty and can be a lot spicier. In fact most taste of salt and spice.

As there are so many ingredients that go into my homemade Thai green curry paste, you can add it all. The flavours are amazing together.

Which curries should you use this in?

Thai green curries are the obvious answer but you can also substitute it in other recipes. If a recipe calls for red curry paste, go ahead and try this one instead.

This paste is also delicious used as a marinade. Just rub it into fish, meat or vegetables for the barbecue.

I have a Thai green chicken curry here that you might like to try. Feel free to another main ingredient. You could make it a prawn green curry or if you would like a veggie option, try firm tofu.

Roasting cumin and coriander — Roasting the cumin and coriander brings out the flavours.

pounding shallots in mortar — I suggests pounding the ingredient individually at first. It makes things easier.

Pounding garlic in mortar — Larger and tough ingredients like garlic, shallots, lemongrass really need to be pounded hard.

Pounding garlic and shallots — As you pound, you can add other ingredients.

Pounding lemongrass in mortar — Really get in there and break these ingredients down with your pestle.

Pounding green chillies — How many green chillies you use is up to you. I used about 15 but you can add more or less.

Pounding galangal into green curry paste — Some people substitute ginger for galangal. It works but they have different flavours.

adding ground spices and shrimp paste — To finish, add the shrimp paste and ground spices.

If you like this recipe, you might like to try some of these too...

Thai green chicken curry
Thai Pork Belly Stew
Thai grilled chicken (Gai Yang)

Recipe

How To Make Thai Green Curry Paste

Yield: 1 cup (250ml)

Prep Time: 1 hour

Cook Time: 5 minutes

Total Time: 1 hour 5 minutes

Ingredients

1 teaspoon coriander seeds
1 teaspoon cumin seeds
1 ½ teaspoon white pepper
20 green bird’s eye chillies, roughly chopped, More or less to taste
2 stalks lemongrass, white parts only, thinly sliced (about 4 generous tbsp)
8 cloves garlic, smashed
1 thumb sized piece of galangal, thinly sliced
3 small shallots, roughly chopped
10 Thai sweet basil stalks (about 1 tbsp)
5 coriander (cilantro) stalks (about ½ tbsp)
Zest of ½ lime
5 kaffir lime leaves, fresh or frozen
2 tablespoon shrimp paste

Instructions

Heat a frying pan over medium heat and toast the cumin and coriander seeds until warm to the touch and fragrant but not yet smoking.
Transfer to a pestle and mortar to cool a little and then pound into a fine powder. Stir in the white pepper.
Now starting with the shallots, add them to the pestle and mortar and begin pounding to a paste.
Add the garlic and do the same. Continue with the remaining ingredients, pounding away until you have a smooth, buttery paste.
This will take between 40 to 60 minutes. So if you would prefer to make things easier on yourself, you could cheat and pound for just 10 minutes and then place in a food processor. Pounding will get best results though.
Once you’ve got a smooth paste, stir in the shrimp paste and ground spices and then pound some more to incorporate.
This paste is best made and used on the day but it can be kept in an air-tight container in the fridge for about a week and it can also be frozen for up to three months.