Red Curry Paste
adapted from Thailand The Beautiful by Panurat Poladitmontri, Judy Lew,William Warren, Luca Invernizzi Tettoni and John Hay
Yield: about 1/2 cup
prep time: 15-20 minutes
1 teaspoon shrimp paste
1/4 cup roughly chopped white onion
4 garlic cloves, peeled and crushed
2-5 dried hot red peppers (adjust according to heat preference)
4 slices of galangal root, thinly sliced (see notes)
2 stalks of lemongrass, soft parts only, roughly chopped
3 teaspoons cilantro–approximately. Nobody is counting.
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon table or fine sea salt
about 3 tablespoons peanut or canola oil
To prepare the red curry paste:
You will need a blender, food processor, deep mortar and pestle, or, ideally, a mini-food processor to make red curry paste.
First prep the shrimp paste by breaking off a teaspoon-sized piece (approximate is fine) off the mothership. Wrap up the big piece and refrigerate it. Take your small bit of shrimp paste and wrap it in tinfoil. Place this in a small, non-reactive frying pan (i.e., one that won’t freak out over foil) and cook over medium low heat for five minutes. The smell will be strong, so open a window or two.
Turn off the heat and allow your shrimp packet to cool. Once you can handle it, unwrap and add to recipe, below.
Place all ingredients in your pulverizing implement of choice. Don’t add the oil yet. Begin to pulverize. Add just enough oil to give a pasty consistency. You don’t want sauce or pesto–you just want the ingredients to cohere. Tend toward drier.
Taste for the paste for salt. Expect it to be raw, spicy, and frankly, not very good. This curry paste is not for eating out of hand. You will be mixing it with other ingredients.
Scrape curry paste an immaculately clean jar–a half-pint canning jar works well here–and set aside while you prepare the rest of the curry. Or label, date, and refrigerate for up to 8 weeks.