Each Thai family takes pride in their own recipe for curry paste/s. Flavors are built on several layers of ingredients and with almost anything that is cooked, a proper balance of ingredients is key. Some use anywhere between 8 to 18 ingredients for their paste.
You will be needing:
Equal amounts of Cumin seeds and Coriander seeds, that has been dry-roasted in a wok (this means, no oil, for about 2-3 minutes until aromas are released).
Equal amounts of lemongrass root, galangal, and kaffir lime rind.
2 teaspoons Shallots
7 cloves Garlic, skin removed
Turmeric
8 cm Ginza, skin removed (you can substitute this with dried ginger)
7 Sweet Thai Basil leaves
2 Red Thai Chillies
10 Green Thai Chillies
Salt, to taste
2 teaspoons Shrimp Paste
Simply put, place all the ingredients in a mortar and pestle. Pound away until you can't tell one ingredient from the other.
Lazy intentions? You can keep this paste in the refrigerator for a week or 3 months in the freezer. Just remember, store portion-controlled quantities so you need not thaw the entire batch.
