Thai Red Curry Paste

A Thai curry paste is easy to make as long as you have a blender or food processor.   Just throw the ingredients and blitz..and voila!  You can keep this in a Tupperware box in the fridge for use too (it should keep for about a week or so).   As with everything made yourself, you know what ingredients are in it and there are no preservatives or nasty chemical surprises in it!  Nothing wrong with home cooking at all, no sireee!

You may want to play around with the chillis and spices to suit your own tastes.  Although the traditional Thai curry paste uses fish sauce, I don't because I am vegetarian and use a light gluten free soy sauce instead).   If you are a meat eater, throw some fish sauce in if you wish.

INGREDIENTS

2 shallots, peeled and chopped

3 garlic cloves, peeled and chopped

3 red chillies, chopped (and deseeded if you do not want too much heat)

1 inch piece of peeled fresh ginger, chopped

1 stalk of lemongrass, trimmed and cut into pieces

4 kaffir lime leaves (use the juice and rind of a lime if you don't have these)

1 bunch fresh coriander

1-2 tspns tomato puree

2 tblspn soy sauce

1 tin of coconut milk (400g)

METHOD

• Put all ingredients except the coconut milk in the blender.  Blitz and slowly add the coconut milk to get a paste.
• You may need to scrape down the sides of the mixture to ensure it is blended and smooth.
• Store or use and enjoy!