Red Curry Paste Krueng Gaeng Peht Recipes

Steps:

• Stem the chilies and shake out and discard most of the seeds. Chop them coarsely and place in a small bowl with warm water to cover. Soak 20 minutes.
• Meanwhile, dry-fry the coriander and the cumin seeds 3 - 5 minutes each over medium heat.
• Combine the roasted seeds with the peppercorns and grind to powder. Set aside.
• Chop lemongrass stalks and add to mortar.
• Add the cilantro, galanga/ginger, and lime peel. Pound. Add garlic and shallot and continue pounding until a paste forms.
• Drain the chilies and add them to the mortar. After they are ground, add the spices, shrimp paste, and salt, and continue grinding until you achieve a smooth paste.
• Refrigerate in a tightly covered glass jar; keeps up to one month.

Steps:

• Using mortar and pestle or grinder blend all the ingredients together until they form a smooth paste.
• You should have about 6 tablespoons.

Steps:

• Place chiles in a bowl and cover with hot water.
• Keep chiles submerged for 30 minutes or more.
• Heat a small heavy skillet over medium high heat and dry roast coriander seeds (about 3 minutes), cumin seed and peppercorns (about 1 minute each).
• Use a spice grinder to grind the spices together into a powder.
• Mortar and Pestle Method: Place ground spices in mortar, add lemongrass, coriander roots and galangal and pound to a paste.
• Add lime zest to blend.
• Add garlic, shallots and salt and pound to a smooth paste.
• Transfer to a bowl and set aside.
• Drain chiles, place in mortar, and pound to a paste.
• When chiles are fairly smooth, add shrimp paste and pound together.
• Add reserved spice paste and pound together.
• Blender Method: Chop coriander roots,galangal,garlic and shallots fairly fine.
• With blender running, add to blender.
• Add spices, lemongrass, lime zest, salt and shrimp paste and continue to blend until you have a paste.
• It may be necessary to stop and scrape down sides of blender.
• Add a bit of chile soaking water if mixture seems very dry.
• Drain chiles, reserving liquid.
• Add to blender with enough soaking liquid to blend into a thick paste.
• Store in refrigerator (should keep a couple of months) or I freeze in an ice cube tray and transfer to a freezer bag when frozen.