Recipes

Thai Red Curry Paste

Phrik Kaeng Ped

The classic hot Thai red curry paste, built on toasted spices and fresh lemongrass, galangal, and kaffir lime

Prep

55 min

Cook

5 min

Serves

4

Heat

hot

This is the full-strength red curry paste most people picture when they hear "Thai red curry," built on the same lemongrass, galangal, garlic, and kaffir lime foundation as the basic version but rounded out with toasted coriander seed, cumin, and white peppercorn for real depth and heat. Grinding the toasted spices into a fine powder first, before any of the wetter fresh ingredients go in, is what gives the finished paste its smooth backbone, and working through the rest of the herbs one at a time — chili, then lemongrass and galangal, then shallot, then garlic, then kaffir lime, then shrimp paste — builds layer after layer of flavor into a paste dark red and genuinely fiery, ready to become the base of any number of Thai curries and stir-fries.

Ingredients

• 7-8 Sun-dried Thai chili (cut into small pieces)
• 3-4 Sun-dried Thai hot chili (cut into small pieces)
• 4 tablespoons Lemongrass (sliced into thin pieces)
• 1 1/2 tablespoons Galangal root (sliced into thin pieces)
• 1 tablespoon Coriander root (cleaned and cut small)
• 3/4 cup Red shallots (peeled, sliced very thin)
• 1/2 cup Garlic (peeled)
• 1 tablespoon Kaffir lime peel (grated zest)
• 1/2 tablespoon Thai shrimp paste
• 1 tablespoon Coriander seeds (toasted)
• 1/2 tablespoon Cumin seed (toasted)
• 1/4 teaspoon White peppercorns (toasted)
• 1 teaspoon Salt

Directions

1. Toast the coriander seeds, cumin, and peppercorns together in a flat pan until lightly browned.
2. Cut the chilies into small pieces. Peel and thinly slice the shallots. Peel the garlic. Grate the kaffir lime zest. Slice the lemongrass and galangal into thin pieces.
3. Grind the toasted seeds and peppercorns in a mortar and pestle into a very fine powder.
4. Add the chopped chilies and salt, grinding until the chilies are very fine and most of the seeds are broken.
5. Add the lemongrass, galangal, and coriander root. Pound and grind until the plant fibers separate and the mixture looks like fine, wet sawdust.
6. Add the shallots and grind in until no visible shallot pieces remain.
7. Add the garlic and continue working it in until no white garlic pieces are visible.
8. Add the kaffir lime zest and grind further until no green flecks of zest remain distinct.
9. Add the shrimp paste and mash it in thoroughly until fully blended.
10. Store in the refrigerator for about a week, or freeze in a tightly sealed container for several months.

Notes

Grind the toasted dry spices into a fine powder before adding anything else — doing this step first, while the mortar is clean and empty, gets a much finer result than trying to grind them in among the wetter fresh ingredients.

Substitutions

This paste freezes and keeps well, so it's worth making a full batch even for a single recipe — portion it into small bags for later use in other red curry dishes.