Thai Green Curry Paste
This delightful and vibrant vegan Thai Green Curry Paste is like a burst of happiness in a jar. It’s a magical blend of fresh herbs, aromatic spices, and zesty flavours that come together to create a culinary masterpiece that is Salt free and Sugar free. Thai Green Curry is my favourite Thai dish. After 3 weeks in Thailand including a cooking class and many attempts at making the best curry paste, this is my vegan version of a traditional Thai Green curry paste. If you make this homemade paste I promise you will never buy a store bought Curry paste again.
Equipment
- Pestle and mortar or a Blender
Ingredients
- 1 tsp Cumin seeds, dry roasted
- 1 tsp Coriander seeds, dry roasted
- 1/2 tsp white Peppercorns, dry roasted
- 5-10 Thai green Chillies aka bird’s eye chillies (see notes)
- 8 cloves of Garlic
- 3 small Shallots
- 4-5 cm piece of Galangal (see notes)
- 1 cm piece of fresh Turmeric (optional)
- 6 Coriander roots or a hand full of Coriander stalks
- 1/2 Kaffir Lime zest or the zest of 1 Lime
- 15 Thai Basil leaves
- 4 stalks Lemongrass
- 1 Tbsp Miso paste
- 1 dried Shiitake Mushroom, grated
Instructions
- Start by roasting the seeds. Heat a frying pan over medium heat. Once warm, add the Coriander seeds, Cumin seeds, and white Peppercorns Toast for a few minutes or until fragrant. Transfer to a bowl to stop cooking and cool down.
- While the spices are cooling, start prepping the Lemongrass by peeling away several layers of the papery outside until you reach the tender inner white core then slice off the top green stalks and tough bottom nubs. Chop the Lemongrass into small bits. You can use the discarded parts to make a Lemongrass tea that is fragrant and delicious.
- Peel the Shallots and Garlic cloves. Prepare the green Chillies by removing the tops then cut them in half lengthwise and remove the seeds and membranes if you want a milder heat. I love spicy food but some chillies don’t agree with my skin so I’m using gloves.
- Cut the Galangal and Turmeric. Wash and prepare the Thai Basil leaves and Coriander roots. Grind the roasted seeds first before starting to add your aromatics and herbs to a blender.
- Add the Shallots, Chillies, Galangal, Turmeric, Garlic, Lemongrass, Coriander roots, Thai basil and Miso paste to a blender with the ground seeds.
- Grate the dried shiitake mushroom and zest the lime. Add the juice of half a lime and blend everything to a smooth paste.
- I’m using a high speed blender because it gives the paste a smooth texture in a few seconds. You may need to add a splash of water to help the blades. If using a food processor it will take several rounds blending. Use a spatula to scrape everything down a few times. Repeat until smooth.
- Instead of a blender you can get an even better result with a pestle and mortar, though you will need to slice the Galangal and Lemongrass very thinly and pound for at least 30 mins. I don’t know why but it tastes better. I still do it on special occasions but most of the time I use a blender.
- Transfer to a jar and keep in the fridge for up to 1 week or use a silicone ice cube tray to freeze. You can add as much or as little curry paste to each slot as you like, I add enough to make green curry for 2. This paste recipe will do for 6-8 people or 3 meals for 2.
Notes
I normally use 6-7 chillies but you can adjust according to your taste. I like to deseed and remove the membranes of 5 of the chillies for a milder spice and leave 2 whole. If you like it less spicy use 2-3 chillies, deseed and remove the membranes.