Thai Red Curry Paste

If you’ve been fortunate enough to visit the beautiful country of Thailand, there’s a good chance that you will have enjoyed at least one of their amazing Thai curries.

We’ve been lucky enough to visit many times, we adore Thai food and Thai red curry is a meal that is always high on our list to enjoy.

We love speaking to the chefs and finding out how they’ve made their red curry paste so that when we’re back at home, we can recreate a little bit of Thailand in our own living room.

That’s why we make our own homemade Thai red curry paste and this recipe can be ready to use in just 10 minutes.

Is this vegan?

Yes, our curry paste recipe is 100% vegan, so you can serve it to a vegan with full confidence.

It’s worth noting that traditional Thai red curry paste is usually made with fish sauce or shrimp paste but we’ve substituted fish sauce with soy sauce.

Does it have gluten in it?

While most of the ingredients in our Thai red curry paste recipe are gluten free, most soy sauce does contain gluten.

There are gluten free brands available so it’s crucial that you check your food labels to ensure you buy the right one.

Homemade vs shop bought

It’s true to say that you can buy some good store bought curry pastes but nothing can ever come close to fresh, home made paste.

The fresh flavors of the lemongrass, coriander, galangal and chillies are a powerful flavor bomb.

Yes, of course, it’s quicker to pick up a jar in the store but you’re not going to recreate the authentic Thai taste.

Is it spicy?

Yes, our Thai red curry paste recipe is hot.

We use red chilli’s and they certainly have a kick to them but like with everything, it doesn’t need to overpower your meal.

By adding your curry paste slowly and consistently tasting, you can ensure it doesn’t become too volcanic for you.

While we don’t add coconut milk to our paste, we most certainly do add coconut milk into our curries, this then cools down the heat of the chilli’s.

Thai red curry paste vs gochujang

Thai red curry paste has a very similar consistency to gochujang sauce but red curry paste is more garlic intense,

What do I use it in?

There are many ways you can use your red curry paste, the obvious choice is to use it when you are making Thai curry but it’s a really flexible and powerful ingredient to keep in your fridge and can perk up many other different dishes.

You can use it in a stir fry, noodle dishes, in soups and also in stews.

How do I store it?

This authentic Thai red curry paste recipe will keep in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 3 weeks or it freezes well for 6 months.

Can I batch make it?

Yes, this is a great red curry paste to batch make.

Double or triple up your ingredients and then freeze them in tablespoon portions so you can easily add them to your dishes when you need them.

Tips for success

• Freeze your Thai red curry paste in tablespoon sized portions by using an ice cube tray to store them in. Once frozen, pop them out of the tray and store them in a freezer bag.
• Taste, taste, taste! This curry paste can get very hot very quickly so when you are using it in a dish, add it carefully and taste after each spoonful.
• Be aware that this curry paste is not meant to be eaten on its own, it’s a base paste for other dishes.

How do I make it?

It’s really quite easy to make our Thai red curry paste.

In Thailand, you’ll find that traditional cooks use a pestle and mortar to make it but we’ve opted for the easy option and use a blender or food processor.

In your food processor or blender, add 3 teaspoons of white peppercorns, you can use powder if you don’t have peppercorns.

Next to go in is half a teaspoon of cumin and coriander powder.

Now remove the stalks from 6 red chilli’s and add them into your food processor bowl along with half a teaspoon of salt.

Now for the garlic, Thai red curry paste does have a lot of garlic and you’ll need 10 garlic cloves, but make sure they’re small cloves, if you have only large cloves then half the amount you use.

Peel the garlic cloves and add them to the blender or food processor bowl.

Take 5 small shallots and peel them, then roughly cut them, and add them to your bowl.

Next, you need to slice your lemongrass.

Remove the outer layer from the lemongrass and then thinly slice it from the bottom upwards and add it to the bowl

Now roughly chop 1 tablespoon of coriander and add to the bowl.

Next, it’s time for your galangal, you’ll need to slice it into thin slices enough for one tablespoon and add them to the bowl.

Ideally, you’ll have a kaffir lime, but if you can’t find them, then use lime and delicately slice the skin from half of the lime, making sure you get as little of the pith as possible, add to the bowl.

Now give your ingredients a good blitz in the food processor or blender until it’s smooth.

Then add in a teaspoon of light soy sauce and blitz again.

Once it’s blitzed into a nice smooth paste then taste it but be warned only taste a little bit as it’s very spicy!

Your authentic Thai curry paste is now ready to use!

We hope you love our Thai curry paste recipe and it would be great to hear how you got on making it, so please do leave a comment below and let us know!

For our international visitors, then please just press the toggle button underneath the ingredients list in the recipe card and it’ll instantly convert for you.

Enjoy your amazing Thai curry!

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