Thai Red Curry Paste

As I was browsing through a food website recently, a curry paste recipe caught my attention.  Whenever I want to cook curry dishes, all I need to do is to go to the wet market and buy the curry paste; these curry paste comprises of different spice ingredients.  For this Thai red curry paste, with a couple of simple ingredients which are all readily available in my pantry, I can easily make them, store in airtight container or jar, and place them in the fridge, which can last for 3 days; or in the freezer for later use, and it can be kept for 3 months.

 Ingredients: (yields 1 cup)

16 dried chilies 

2 tbsp. lemongrass (remove outer skin and sliced)

1 tbsp. grated galangal

4 cloves garlic (peeled, and leave whole)

1 tbsp. toasted belacan

1/2 tsp. ground coriander

1/2 tsp. ground cumin

1 tbsp. chopped coriander (stem and roots)

2 shallots (peeled and roughly chopped)

1/4 cup reserved chili soaking water

Methods:

1. To prepare the dried chilies: remove seeds, cut into 1 cm., soak in boiling water for 30 minutes, remove chilies and reserve 1/4 cup of the soaking liquid.
2. In a blender bowl add chilies and all the other ingredients including the soaking water.
3. Blend on high until smooth.
4. Scrape into an airtight container or jar, and keep it in the fridge or freezer.

I adapted this recipe from 'recipetineats' with a very slight adjustment.