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Epicurious

Ugly Baby’s Red Curry Paste

Gloved hands grinding red curry paste with stone mortar and pestle.
Photo by Alex Lau

Chef Sirichai Sreparplarn of Brooklyn's Ugly Baby doesn’t believe in using food processors for making curry paste, but we won’t stop you from using one. He also prefers a blend of two parts shorter dried chiles (prik haeng) and one part longer chiles (prik chee fah), but any Thai chile will work.

Cooks' Note

Curry pastes are best consumed the day they are made, but you can freeze any leftovers up to 1 month.
Prik haeng chiles can be found at most Asian markets and will often be labeled as dried Thai chiles or just dried chiles. Prik chee fah chiles are much harder to source; the next best equivalent is Mexican puya chiles.

Recipe information

  • Yield

    Makes about 1 cup

Ingredients

1 tsp. black peppercorns
1 tsp. coriander seeds
2 lemongrass stalks, trimmed, tough outer layers removed, thinly sliced crosswise
3 Tbsp. finely chopped peeled galangal
¾ cup dried Thai chiles, torn or chopped into small pieces
2 small Asian shallots or 1 medium shallot, coarsely chopped
8 garlic cloves
5 cilantro roots or 3 Tbsp. thinly sliced thick cilantro stems
1 (1") piece dried kaffir lime zest or 2 very thinly sliced kaffir lime leaves (optional)
1 tsp. (or more) shrimp paste, preferably Thai

Special Equipment

A large mortar and pestle

Preparation

  1. Pound peppercorns and coriander seeds in mortar and pestle until finely ground (if using a food processor, you will want to grind these spices in a spice mill first). Add lemongrass and galangal and pound until ground to a coarse paste, 6–8 minutes. Add chiles (if you want, soak them in hot water 10–20 minutes beforehand to soften and make them easier to break up) and pound until pasty, 6–8 minutes. Add shallots, garlic, cilantro roots, and kaffir lime zest, if using, and pound until everything comes together in a relatively smooth paste, about 5 minutes. Mix in shrimp paste; taste and add more if needed.

TagsCurryThaiSoutheast AsianAsianLemongrassHerbs & SpicesThai ChileChileVegetableShallotGarlicRoot VegetableDairy FreeGluten FreeNut FreeKetoMake AheadFood ProcessorBon Appétit

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