Thai Red Curry Paste

This paste is another version of the Thai Red Curry paste. It is a bit similar to the authentic Thai Red Curry paste. In this recipe, I have added more red chillies to get a bright red colour. 

Ingredients:

20-25 Dry Red chillies 
2 onions (chopped)
8-9 garlic cloves 
1 inch piece of Galangal (chopped)
10-12 fresh coriander stems
2 lemon grass stalks (Chopped)
4-5 Kaffir lime leaves
1/2 teaspoon pepper powder
1/2 tspn roasted cumin
1/2 tspn roasted coriander seeds
1 teaspoon Soy Sauce


Method:

Soak red chillies in hot water for 3-4 hours. Strain the excess water from the chillies and set it aside to be used later. Take all the ingredients into a blender. Blend it without adding water. Once the mixture is roughly ground, add the chilly water to it. You may need to push down the paste in blender, as many time as necessary, till you get a smooth paste. At the end, add Soy Sauce and mix. You can now store this paste in a container. 

Notes:

1. Fresh lemon grass stalks have knots at their ends. Remove these before finely slicing the stalks crossways and at a slight angle. Start at the bottom end and go upto 15 inches / 6 centimeters. 

2. Lemon grass will not blend thoroughly unless it has been sliced first.

3. Galangal is fairly tough and should be cut in to thin slices (preferably crossways) before grinding. 

Stepwise Pictures: