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Thai Green Curry Paste

This is a Thai green curry paste recipe made from scratch! The beauty of a homemade green curry paste is that you can control the spiciness without compromising any of the beautiful fragrant flavour and signature green colour.
Use it now to make Thai Green Curry – or keep it for later!
Prep Time15 minutes
Total Time15 minutes
Servings: 5
Author: Nagi Maehashi - Recipe Tin Eats

Ingredients

  • 4 green cayenne pepper chilis deseeded and chopped (Note 1)
  • 6 Thai green chilis chopped (Note 1)
  • 2 red shallots / eschallots chopped
  • 2 stems lemongrass trimmed and finely chopped (about 2.5 – 3 tbsp) (Note 2)
  • 2 Tbsp galangal grated (Note 3)
  • 5 cloves garlic chopped
  • 2½ tsp dried shrimp paste Belacan (Note 4)
  • 2 tsp lime zest grated
  • 1 tsp ground coriander
  • 1 tsp ground cumin
  • ¼ tsp white pepper
  • ¼ tsp turmeric
  • 2 Tbsp chopped coriander/cilantro root and stem Note 5
  • ¼ cup coriander / cilantro leaves loosely packed
  • 2-3 Tbsp water as needed

Instructions

  • Combine all ingredients except water in a powerful blender or food processor. I use my Vitamix because it makes the paste smoother.
  • Blend to a fine paste, scraping down the sides as you go. Add the water as required to help it blend (you may not need any as the herbs and chilis have moisture).
  • Use to make Thai Green Curry!
  • Best to use immediately. Otherwise, refrigerate for up to 2 days, or freeze for 1 month.

Notes

QUANTITY – makes enough curry paste for 1 quantity Green Curry which serves 5 people.
  1. Spiciness – the green colour of green curry comes from the cayenne pepper which is not that spicy. The spiciness comes from the Thai green chillies. If you want a very mild curry, skip the Thai chillies altogether. For a mild curry, just use one. Using 6 chillies makes this pretty spicy, but not outrageously so. It won’t blow your head off – I enjoy it without swearing and I’m a spice wuss!
  2. Lemongrass – Peel the tough green outer layers and use the white softer part. You’ll know – the reedy layers can’t be finely chopped.
  3. Galangal looks like ginger but is more citrusy and harder. You can find it in some grocery stores in Australia (Harris Farms and some Woolworths sell it). If you can’t find it, use the same amount of ginger + the zest of 1 lime (in addition to what is already in the recipe).
  4. Dried shrimp (Belancan) comes in small blocks. Just sort of crumble it to measure out, no need to rehydrate (per some recipes). Sold at Asian grocery stores and believe it or not, at Woolies in Australia. Here is one on Amazon.
    DO NOT use shrimp paste in a jar. It will make your green curry BROWN!!
  5. Coriander/cilantro roots are commonly used in Thai cooking for terrific earthy coriander flavour in curries. In Thai grocery stores, coriander is sold with long roots for this reason. In Western stores, the roots are usually puny – also very dirty and hard to clean. So for practical reasons, we use a combination of roots, then stems, then top up the flavour with leaves (also this helps with the green colour)