This homemade Thai curry paste gets its fresh green color from kaffir lime leaves,
cilantro stems and Serrano peppers--but shrimp paste turns it a dusky brown.
I love summer. Long, lazy days make me feel like fooling around in the kitchen, even when the atmosphere is tropical. And there are all those wonderful fresh chiles and herbs in the garden or at the market, just begging to be eaten.
Oddly enough, I was thinking about this when a recent Import Foods video, Curry Paste Made From Scratch, landed in my in box. Chantana, an attractive young chef in Kanchanaburi, Thailand, demonstrates the proper pounding technique using the company’s granite mortar and pestle as she makes a brick red paste involving a whole head of garlic, kaffir lime leaves and 15 dried red chiles. Her dangly pearl bracelet and the elegant way she holds the bowl make the process look like a breeze.
Homemade curry paste actually requires some muscle, but your reward is a vibrant flavoring paste which perfumes the kitchen with layers of aroma as each new ingredient is pounded with the others. Over time, you can adjust the mix to your own taste, adding cilantro roots and white peppercorns here, subtracting fiery chiles there.
But you really cannot make curry paste without a big, heavy-duty, granite mortar and pestle. The heft and capacious bowl of Import Food’s 17-pounder are just what it takes to pulverize tough ingredients like lemongrass and galangal root, a camphorous ginger cousin that’s good for digestion and boosts the immune system.
When I was in Goa a few months ago, I tried my hand at an enormous basalt mortar and pestle that had pride of place on the kitchen floor of an old Indo-Portuguese house. The pestle alone weighed at least 10 pounds and the mortar was immovable. Lacking a crane and reinforced floor boards in my own home, the granite Thai version is as close as I can get to that sublime piece of kitchen equipment. (“Next house,” snorted B, when I brought up my latest yen.)
For years I’ve been making my own version of Kay Karuna’s Quick Green Curry with Shrimp and Eggplant, simmering commercial curry paste with fresh cilantro, scallions and lemongrass in coconut milk for extra flavor. However, when I ground my own paste, adapting the recipe that accompanies the video, the taste of the curry changed entirely, becoming not only fresher, but also deeper and more complex. I won’t always make curry paste from scratch, but when I have time, it’s a delicious way to go.
Incidentally, the word “green” refers to the chiles—I used a few serranos plucked from the garden. Fewer, in fact, than the recipe calls for—my way of balancing all those wonderful flavors with just a little heat. The curry paste actually turns brownish after the addition of the shrimp paste and spices at the end, so a few snippets of fresh herbs on top of your curry might be in order.
I used my homemade curry paste to make a new version of Kay Karuna’s Quick Green Curry. The recipe will follow tomorrow.
To see Spicelines test of various mortars and pestles, go here.
Homemade Green Curry Paste
(adapted from Import Food’s recipe for Curry Paste from Scratch)
Makes 1-1/4 cups
1 whole head of garlic, cloves separated
2 stalks fresh lemongrass, tough outer leaves removed, hard root node removed from the base of the stalk, tender inner core thinly sliced (see note)
1 chunk fresh galangal, 2 inches long, peeled and thinly sliced (see note)
1 bunch cilantro, roots or stems only, chopped (save leaves for garnish)
2 or 3 shallots, peeled and thinly sliced
10 fresh kaffir lime leaves, center vein removed, leaves slivered (see note)
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 or 4 fresh Serrano chiles, seeded and chopped
1 tablespoon shrimp paste (see note)
1 tablespoon coriander seed, toasted in a dry frying pan and ground
1 teaspoon white peppercorns, toasted and ground
1/2 teaspoon cumin seed, toasted and ground
1. In a heavy mortar and pestle, pound the garlic cloves lightly to loosen the skins. Discard them and pound the cloves to a paste.
2. One at a time, add the lemongrass, galangal, cilantro roots, shallots, kaffir lime leaves, salt, chiles and shrimp paste to the mortar. Pound after each addition, smashing each ingredient with the pestle to create a textured paste.
3. Add the ground, toasted spices and continue pounding until the mixture has a fairly smooth, paste-like consistency.
4. Scrape into a bowl and reserve for use in Green Curry with Shrimp and Eggplant. The paste is best used right away, but can be refrigerated in a covered container overnight.
Note: Lemongrass, galangal, kaffir lime leaves and shrimp paste can be found at Asian markets, or ordered from Import Foods. (You may also find everything except the shrimp paste at Whole Foods, although not on a regular basis.) Cilantro is often sold with its roots atttached at Asian grocery stores, and occasionally at supermarkets.