For years I thought it would be too difficult to make a good curry paste. Or, that I'd have to make an expensive and timely trip to a specialty market to get the right ingredients.
But then I tried a Thai green curry paste with the ingredients I could find, and magic happened.
Turns out, it's freaking fantastic, super easy to make, and comes from items I tend to just have on hand: limes, basil, peppers, ginger, coriander, cumin, and fish sauce.
In fact, I love making this from the garden harvest! And it is the best way I've ever found to use bolted cilantro.
Simple Green Curry Paste Ingredients
The curry paste uses ingredients you'd expect: lime, basil, coriander, cumin, fish sauce, lemongrass, green peppers, and ginger.
Traditional green curry paste would have kefir limes and lime leaves, Thai basil, and Thai chili peppers. While those traditional ingredients are ideal, I've found that an amazing green curry paste can happen with regular limes, a little lime rind, any type of basil, and a multitude of green peppers.
My favorite peppers to add are: Serrano, poblano, green bell, Thai green, and green habanero.
I also add a little olive oil for texture and consistency. If needed, add a little water to allow all the ingredients to blend in the blender.
Making the Curry Paste
This is easy - just put the ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth!
Seriously - that's it!
You may need to add a little water to cover the blender blades and enable mixing.
You can make this in most blenders as you don't need high power to puree any of the ingredients. I use this small magic bullet or my larger Ninja Chef depending on quantity.
How to use the Green Curry Paste
You can use this paste just like you would use a store-bought paste in recipes. It is more liquidy than most store-bought pastes, so you may need to slightly decrease the liquid at first.
However, I've never found that I need to make any material change to the dishes I'm making because of the paste's viscosity. Mostly I'm making curries or soups which are already full of water so it's an immaterial difference.
Saute the paste for the best flavor
For curries, it is best to saute the paste first in a little fish oil and potentially a little olive oil. This brings out all of the flavors and aromas of the curry so they play stronger in the final dish.
Optionally, you can add a little extra virgin olive oil to the sauce for a richer flavor and build in oil.
Blender Thai Green Curry Paste
Equipment
- Blender
Ingredients
- 1 lime
- 1 serrano pepper adjust for heat
- 1 mini poblano can sub for an anaheim or green pepper
- 2-3 lemongrass stalks extra small, about 2mm diameter
- 5-7 stems coriander including stems and flowers, can sub for 1/2 tsp coriander seed
- 1 green onion
- 1 inch ginger root add more for extra ginger taste
- 1 garlic clove or 3 extra small cloves
- 1 bunch Thai basil can sub regular Italian basil or other basil
- 1/2 tsp cumin
- 1/2 tsp coriander
- 1 tbsp fish sauce sub coconut aminos for vegan
- 1 tsp extra virgin olive oil optional
Instructions
- Add juice of 1 lime to the blender along with half of the lime rind
- Add remaining ingredients to blender and puree until well blended and smooth
- Use in recipe calling for curry paste or store for later
Notes
Nutrition
This nutrition information does not tell the whole story of food's nutritional value! Make sure to use your gut intuition on what your body needs, eat your veggies and get 30 plants a week for optimal gut health. This nutritional data is calculated based on above values and standard brands. This information may vary.
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