Red Curry Paste

[scott123]

I've made enough chili to understand what kind of pitfalls the beginning chili maker might encounter. Some ingredients give you far more leeway than others. For instance, too many dried chilis are not the end of the world. Too much cumin is. Too little cumin isn't good either. Garlic tends to be a bit unforgiving as well. The ratio of garlic to onion is as important as the ratio of oregano to cumin.

How would you apply this line of thinking to Thai Red Curry paste? Which ingredients are more forgiving to excess than others? Are there any other pitfalls that you could think of that a first timer might encounter?

And please, unless you are certain that you possess THE best Red Curry paste recipe on the planet, please refrain from posting recipes. I'm not looking FOR a fish, I'm hoping to learn HOW to fish (figuratively speaking )

Any observations/ideas on making Red Curry paste are more than welcome.

[fifi]

I will tell you what I know, which isn't much.

I made Thai red curry paste... once. I used the recipe in Victor Sodsok's book.

Likewise, I made a mole... once. I used the recipe in Zarela Martinez's book.

I have moved on to the little plastic buckets. If I didn't do that, a thai curry would be very rare in my kitchen.

Unless I had been making these complex mixtures at the knee of my grandmother and mother, this is not something where I would like to wing it, therefore my reliance on recipes from a trusted source. There is just too much work invested IMHO to muck around.

I suppose you could take a recipe you like and tweak one or two ingredients at a time.

I will not say that I won't do it again. Sometimes I am up for a project. The next time my garden is overflowing with herbs, I will be sorely tempted to do one of the green Thai curries. On that occasion, I will drag out Sodsok or maybe Peterson. Now THAT is one curry that I will bet is worth doing fresh.

I hope someone that knows what they are doing pops up. This is an interesting question.

[dano1]

i've processed and pounded a few thai curries. One thing i would remember is that thai shallot are a lot smaller than our common shallot ;). And there really is no sub for many ingredients ie. ginger for galangal(fresh not dried), dried red chili for birdseye, etc...to recreate that flavor.

fwiw, danny

[scott123]

Thanks Fifi! I'm not familiar with those authors. I will definitely see what they have to say (mole is on my agenda as well )

[scott123]

And there really is no sub for many ingredients ie. ginger for galangal(fresh not dried), dried red chili for birdseye, etc...to recreate that flavor.

←

Thanks for the tip on the shallots.

Regarding the birdseye chilis - are you sure about this? I've been using arbol chilis. Is that a major faux pas?

[fifi]

David Thompson's Thai Food appears to be the definitive tome. It is very thorough and judged by those who know to be quite authentic.

Victor Sodsook's True Thai is more accessible. That book is where I began to explore Thai cooking. There are also some good suggestions on extending Thai flavors into other foods. There is a whole chapter, "Cooking with a Thai Accent" that is a lot of fun.

dano1 makes a good point about not really being able to substitute ginger for galangal and other chiles for birdseyes. I would add that there really isn't any substitute for lemon grass, Thai basil and kaffir lime leaves. Luckily, my interest in Thai cooking coincided with availability of ingredients in our larger Asian markets. I was also lucky enough to have a friend that had a kaffir lime tree, then the leaves showed up in the freezer case in the market.

(If you decide to order the books, please use the Amazon connection below. I can't seem to get the eGullet friendly links right this evening.)

[dano1]

bird chiles are smaller and got some more zing. Use em if you can find them. Same with shrimp paste vs. dried shrimp. All p-corns are white. Kaffir limes can be found as small trees in my neck of the woods at the nursery-if recipe calls for lime rind or leaves check that out-easy to keep and grow. you've got some great responses on the other board too. Processor vs. mortar and pestle will yield different textures. Toast and grind whole spices. Pay attention to order of additions, whether using a processor or a mortar.

i started pounding curries by hand about 10 years ago to get that "authentic" thing. My wife-grew up in Indonesia-thought i was nuts. Wasn't until i was there for a good hour the first time did she tell me the cooks would pound for hours on end, sometimes working in teams :). Now i tend to grab the mini-chopper, at least to start the base, and dump in the mortar to finish.

If you don't have an ethnic market with the proper supplies i may be able to help you out with ingredients.

hth, danny

[bbq4meanytime]

I've made red curry paste a few times but not enough to know the subtle differences in the proportions of the ingredients, however I would second David Thompson's Thai Food cookbook. He actually discusses briefly the effect of too much or too little of certain ingredients in curry pastes.

[tomweir]

The Thompson book is superb if you like Thai food. A complete coverage of the entire topic.

You can also find some authentic recipes at the following link, which are pretty good even if you may need a glossary to aid you.

http://www.chetbacon.com/thai-html/thai.html

[aliénor]

i am not sure if this is on topic but i have a question about a thai ingredient. the other day i found fresh galangal in a local market. i brought some home and used it in a chicken, coconut soup. but now i would like to know how to save/store it. i am not sure i can get it very often and love its fragrance and taste. so now how do i go about keeping it?

[dano1]

i am not sure if this is on topic but i have a question about a thai ingredient.  the other day i found  fresh galangal in a local market.  i brought some home and used it in a chicken, coconut soup. but now i would like to know how to save/store it.  i am not sure i can get it very often and love its fragrance and taste.  so now how do i go about keeping it?

←

freeze it.

hth, danny

[fifi]

Freezing is a good idea. I have also loaded up when it was good and fresh in my Asian market. It seems to be somewhat seasonal here. In the past, I have cleaned and sliced it and stored it in rice wine vinegar in jars in the fridge. You do have to adjust the sour note when you use it, though.

[scott123]

Thanks everyone for all the great ideas.