You can’t beat a homemade curry paste. Store-bought curry paste tends to be very salty, which means you end up with a very salty curry and you can’t season the dish with fish sauce (which is quite an important aroma in Thai food) – not to mention they probably contain lots of preservatives.

Makes: about 375 g

This should be enough for 8 servings of curry.

I normally divide this into 4 portions. Each curry paste portion = curry for 2 people.

What you need

• 15-20 g Small dried red chillies, cut and soaked in hot water to soften
• 30 g Large dried red chillies, cut and soaked in hot water to soften
• 200 ml hot water
• 5 cloves Garlic
• 1 stalk Lemongrass, using only the bottom part (white bits), sliced
• 1 Shallot, diced
• 30 g Shrimp paste (กะปิ)
• 7 g Kaffir lime skin (ผิวมะกรูด)

How to put this together

1. Cut small dried red chillies + large dried red chillies, and soak in hot water to soften
2. Grind together all the ingredients until you get a paste (I use magic bullet)
3. Divide the curry paste into 4 portions (about 90g each)
4. These can be kept in the freezer for 6 months. Simply defrost a portion when you need them.