Gang keo wan (green curry paste) thanks Peter, no more green curry jars for me!
Ingredients :
2 x long green chilies
10 sm green chilies
3 tsp lemon grass
6 tsp shallots
6 tsp garlic
1 x cc galangal
3 x coriander roots
1 tsp coriander seeds
1/2 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp white pepper
1 t kaffir lime rind or leaves
2 t shrimp paste
1 t salt
method :
Chop up fresh herbs (quantities are for chopped amounts), then grind, starting with hard dry ingredients and moving on to leafy, soft ingredients, adding the shrimp paste and shallots last. Best done with mortar and pestle, but a small food processor is ok.
Roasting the curry:
This is a tip that is almost invariably overlooked but is used by cooks throughout Thailand and the difference is quite amazing in the final flavor.
In the wok or pan, spoon in a ladle or two of full cream coconut milk. Disperse a tablespoon of the curry paste in the coconut milk and reduce the liquid until the moisture has evaporated. You will notice that the appearance changes and the mixture gets an oily sheen and will begin to smoke. Remove it from the heat and add another ladle of the coconut milk and repeat the process. Repeat a third time.
What happens is basically two things: firstly the process concentrates the flavors and solids added from the coconut milk. Secondly there is a big rise in the temperature of the contents of the paste when the moisture has evaporated. This increase in temperature alters the flavors of the paste. This process is called roasting the curry.
From this stage you continue the standard process of preparing the specific green curry dish egg, chicken, beef, shrimp or mushroom.
