The best Indian red curry paste

The best Indian red curry paste

I can’t imagine my kitchen without this curry paste. It is THE BEST- “ALL PURPOSE” curry paste ever. My mom always used to have this in her refrigerator and so did my grandmother. Our standard fish fry, chicken fry, egg curry, beef fry and fish curry are all made with this curry paste as the base. It has all the spices, garlic and lots of ginger. The high salt content makes it virtually non-perishable.

I make this paste in bulk. Try to rope in all the family to peel the garlic, shallots etc. Once that is done, the rest is easy. Try to get a disposable face mask if you are chilli powder sensitive. The best way to make this is using a wet grinder. If you do not have that, a blender will also do the job. We prefer the grinder because it makes a finer paste.

Peel shallots, garlic and ginger. Dice ginger. Chop shallots- garlic- ginger- green chillies- curry leaves fine in food processor.

Wet grinder method: Add pepper and fennel seeds in the grinder and start grinding. Add the chopped mixture a little at a time. Then add salt. Let it all grind to a very smooth paste. Add the red chilli and turmeric powder, sprinkling water in between to keep the mixture grinding. Do not add too much water. After about 5-10 minutes, you will have a very fine paste.

Blender method: Add all the chopped mixture along with salt, pepper and fennel powders. Add enough water and blend well. Pour into a large bowl and slowly mix in red chilli and turmeric powder.

Transfer the paste to glass bottles or jars. This keeps well in refrigerator for a month. Freeze to store up to 3 months. Be careful when adding salt to dishes using this paste. It already contains enough salt!