Thai Green Curry Paste

This is a memoir to my days at Ginja. The most eccentric and elegant restaurant in Cape Town at the turn of the century. I cut my teeth on Asian cuisine there. Having been someone who avoided it for many years, it was an education and a fast one at that. We made everything from scratch. Wet spice mixes, Dry Spice mixes, Shanghai Stocks, Duck stocks and the list goes on. Using ingredients I had never even heard of let alone tasted or used. It was an incredible time.

Makes enough paste for 8

Hands-on Time: less than 30 mins

Cooking Time: 10 mins

Ingredients |

1 tbsp coriander seeds

1 tbsp cumin seeds

1 tsp black peppercorns

1 onion, roughly chopped

5cm piece of fresh ginger, peeled and grated

2 garlic cloves, crushed

2 bunches of fresh coriander

4 medium green chillies, de-seeded and roughly chopped

2 lemongrass stalks, chopped

1 tsp galangal (optional)

2 lime, grated zest and juice

2 tsp fish sauce 

3 tbsp veg oil

Method |

Toast the spices, get a good colour and aroma. The reason for this is to allow the natural oils to come to the fore. Place into a spice grinder and blend.

Then in a food processor place, the remaining ingredients except for the coriander fish sauce and oil. Blitz to a paste, then add the coriander, fish sauce and oil. Once it has all come together, fry it off for about 7 mins and allow to cool.

You can store your paste in a jar in the fridge for up to 3 weeks. You can also freeze the paste for up to 3 months.