Thai Yellow Curry Paste

I would be the last person to tell anyone don't buy curry paste or masala powder from shops.
As my powders are mostly bought from shops unless if i want to have a particular mix which is not available here.

My mom made her masala powders always , she never made in huge portions it was always jus for a couple of times and when that was finished she will make again.

I had given a party at home some two weeks back and while organizing the menu I had planned to make Thai yellow Shrimp Curry , ofcourse the recipe asked for yellow curry paste and in my mind i said Ok I have seen them in the shop here were they have a small section for Asian food.
Luck was not in my side as it was all sold out. And I didn't want to change my menu so I thought I will make my own paste.
After having the curry I must say I am happy they didn't had the paste in the shop as this was far and much more fresher tasting than the shop bought curry paste.

I had everything for making the curry paste except for Shrimp paste and I googled to see what it was and it was written it has such a pungent smell etc..... I thought it was OK not to add them.

If you don't want to make the curry paste then sure you can use the shop one.
I will post the recipe for the Yellow Shrimp Curry next week.

The recipe is from Rick Stein's Far Eastern Odyssey
I would suggest add the chillies according to your taste, I am giving the exact recipe from the book.

3 dried red kashmiri chillies
1 red bird's eye chillie roughly chopped
3 fat lemon grass stalks, core chopped
25 gm peeled fresh galangal or ginger roughly chopped ( I used galangal)
50 gm peeled fresh turmeric, chopped or 2 tsp turmeric powder ( I used turmeric powder)
50 gm onions or shallots, roughly chopped.
30 gm garlic cloves, roughly chopped
2 tsp shrimp paste (Didn't use)


Cover the dried red chillies in hot water and leave to soak for 30 minutes.
Then drain, reserving 2 tbsp of the liquid.
Put the chillies and the reserved liquid into a mini food processor with the remaining ingridients and grind everything into a smooth paste.
After using the amount for the Shrimp curry , I freezed the other portion of the paste for a another time.