Homemade Thai Massaman Curry Paste
Make a big batch of homemade Thai Massaman curry paste to use all winter long! This recipe is easy to put together and tastes so much better than store-bought Thai curry paste!
Ingredients
spices:
- 2 teaspoons cumin seeds
- 2 teaspoons coriander seeds
- 1 teaspoon black peppercorns
curry paste:
- 8-10 large guajillo peppers
- 3 tablespoons lemongrass paste such as Gourmet Garden
- 1/4 cup freshly sliced ginger or galangal
- 1/2 cup garlic cloves
- 2 large shallots or 1 small red onion
- 10-12 cilantro stems
- 1 tablespoon shrimp paste see notes
- 1 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom
- 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
- 2 teaspoons salt
Instructions
- toast: Place the cumin seeds, coriander seeds, and peppercorns in a clean skillet (without any oil) over medium-high heat. Allow the spices to toast for about 3 minutes, tossing every 20-30 seconds so the spices don't burn. The spices are toasted when they are fragrant. Let cool for several minutes before making the paste.
- guajillo peppers: while the spices cool, snip the peppers into 4-5 pieces and remove the seeds. You don't want to use the seeds in the paste as it will make it quite spicy.
- paste: Place the toasted spices, guajillo peppers, and the remaining paste ingredients into a food processor and pulse until the massaman curry paste breaks down into a paste-like consistency. This makes approximately 1 1/3 cups of paste. I use ~ 1/3 cup of paste in my massaman curry recipe so this makes enough for about 4 batches of curry. Refrigerate and use within a week or freeze in batches for several months.
Notes
- If you don't want to use shrimp paste you can replace it with black bean paste (affiliate link) or miso paste.
- If you only have ground spices, you can replace each of the cumin/coriander seeds with 2 1/2 teaspoons of the ground version. For the peppercorns, replace with 1 1/2 teaspoon ground pepper.
