Ingredients:
- 4 tablespoons unsalted raw peanuts (optional)
- 10 each dried, long, red chilies
- ½ teaspoon cumin seeds
- 1 teaspoon coriander seeds
- ¼ teaspoon mace (or 1/4 piece of nutmeg, coarsely pounded)
- 1 ½ tablespoons galangal
- 2 tablespoons lemongrass
- 2 tablespoons garlic
- 3 tablespoons shallots
- 1 tablespoon coriander root
- 1 teaspoon kaffir lime zest
- ¼ teaspoon shrimp paste (or to taste, optional)
- 1 large pinch kosher salt
Method:
- Mise en Place: Boil the peanuts until very soft.
- This should take about 45 minutes at a gentle boil.
- Remove the seeds from the chilies, leaving a few seeds in if you like more heat.
- Soak the chilies in a pot of hot water for about 15 minutes.
- Add some water to the peanuts, if needed, as the water will boil down quite a bit.
- In the meantime, toast the cumin, coriander and mace/nutmeg, and set aside to cool.
- When the chilies are soft, drain and squeeze out the excess water.
- Finely chop and set aside.
- Once the peanuts are soft, drain and set aside to cool completely.
- Remove the outer skin and finely chop the galangal.
- Mince the bottom, white part of the lemongrass.
- Next, finely chop the garlic, shallot and the root of the coriander.
- Lastly, zest the kaffir lime, and measure the shrimp paste.
- Make the Paste: In a mortar and pestle, grind the cumin, coriander and mace/nutmeg until you have a fine powder.
- Next, grind the chilies along with a good pinch of salt.
- Scrape down the sides of the pestle from time to time, and pound the chilies until very fine.
- Add the galangal.
- Pound each ingredient in fully, before adding the next, adding the lemongrass, garlic, coriander root, shallots, lime zest and shrimp paste.
- Finally, grind in the peanuts.
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