Homemade Thai Green Curry Paste is bright-colored with a fresh and spicy, yet well-balanced flavor profile. Here we scale back a bit on the heat level that you’d find in green curry in Thailand without sacrificing any of the flavor.
Add all ingredients to a food processor and pulse a few times to chop it up. Turn the processor on high and let it run until the mixture forms a paste, about 10 minutes. Stop to scrape down the sides as necessary.
Notes
Recipe Yield and Serving Size: This recipe makes about 1 cup of paste. For the purposes of the nutritional information, each serving is considered 1 tablespoon for a total of 16 (1-tablespoon) servings.
Green Thai Chiles: If desired, you can remove as many seeds as possible from the chilies to make this less spicy. To make it spicier like how you’d find this dish in Thailand, increase the amount of green chilies to 150 grams and omit the Thai basil.
Makrut Lime Zest: Formerly called kaffir limes, you can usually find makrut limes at Asian markets. If you can’t find them, you can substitute with regular lime zest.
Thai Basil Leaves: If you want this dish spicier (like how you'd find it in Thailand), omit the basil and increase the amount of chilies to 150 grams.
Coriander and Cumin: For more depth of flavor, use whole seeds and briefly toast them in a dry skillet. Let them cool, and then proceed with the recipe.
Fish Sauce: Thai fish sauce is commonly made from fermenting anchovies and salt. It adds a salty, umami flavor to this dish. Shrimp paste is a more common addition to this curry, but I'm allergic to shellfish. If you prefer, omit the fish sauce and use 1 tablespoon shrimp paste instead. Or to keep this vegan, use a vegan fish sauce instead, such as this vegan soy-free fish sauce on Amazon.
Storage: Store this curry paste in an airtight glass container in the fridge for up to 2 weeks. To help preserve the bright green color, press a piece of plastic wrap directly on top of the paste. Additionally, you can freeze this curry paste in ice cube trays for up to 6 months and just thaw a few ice cubes as you need them.
To Make This the Traditional Way: Traditionally, you would use a mortar and pestle to grind up all these ingredients to make a paste. It takes a lot of stamina! For people who do have had practice doing this, it typically takes about 1 ½ hours.