Green Thai Chilli Paste

I have started a vegetable garden at home. One of the things I tried to grow, not knowing how it would do, was lemongrass. Then once I had grown it, I needed to work out how to use it. This is the first chilli paste I ever made from scratch, and I still really enjoy it. I also use chillies and herbs from my own garden.

4 - 6 fresh green chillies - de-stalked and roughly chopped

2 medium onions - peeled and roughly chopped

2 cloves garlic - peeled

2.50 cm piece of fresh ginger - grated (leave skin on)

2 lemongrass stalks - bashed and finely sliced across the stalk

1 lime - juice and zest (peel the zest with a vegetable peeler)

1 small bunch of fresh coriander - roughly chopped, including stalks

1 tsp ground cumin

1 tsp ground black pepper

2 tsp fish sauce (or vegetarian oyster sauce)

1 tsp brown sugar

1 generous pinch salt

Add all ingredients to a small food processor. Process to a fine paste. Makes enough for a curry for 8 people.

Notes for this recipe

This paste can be frozen for later use. This is great, as you can make loads of it when chillies are in season, and you have a glut of them. My preferred method is to freeze the paste in ice cube trays. Once frozen, the ice cube sized pieces can be stored in a bag or container in the freezer. You can then defrost exactly the amount of paste you want to use.

Some people find the taste of coriander unpleasant. If this is you, you can substitute the coriander with basil (either Italian or Thai). You can also use a combination of coriander and basil, depending on what you have at hand.

Lemongrass is very fibrous, so you need to avoid those fibres ending up like stringy bits in your paste. The best way to do this is to remove the outer layers, then lie the stalk on the chopping board. Holding onto a large knife, turn it up so that the end of the handle is pointing to the board. Then hammer it along the length of the stalk to break it down. Once you have done this, you slice the stalk finely, to cut through the fibres.

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Green Thai Chilli Paste