Homemade Thai Green Curry Paste

Thai Green Curry Paste - a spiced fresh green chili paste often used to make Coconut Thai Green Curry. My homemade green curry paste version is made with easy to find ingredients, is gluten free, also dairy and soy free. Perfect for a healthy weeknight dinner. 

Oh, and I add some easy-to-find natural ingredients to make it last up-to 2 weeks in refrigerator. 2 weeks!! Blend a batch over weekend and enjoy as many times as you want. 

Green Curry is my yet another favorite curry to order in Thai restaurants. Not just a traditional Green curry, green curry paste is a versatile paste to make lots of variation of curries. It is also great base for no-curry recipes. (more on this ahead). 

This post is part of "Use Your Food Processor" series. Earlier we made Red Curry Paste and Instant Mashed Cauliflower using our trusty food processor.. So, let's explore more about this curry paste and it's uses...

But before we do that.. You guys! It's Friday!! LAST Friday of year 2017! Time fly so fast! Isn't it? Are you ready to welcome 2018? Have you planned your resolutions for New Year? What is your hit list for 2018? 

Benefits of Green Curry Paste:

I don't want to sound very nerdy but I want you to know that Thai Green Curry Paste is much more than just a convenience and delicious curry base. It is healthy and perfect to serve a homemade lite dinner under 20 minutes.

Green curry paste ingredients are all fresh and healthy ingredients such as ginger, lemongrass, lime zest (or lime leaves), green chilies, and cilantro. Most of these are immune supporting, full of vitamins, and have anti-bacterial benefits. The vibrant color of homemade Green Curry paste is all from natural ingredients. There is no artificial colors or preservatives. I use olive oil and lime juice which act as natural preservatives. Plus it is 
1) Diary-free
2) Vegan
3) Gluten free
4) Soy free
5) Nut free

When choosing ingredients for green curry paste, I make some adjustments based on availability. I make sure the substitutes have same (or close enough) flavor and nutrients. Like;

1) Thai Green Chilies: When I don't find Thai green chilies. I use spicy Serrano green chilies. These give similar color and heat to paste. And it is more easily available in stores. 
2) Lime Leaves: This is one ingredient that I seldom see in my local store. So, I have a perfect substitute for this. Lime zest. One lime leaf replaced with 1/2 tsp zest works perfectly. It give curry paste perfect lime flavor without lime leaves.
3) Galangal: My local store always have Thai ginger but we use regular ginger so much that I often have that in fridge. Just lazy to buy two kind, I often use regular ginger for my curry pastes. Per my experience, chopping ginger small always work best.

How to Use Green Curry Paste?

There are endless ways to use green curry paste. My most favorite are to make homemade Vegetarian Green Curry and Green Curry Chicken Noodles. (picture below)

I must tell you that green curry paste is also perfect base for even non-curries.  It has heat, onion, garlic, cilantro, and lime flavor. If you think about it, these ingredients are flavor base for many other cuisines. Isn't it? Honestly, when I have a batch of it in refrigerator... I use it as base for many other recipes. Even non-Thai recipes such as Mexican Bean and Rice, Indian Curries, Chilies and stews.

This Green Curry Paste recipe yields 1/2 cup of paste. Definitely use it to make green curry. But, don't waste leftover paste. Add it to any of the above suggested meals you like. I can guarantee those will get huge flavor boost from green curry paste.

Keeping today's post short and simple just like this green curry paste recipe. Stay tuned for one more Curry Recipe coming soon. I'm gonna send it your way in this year. I hope to see you once more before we welcome New Year. Check back soon.

-Savita