Paenang curry pastes can be purchased at specialty Asian stores or if wished you can prepare from scratch.

Ingredients

• 1 tsp coriander seeds, roasted
• 1 tsp black peppercorns, toasted
• ½ tsp cumin seeds, roasted
• 2 blades mace, roasted
• 1 cardamom pod, roasted
• ½ tsp salt
• 6 long dried red chillies, seeds removed
• 1 small green pepper, grilled until black and peeled
• 1 tblsp chopped fresh lemon grass
• peel from 1 lime
• 1 tblsp chopped coriander root
• 2 tblsp minced onion or shallots
• 1 tblsp minced fresh garlic
• ½ tsp shrimp or fish paste, optional
• 2 tblsp fish sauce

Method

1. Place all the roasted spices, salt and chillies in the dry spice mix into a coffee grinder and process until finely chopped.
2. Transfer the ground spices to a food processor and add the ingredients from the wet herb mix and process to form a smooth paste. Add 1-2 tablespoons of oil if wished to obtain a very smooth paste.

Cooks Tips

•To roast spices, place them in a dry frying pan and cook over a low heat, shaking regularly until they are lightly browned and smell fragrant. It is best to pan fry them all separately as the small seeds like cumin will burn before larger seeds like coriander. •Coriander roots are often cut off and discarded when presenting herbs for sale. Try to buy coriander by the bunch so you can use the flavour packed roots.