Red curry paste

Ingredients

Quantity	Ingredient
1	red onion, chopped
5	garlic cloves, peeled
4	coriander roots, scraped and cleaned
4 cm piece	fresh galangal, finely sliced
1	lemongrass stem, finely sliced, white part only
1 teaspoon	dried shrimp, soaked in warm water for 10 minutes, drained
50g	smoked trout
1 tablespoon	shrimp paste, roasted
10	dried long red chillies, seeded and soaked in warm water for 20 minutes, drained
1 tablespoon	sea salt
1 tablespoon	white peppercorns, ground

Pound the onion, garlic, coriander roots and galangal in a mortar and pestle to a uniform paste. Transfer to a food processor.
Add the lemongrass, dried shrimp, smoked trout, shrimp paste, chillies and salt to the mortar and pound to a uniform paste. Add to the food processor. Blend to a smooth paste, then mix through the ground pepper.
Store in an airtight container. The paste keeps for 4–6 days in the refrigerator. It also freezes well.