I cannot begin to express my obssession with curries to you. I think it all started when I was young, I had all varieties of curry. If I had to live on curry, I would and I could. I have had all imaginable sorts of curries a person could possibly try. From vegetarian, to beef, to chicken, to fish. Of all my favourites, the plain nondescript chicken curry still stands out the most.

I spent a good part of my secondary school life huddling in the corner table near this auntie’s store, constantly ordering the same curry chicken rice with extra chilli on it. there were few days that I have ever wavered from it… albeit when she moved on, I think I almost teared.

This curry paste recipe is slightly modified from that of epicurious’s. I really only used the recipe for it’s way of making the rempah. This is what you need to know:

* 10 dried guajillo or New Mexico chiles (about 2 1/2 ounces total), wiped clean, stemmed, and seeded (i used fresh chillis with half of it being bird’s eyes)
* 2 tablespoons whole coriander seeds
* 4 1/2 teaspoons whole cumin seeds
* 2 teaspoons whole fennel seeds
* 1 (1-inch) cinnamon stick
* 1/4 cup whole macadamia nuts (8 to 10 nuts)
* 8 shallots, coarsely chopped (about 1 1/4 cups) (I probably made more than that actually)
* 4 1/2 teaspoons ginger, minced (from about 1 1/2-inch knob) (you can also used those pre-minced ones…)
* 8 cloves garlic, roughly chopped
* 2 tablespoons ground turmeric

the items in bold are to be “roasted” together on the pan before grinding together with everything else. THAT’S IT!

yeah I know, it looked like a damn intimidating list of spices to know and handle. honestly, it’s because of that that I have put off learning how to make my own curry paste for eons. The thing is, I have often remembered pounding those damn chillis and nuts around chinese new year’s. So, I thought, well, if I can help mum partially make them, it can’t possibly be hard. I mean, she’s not a great cook by any measure mind you.

and that’s part of the reason why I bought the blender – to firmly entrench making curry pastes for the rest of my life HAHAHAHA!

the result looks and tastes good (if i remember to buy coconut milk as well). the costs of the spices was about $40 altogether, but they were in big batches and therefore I can still make at least another 2-3 bottles worth before I have to top up on some of them.

next up, trying to make it more like what I have tasted from everyone’s mothers hahaha (adding galangal, throwing in lemongrass, etc)