A glut of chillies

Thai green curry paste

I love growing chillies.  They are such pretty plants and chillies can come in all sorts of shapes, sizes, colours and intensities.  The trouble is you can only eat so much chilli  in one go so preserving is essential.

Today I decided to preserve some of the glut in Thai curry pastes. These recipes are adapted from Authentic Recipes from Thailand a book I bought  in Bangkok airport after a holiday of great eating and good fortune. It was the year of the tsunami and we were very fortunate to have left the coast the day before it struck. 

 Red or Green Thai curry paste

1 tablespoon coriander seeds
1 teaspoon cumin seeds
5-10  red or green chillies* (I used my very long cayenne for the green paste)
3 tablespoons  sliced shallots

3 cloves garlic (8 cloves for the red paste)
1 teaspoon galangal (get a young one and cut some very thin slices)
1 tablespoon lemongrass
1/2 teaspoon lime* rind (the recipe uses kaffir lime)
1 tablespoon coriander root
5 black peppercorns (10 for the red paste)
1 teaspoon dried shrimp paste

Thai red curry paste

Dry fry the coriander and cumin seed then grind. Add the rest of the ingredients except shrimp paste in a mortar and pestle and mash. You could use a blender but I think it is better in the mortar. I like mine a little textured or maybe I am just lazy.  When it is a texture you like, add shrimp paste.  I spoon it into an icecube frame and freeze and pop out into another container to store. I use two cubes each time I make a red or green Thai curry or stirfry with red curry paste.

Anyone got any good chilli preserving methods?  Particularly for green chillies?