It's all in the paste

Sometimes life is too short to make things from scratch like pasta, there are things should be made from scratch every time like gravy.  But what of those in between items, the sauces and pastes?  We all have tried and favourite jars and packets, ones we know will work no matter what.

But what does it take to make a paste from scratch, and what kind of paste?  I decided to make a Thai Green curry paste, you can get some very good ones such as Blue Elephant pastes and some more "meh" ones (name any generic paste and sauce company).

How easy would it be?  How much time would it take me to make and would it all be worth it at the end of the day?  Also would it be more cost effective to make it?  These are the questions I hope to answer now.

Below is the recipe (and a link to the page) I used last night for my prawn curry: - I did change the olive oil to normal oil, olive oil has too much flavour for these types of recipes (the prices will be explained later)

• 4-6 medium green chillies, de-seeded and roughly chopped - £1.30
• 2 shallots, roughly chopped - £1.50 400g (1 used approx 15p) 
• 5cm/2in piece of fresh ginger, peeled and grated - 15p
• 2 garlic cloves, crushed - 30p (2 cloves used approx 2p each)
• small bunch of fresh coriander, stalks and roots attached if possible 80p
• 2 lemongrass stalks, chopped (if unavailable, use 2 tbsp dried) 80p
• 1 lime, grated zest and juice - 30p (+ 15p for the zest of the other lime)
• 8 kaffir lime leaves, torn into pieces (if unavailable, use the grated zest of 1 extra lime) £1.99
• 2.5cm/1in piece galangal, peeled and chopped (if available) I used the paste version at £1.99, I used two teaspoons so it will be really hard to put a price on that so I shall just say 2p
• 1 tbsp coriander seeds, crushed - 1p (see above)
• 1 tsp ground cumin - 1p (see above)
• 1 tsp black peppercorns, crushed 1p (see above)
• 2 tsp Thai fish sauce or light soy sauce 1p (see above)
• 3 tbsp sunflower or vegetable oil 3p (see above)
  
  
  http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/greencurrypaste_67789
  
  
  From start (getting the blender down from the top of the cupboard) to finish (the final blitz of said blender) this recipe took 30 minutes and 36 seconds.  There was a lot of to-ing and fro-ing, getting things from the cupboards and getting a second lime to zest (as the first one was old and had no zest left).  
  
  Et voila!
  
  
  

  

  
  
  
  Now to use my scales for this recipe.
  Faff: 3 - There was a fair amount to do for this paste before the blitzing started
  Time: 2 - 30 mins not much more I can say to that. it's the lower end of attended time as you do have to chop and put stuff in the blender, but other than that it's pretty straight forward
  Smug: 2-3 - Depending on you and your level of skill, but I would say that the paste was one part of the whole dish.  A good paste but bad prawns will make for a bad dish!
  
  
  Overall not a bad score, the 30 minutes flew by as I was constantly on the move, and it did look and smell amazing!  The taste was great, such a subtle flavour, well balanced and in this case not hot at all.  The joys of chilies from a supermarket, buy one packet one week and it's mild buy another a week later and it blows your head off.
  
  
  So clearly making your own paste is not the most time friendly thing to do, but what about cost?  Is it cheaper to make a batch of paste to freeze for later than buy as and when required?
  
  
  Blue Dragon Thai Green curry paste  £1.99 285g
  Water, Vegetable Oil, Lemongrass, Garlic Purée, Fish Sauce (Anchovy Extract, Salt, Sugar), Bird's Eye Green Chilli (5%), Green Peppers, Modified Maize Starch, Sugar, Thai Basil (2.5%), Galangal, Kaffir Lime Leaves (2%), Coriander, Cumin, Citric Acid, Salt, Cardamom Powder, Colour: Chlorophyll. - er what?  Chlorophyll isn't that stuff found in plants?  
  1/4 of the jar makes enough curry (plus coconut milk) for two people.  So 64p for one portion... not bad and you have another three portions for later.
  
  
  Thai Taste green curry paste £1.89 200g
  Garlic, Green Chilli, Onion, Lemongrass, Salt, Black Galangal, Galangal, Kaffir Lime Peel, Spices.  I like that "spices" as in "I'm not going to give away ALL my secrets!  This is more of a concentrate paste as it serves between 10-12 curries.  So that is roughly 15p per curry.  That is really good.
  
  
  So how about mine?
  Cost for the paste = £5.76 (cost per curry portion 72p), the above recipe makes about 8 portions of curry.
• Cost for all items if you were to buy EVERYTHING in one go = £15.95.  I had a lot of items already in my cupboard and fridge so I didn't fork out all that money. 
  
  
  Well there's no hiding making your own is not very cost effective nor is it the fastest thing to do.  It would be somewhat cheaper to make if you bought everything from a Asian supermarket if you have one near by.  Also once you have bought the oils and spices they do last a very long time.  So think of them as an investment.  But the first cost is always the hardest.
  
  
  In conclusion: it's up to you if you wanted to make this paste.  It isn't cheaper, it isn't faster but it is certainly more fun!  If you wanted to show off your skills or want to put that extra love into your curry, making your own is the only way to go.  But if you wanted a quick week day tea - buy it in!
  
  
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