Thai curry is normally made from curry paste, not curry powder. You can find curry paste at many Oriental grocery shops, but if you would like to try to make your own, here are some recipes.

If you find that you like the taste of these, you might want to make them in bulk, separate them into small quantities and then freeze them. They keep well in the freezer and will keep a week or more in the refrigerator.

Ingredients

garlic, lemon grass, magrood, cumin seeds, coriander seeds, salt, red/green chillies, creamed coconut, nutmeg, cinamon, onions, and various others ...

Method

1. Soak the dried chillies in water until soft. Then remove the seeds. If you are using fresh chillies, just remove the seeds. Be careful not to touch your eyes or face when you have handled chillies - it can be a painful experience.

2. Using a mortar and pestle, pound the dry ingredients together. Alternatively use a blender with a little water added to make the blending easier.

   Then add all the other ingredients. Add then the onions and the chillies last to prevent the mixture from splashing in one's eyes if you are using a mortar and pestle. Pound or blend everything together until the ingredients have been reduced to a paste.

3. Fry the curry paste in a tablespoon of oil. Add coconut milk or whatever liquid the recipe calls for. Add the meat or vegetables and cook until tender.

   For the quantity of paste in the recipes, use approximately 1 lb of beef, chicken or prawns. Mushrooms or potatoes make good vegetarian curry and hard boiled eggs, sliced in half, are delicious too.