Step 1

To make the curry paste, put everything in a food processor and buzz to combine. A word on the chiles, however. They give you a lot of the color in the paste, so you will want a fair number. I’ve made this with about ½ cup of roughly chopped green Thai chiles and it’s fantastic, but very hot. If your heat tolerance isn’t quite there yet, use a similar amount of Anaheims, serranos or jalapenos. Typically, you will need to add around ¼ cup of water for the paste to come together fully. As I mention in the headnotes, this can be made well in advance.

Step 2

To make the curry, heat the coconut oil in a pan over medium-high heat and sauté the onions until slightly browned on the edges, about 6 to 8 minutes. Add the snow peas, curry paste, coconut milk, sugar and fish sauce and mix well. Simmer this gently for 5 minutes. Add 1 cup of water or coconut water, the fish and red chiles into the pan and simmer another 5 minutes. Turn off the heat, mix in the Thai basil and serve over jasmine rice.