Using gloves, cut the chillies down the side with scissors, remove the seeds, finely slice them and leave them soaking while you prepare the rest of the ingredients.

Briefly toaste the cumin and coriander seeds in a pan.

Cut the bottom half of the lemongrass stalks and finely slice it, you will see it has a purple colour inside, this is the part you need for the curry paste and add them to the blender. Add the roasted peanuts, chopped coriander stems, garlic, shallots, ginger, lime juice, spices, toasted seeds and salt.

Add the hydrated red chillies to the blender and blend all the ingredients for 30-40 seconds. Keep blending until you have the desired consistency.

The paste will be ready to use or to keep in the fridge for later use. You can as well freeze it at this point.

Heat the coconut oil in a pan into medium heat. Add the curry paste, stir and leave it cooking for a couple of minutes while you keep stirring.

Add the coconut milk, water, soy sauce, brown sugar, kaffir limes and the fresh vegetables of your choice. For this recipe, we use carrot, red bell pepper and bamboo shoots.

Cut the tofu into cubes and add them into the curry. Leave simmering for around 20 minutes before serving. If the curry gets too thick, you can add more water or coconut milk.

Add crushed peanuts on the top before serving. Serve with rice or noodles if preferred.