Massaman Curry Paste

I like knowing, whats in the food I'm cooking, right down to the spices and quality of oils, so I prefer to make everything from scratch, including sauces, pasta sauces, dressings and now I'm venturing into curry pastes.
I visited the local Asian supermarket to get some of the ingredients and I could have spent ages in there just browsing, foreign supermarkets are fascinating. whether here or when I'm travelling I love spending a few hours checking out all the different products.

so last week I made a massaman curry paste. I tried to use as many of the whole spices as I could, the pre ground ones just don't produce the same flavour.

Massaman curry paste:

1 tablespoon white peppercorns
1 tablespoon coriander seeds
1 tablespoon cumin seed
1/2 teaspoon of whole cloves
1 tablespoon cardamon seeds

toast in non stick pan over low heat for about a minute, gently shaking regularly. Grind in spice grinder or use a mortar and pestle. set aside.

1 teaspoon of ground nutmeg
2 tablespoons chopped lemongrass
3 cloves of garlic
3 chopped shallots
1 tablespoon of chopped galangal
7-9 dried chillis, soaked for at least 5 hours in water (discard seeds before soaking to lessen the heat)then chop.
1 tablespoon shrimp paste (wrap in tin foil, and place in a pre-heated oven for 3-5 minutes).

put all ingredients into a bullet blender or use a stick blender with the ingredients in a bowl blend until it forms a fine paste. store in a jar or plastic container in the fridge for use.