Thai Red Vegetable Curry & Easy Homemade Paste
There is something about the lightness and freshness of a good homemade Thai curry, its the lemongrass and lime broth that I love!
Making your own Thai paste from scratch is a ‘YES’ moment. The paste will be enough for 2 curries, do freeze half for later.
The key to my Thai paste is ROASTED RED PEPPERS!
2 Ways to Perfect Roasted Red Peppers – its not a ‘faff’ – I Promise!
- Full grill in the oven: – simply put the oven on full grill, cut the peppers in half and place them cut side on a baking tray (don’t line it – the baking paper will set alight 🙂 , grill the peppers until well charred, cool and remove the skins
- Directly on hot coals on the bbq – I often light my little weber ‘braai’ (smokey Joe) – it’s the perfect excuse to charr some other lovely things!
Ways with a Smokey Joe (a small outside bbq)
- Chargrilled Courgettes with Whipped Feta, Dill & Raisons (recipe here)
- Easy Baba Ganoush (recipe here)
- Bakka’s Macedonian Red Pepper ‘Ajvar’ (Relish) (story here)
A note on Coconut Milk
A good coconut milk will make all the difference here, so opt for a coconut milk without any thickeners or preservatives which can tastes ‘artificial’ – I try to source organic where possible, but ideally you are looking for a coconut milk with as little ingredients in as possible.
Thai Vegetable Curry & Easy Homemade Paste
Making your own Thai paste IS easy and it tastes flipped amazing! Have a go! The beauty of the recipe is, once the curry paste is made the curry can be ready in less than 30 minutes!
Equipment
- 1 food processor for the paste
Ingredients
Thai Curry Paste
- 2 lemongrass sticks hard green outer leaves removed, soft inside finely cut
- 2 tablespoons lime zest
- 2 handfuls fresh coriander
- 2 tablespoons tomato paste
- 2 roasted red peppers see intro note (see intro note)
- 10 cm ginger freshly grated
- 3 garlic cloves grated
- 4 tablespoons olive oil
- 2 tablespoons roasted sesame oil
- 3 tablespoons soya sauce
- 1 red chilli seeds removed chopped (opt)
Curry
- 2 onions peeled & finely sliced
- 4 cups veggies I used cauliflower broccolini, butternut, pak choi, courgettes, baby corn and green beans
- 1 x 400g full fat coconut milk
- 250 ml veggie stock
- fresh coriander to finish
- roasted cashew nuts to top any nut opt
- coconut oil/veggie oil
Instructions
- Curry Paste: Add all the ingredients to your food processor and blitz until smooth. Taste and season with more soya, salt or lime juice. We want a ‘oomph’ paste.
- Heat your oil in a medium saucepan on a medium heat, and add the onions, you want to hear a sizzle, cook covered until the onions are completely soft and falling apart.
- Add half your paste (see intro note) to the heat and stir until fragrant. We want the garlic to heat and cook ‘out’.
- Add the coconut milk, swirl a tiny amount stock in the can to get all the coconut out, and add the remaining stock, gently heat. We don’t want anything to boil from now on.
- Add the veggies STARTING with your roots, simmer until soft (6min) then add your soft veggies like mange tout and baby corn (no leaves yet) about 4 min until cooked but still crunchy.
- Take your curry off the heat and stir through your leaves including pak choi, kale and spinach (etc).
- Top with the toasted nut and finely chopped coriander.
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was by tagging @adreskitchen on Instagram!