Vegetable Red Curry

Red curry with vegetables is probably our favorite variety based on how often we make it.  We usually also throw in some chicken but I thought I’d do it with just vegetables since we had no chicken this week and it was still delicious.    This is a very easy recipe you can make in a matter of minutes.  It will fill your home with a wonderful odor and I find the sound and feel of stir-frying exhilarating.

If you are a vegetarian, you should be aware that there is usually some kind of shellfish in Thai pastes and sauces.   I used the store bought curry paste for this which has shrimp in it.  You’ll want to look at the ingredients as always if you have special needs.  You can use our home-made red curry paste recipe and modify it to make your own.  Here is a link, just leave out the shrimp paste and replace it with a fermented bean paste or something you like with a similar texture and fermented flavor.

Homemade Red Curry Paste

What you’ll need

You can buy a premade Thai red curry paste at most Asian markets and American markets now for that matter.   Mod worked in Thai restaurants for years and they usually just use Mae Ploy, Thai Red Curry Paste.  You can also find it on Amazon.com.   For the vegetables, I started buying the pre-cut vegetable packs from our local chain markets like Kroger or HEB.  They are awesome and fast and I am basing my measurements off of what came in a mushroom, onion and cut green beans pack I bought.  You will also need some lite coconut milk which is available everywhere now too and a wok, pot, deep pan or skillet.

You’ll also want a little monounsaturated oil of some kind for the wok.    Optionally, you can add some healthy noodles like brown rice vermicelli.  By all means, use whatever vegetables you have that you need to use before they go bad too.  Curry is easy like that, it’s the paste and coconut milk that really make it Thai curry I think.  I am using a little more of the coconut milk than the typical recipe for red curry here because I love the sauce.  You can decrease to 1 cup rather than one can if you prefer and you can add or subtract paste to increase the spice level.  Adding coconut milk cools it if you make it too spicy.  Always taste before calling it done so you can adjust as needed.

Ingredients:

• 1 tbsp. canola or olive oil
• 1/2 cup cut green beans
• 1/2 cup chopped onion
• 1/2 cup sliced mushrooms
• 2 cans light coconut milk
• 2 tbsp. Thai red curry paste
• *Optionally, healthy noodles like a brown rice vermicelli

Instructions:

1.  Oil the wok and heat the oil at medium-high.
2.  Stir-fry the curry paste until it is fragrant.
3.  Add 1 can of coconut milk and stir until boiling.
4.  Add in the vegetables and stir until boiling again.
5.   Add in the other can of coconut milk and bring to a boil.
6.   Turn the heat to low, taste and adjust as needed.
7.   At this point, you can add-in noodles if you want but my wife didn’t approve and said they were slimy.  🙁  I was better off before the noodles.

Printable Recipe

If you like red curry, check out these other red curry recipes!

Red Curry Shrimp and Black Bean Noodles

Cauliflower and Boiled Eggs Thai Red Curry

 

Kale Chicken Thai Red Curry