Vegetarian Thai curry
Hola peeps! Ok.. have to admit. I am very very excited about this post! I love Thai food. I love Italian food too which is also why I was quite amused at an Italian restaurant day before where we had gone as a FULL family. Outings with full family rarely happens since my father-in-law hates going and dining out. We had ordered some garlic bread, gnocchi, cannelloni among other yummy Italian stuff. I started feeding Adya some garlic bread first and then moved on to gnocchi before finally giving him cannelloni. By the end of the whole feeding episode, Adya had a nice smear of white sauce (crumbles coated on it) around his mouth (he was not just a moustache man, he had a nice beard too :)). I burst out laughing looking at him because I realized if one were to see him, they couldn’t be sure if he’d had Italian or our classic Thayir sadham (curd rice). I realized then that the whole term ‘Fine dining’ occupies an absolute different meaning in my life at this point!
Back to Thai now – even though I am a vegetarian and my options are quite limited, I still find the cuisine highly intriguing. For starters, their spices are therapeutic and medicinal. Their food isn’t too oily. Above all, their food is YUMMY! Full on drool factor for me. In all these years of cooking, I somehow never tried my hands at Thai cuisine. Always thought it must not be easy plus wasn’t really sure if people at home will like it. Nevertheless, one day when I went to the groceries, remembered I can look for the Thai spice package (I found a Tom Yum spice kit) which consisted of some lemon grass, kafir lime leaves, Thai ginger, Thai red chilis, shallots, garlic pods, lemon (I didn’t use the lemon though). I immediately looked up a few recipes and decided to give the veg green curry a go. It came out extremely extremely yummy (Ok, I am partial to Thai & I am partial to my ‘தாயின் சேய்’ as well (PJ I know, but just couldn’t help but mention it) but I can vouch for this recipe. It’s an absolute keeper for me.
Just a note for anyone who’s to try the Thai curry – if you are going to grind lemon grass with the rest of the ingredients, just make the paste a bit watery and strain it using a sieve. Else, the lemon grass fibre keeps coming in every bite and I don’t quite enjoy that.
- 400 ml coconut milk I used the light one
- 3.5 cups mixed vegetables
- 1.5 stick lemon grass
- 4-5 nos kafir lime leaves
- 2 pods garlic
- 2 nos shallots
- 1 inch thai ginger (galangal)
- 2-3 nos thai red chillis regular green chillies would do just fine as well
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Grind all the ingredients under the ‘Thai green paste’ section and strain it using a sieve. I made this paste a little runny so as to be able to strain it.
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Cook the mixed vegetables with some salt. I used a mix of beans, carrots, peas, snow peas, cauliflower, baby corn & paneer.
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Heat a pan and add the ground mixture and let it cook for 5 mins.
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Add coconut milk and bring the mixture to a boil. Add the vegetables and stir in for 1-2 mins.
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Before turning off the stove, garnish with some lime leaves & lemon grass.
- You can cook the vegetables crunchy or soft depending on your preference. I like my veggies crunchy for this while D likes it soft and completely done.
- I used a store bought can of light coconut milk. You could totally make/ buy regular coconut milk which will make the gravy thicker and richer.
- If any of you thought green chilis are for green curry and red for red curry, I hear ya cos I thought the same (I hear ya Nithya). Actually, coriander leaves give the green color to the curry
- I love my Thai curry with a bed of rice. Sorry sorry, I like my Thai curry as a bed with some rice on it :).
- Something is wrong with my camera (or me and am quite sure it’s me) – my pictures are getting deleted without me intending me to do so. I don’t have the step by step pics for this. However, shall update it soon when I make this yummy goodness once again (aka soon).
- I wanted to add 1/4 cup fresh coriander leaves while re-doing this recipe for my blog but forgot to.
Stepwise pictures
For the thai curry paste
In a mixer/ blender, add all the thai spices – lemon grass, kafir lime leaves, thai ginger, thai chillies, shallots & garlic.
Blend well. Add water intermittently while grinding. This is the thai paste but I am going to filter this out!
Strain the paste using a slightly bigger holed sieve.
I use my hand to get all the juices out and ensure it’s just fibre that gets thrown away.
The thai water (LOL, couldn’t call this a paste) is ready! I hate getting the lemon grass fibre texture all the time in my mouth. So prefer straining the fibre out.
Cook the vegetables
In a pan, throw in all the veggies you want in your thai curry and cook with some salt.
I used a mix of carrots, baby corn, snow peas. When they were cooked a few minutes, I added some cauliflower (I had microwaved the cauliflower for 3 minutes prior).
Once the veggies are cooked to your desired preference (I like my veggies crunchy and that’s how I have had it in the thai restaurants as well), turn off the heat. Transfer the veggies on to a plate.
Whip up thai curry
Heat the same pan and add the thai water. Let the water start bubbling up.
Add the cooked veggies at this stage (I added paneer only at this stage since I used fresh ones) and mix well.
After a minute or so, pour in the coconut milk. Check and adjust for salt here.
Turn off the heat once the coconut milk comes to a boil. Tear some kafir lime leaves on top for an added fragrance.
Serve the thai curry hot on the side of some boiled rice (Jasmine traditionally, but I like mine with some basmati rice). I can have this all 365 days of the year! 🙂
