Description
This Thai Green Curry Tofu is a delicious fragrant creamy curry with the right balance of flavors. If you wish, this recipe can be made fully oil-free. It’s ready to be served in less than 20 minutes.
Ingredients
For the Green Curry:
- 1 tbsp coconut oil or coconut butter to make this oil-free*
- ½ onion, chopped
- 2 garlic cloves, minced
- 2 bay leaves
- 1 cm ginger, minced
- ½ tsp cinnamon
- 1 stalk lemongrass, bent and snapped
- 1 tsp vegan fish sauce or soy sauce
- 1 tbsp lime juice
- 3 tbsp green curry paste*
- 1 can full fat coconut milk*
- 1 tbsp coconut sugar
- 1 cup broccoli
- 1 cup red bell pepper
- 1 cup carrots, thinly sliced
- a few cherry tomatoes, sliced in half
- 4 baby sweetcorn, each cut into about 4 pieces
- ½ cup green beans, cut into pieces
- ½ tsp salt (but this depends on the curry paste so adjust to taste)
- optional: ½ tsp cayenne pepper or chili powder
To serve (optional):
- Crispy marinated and baked tempeh or tofu
- Cooked white or brown rice or noodles
- Serve with herbs and optionally a slice of lime
Instructions
Bring a nonstick pan to medium heat and add the coconut oil OR coconut butter.* Once melted, add in the chopped onion, minced garlic, minced ginger and green curry paste. Stir and heat for 1 minute.
Add the coconut milk and stir to combine. Also, add the cinnamon, salt and coconut sugar and mix again until well combined. Add the vegetables and stir to combine.
Bring the heat to high and let the broth come to a light boil (it will start to bubble). Then reduce the heat to medium-low and let simmer, covered, for 10 minutes or until the vegetables are fork-tender.
Add in the crispy baked tofu, stir and serve.
This curry is great to be served with cooked rice (or noodles). Serve it separately, so don’t mix the rice in the pan with the curry. Top each bowl with more crispy baked tofu. Serve warm.
Notes
- To make this Curry Bowl Oil-Free: use 1-2 tablespoons of coconut butter instead of the coconut oil. The natural fat in coconut butter will work just as well for this curry recipe with absolutely no difference in taste.
- Curry Paste: Many curry pastes contain seafood, milk and additives. So, make sure you read the ingredient label before you buy a random curry paste. I prefer to avoid curry paste with turmeric, garlic powder and onion powder as the first main ingredients. These are not really curry paste pastes. Instead try to go for an ingredient list with for example these ingredients as the first three: green chili, garlic, lemongrass, galangal (Thai ginger)
- Coconut Sugar: sugar is added to balance out the flavors, and bring out the flavor and saltiness of the curry. If you’re making curry for the first time, add only half of the sugar initially, taste it and then if needed add the rest of the sugar.
- Coconut milk: I recommend using full-fat coconut milk so that the broth will become creamy. Low-fat coconut milk will work too, but the broth will be not as creamy.
- Storage instructions: leftovers can be refrigerated in a container with a lid for up to 3 days. If you have cooked rice or noodles to serve with the curry, I recommend storing them in a separate container (otherwise they will soak up all of the curry broth). I don’t recommend freezing any leftovers.
- Vegetables: you can use many different vegetables in this curry. Switch it up with zucchini, (pea) eggplant, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, green peas or yellow/green bell pepper.