Thai Vegetable Green Curry
We have a few go-to takeout restaurants in our neighborhood and one of our most-frequented is Taste of Thai Town. The inside of the restaurant, which by the way is an old police station, is well-decorated but it’s rarely bustling. But their food is so fantastic that I have to imagine most people are doing what we do and do takeout. I’ve been a fan of Thai curries for years now but the green curry at this restaurant is the ultimate. It’s not too spicy, not too sweet, and always loaded with fresh vegetables. Whenever I make Thai curries at home, the green curry from Taste of Thai Town is what I’m trying to imitate. It’s perfect.
I’ve made Thai curries that are too salty, too sweet, too thick, too thin, and too mushy. It took me some time to figure out the proportions to get to a curry I liked. You may need to do some tinkering but I can assure you that this is a solid place to start. I also decided to test out something I really liked - a crunchy sweet potato topping! I cubed the sweet potato and deep fried it for a few minutes right before we were ready to eat. Once they were out of the oil, I sprinkled it with a little salt and sugar and added them while they were hot to the pot of curry. It added a really great texture and some sweetness!
Topping or not, here are some of my tips for a great, restaurant-quality green curry every time:
Use full-fat coconut milk and cut it with water. Light coconut milk is garbage. Also, if you’re using the full fat stuff, you can likely skip the sugar as it’s going to be sweet enough.
Pay attention to the order of the vegetables: add the vegetables that take longer to cook first so that the more delicate vegetables don’t turn into mush.
If you do not want to use fish sauce, you do need to add in some umami some other way. A good option is few pinches of MSG and some tamari.
It is more than okay to use canned/jarred curry paste. I use this brand of curry paste. It can be challenging to find all of the ingredients that go into a curry paste.
It is worth the trouble to get your hands on kaffir lime leaves but if you really cannot, lime zest along with some lime juice are good alternatives.
Don’t worry too much about the vegetables. Things like eggplants, green beans, and mushrooms seem traditional but from some of the research I did, there is enough variety that you can use whatever is local and seasonal.
To get a more vibrant green color, set aside about 1/4 of a cup of coconut milk and blend it with a cup of basil. Add this to the curry towards the end to get a brighter color and fresher flavor.
Ugh just be cool and eat this with white rice, preferably Jasmine rice.
Serves 4-6
Ingredients
1 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp green curry paste
2 cans of coconut milk + 1 cup water
A mix of vegetables. I used the following:
1 small sweet potato, cubed
2 Thai eggplants, sliced into rounds
1 medium zucchini, sliced into rounds
1 red bell pepper, sliced thinly
6-8 mushrooms, sliced
1 kohlrabi, cubed
2 baby bok choy, halved
3 keffir lime leaves, sliced and pounded to release the flavor. Substitute with the zest of 1 lime and juice of 1/2 lime
2 tsp tamari and 1/2 tsp MSG (to keep it vegan) OR 1 tbsp fish sauce
1 cup basil, and roughly chopped
Optional: 1 cup peanut or vegetable oil to deep fry the sweet potato cubes
Optional: crushed peanuts to top and serve
Method
Prep the vegetables you will be using.
Prep the basil and 1/4 cup coconut milk mixture in a small blender and set aside.
Heat up a heavy-bottomed pot over medium heat. Once hot, add in the oil and the curry paste. Cook for about 1-2 mins and expect it to splatter a bit. Then, add the coconut milk and water, stir well. Bring to a boil.
Turn down the heat a bit and add in the vegetables. I added the kohlrabi, mushrooms, and eggplant first. Cover with the lid and cook for 3-4 mins. Next, add the bell peppers and zucchini and cover again with the lid, and cook for 4-5 mins.
Uncover the pot and add the fish sauce (or MSG and tamari), kaffir lim leaves, and basil and coconut milk blended mixture. Mix well and cook uncovered for 5 mins. Taste for salt and season as needed.
While the curry finishes cooking, heat up the oil to 325 F. Add the sweet potato cubes gently into the hot oil and stir with a spoon. Watch closely and remove as soon as you the see the potato browning, about 2 mins. Drain on a piece of paper towel and sprinkle lightly with salt and sugar.
Lastly, turn off the curry, top with the sweet potatoes, some extra basil, peanuts, and if you need it, some lime juice. Serve!
