December 17th, 2008
Vegetarian Thai Green Curry
Thai cooking was one area I had not ventured into, for a long time. I had been reading about Thai food, the glories of their fragrant Jasmine rice, exotic green, red and yellow curries, green papaya salad and the like. Having sampled excellent Pad Thai and other dishes in an Asian fine dining restaurant for my birthday didn’t prove to motivate me enough to create Thai food in my kitchen.
About a year ago, Ro happened to be in Bangkok. Since cuisines taste best and sometimes even different in their native places, I egged him to try out Thai cuisine. Being a complete foodie and having eaten a lot of Thai food even in his non-vegetarian days, he would surely be able to tell the difference.
Imagine my surprise when I learned that after staying in Bangkok for 4 days, he was about to leave for Mumbai in 4 hours and had not eaten a single Thai dish! He told me that he had been surviving on Pizzas, Pastas and Chinese grub. It was when I reminded him: Ro you cant be leaving Bangkok without eating Thai food! He then decided to have Thai cuisine for lunch at the hotel in which he was staying. Ro requested the chef for a pure vegetarian Thai menu without any oyster sauce and shrimp paste and was served the Thai green curry with plain steamed Jasmine rice and a salad. He relished the Thai Green curry so much that he requested the hotel staff to give him the recipe for me, which they kindly obliged. When I served the Thai green curry for lunch today, he told me that he feels he is in Bangkok. So much so for almost having left Bangkok without tasting any Thai fare!
Vegetarian Thai Green Curry Recipe
This recipe is courtesy the staff at the Sheraton Grande Sukhumvit hotel in Bangkok. Since I like to eat and serve fresh food, I have modified the ingredients for the curry paste to make one serving of the curry, which should easily serve 4 people. Add the chillies to your liking and if you cant place the Thai green chillies substitute with local green chillies.
Ingredients:
For the curry paste:
8 to 10 Prik Kee Noo chillies/birds eye chillies/thai chillies or 3 to 4 green chillies
2 Lemon grass stalks chopped
2 or 3 Kaffir Lime leaves (if dry use soaked in hot water) (optional)
½ cup Coriander leaves (use the stalks as well)
1 tsp Galangal or fresh root ginger
1 tsp Coriander seeds
½ tsp Peppercorns
½ tsp Salt
1 tbsp Groundnut/Peanut or any other vegetable oil
2 tbsp WaterFor the Curry:
400ml Coconut milk
1 medium size Broccoli cut into florets
1 potato cut into cubes
10 to 12 Baby corns chopped into thirds
1 Red bell pepper/capsicum
2 tbsp Cashew nuts
½ cup Vegetable stock (you can reserve water from cooking vegetables)
2 tbsp oil
1 tsp saltMethod: Blend all the ingredients for the curry paste in a mixer/blender into a smooth paste. Cook the baby corn, potato and broccoli in a cup and a half of water. Heat the oil in a pan or a wok and fry the cashew nuts and red bell pepper until the cashewnuts are golden brown. Stir in the curry paste and fry for a minute or two until the raw smell is gone. Add in the cooked vegetables. Lower the flame and pour in the coconut milk and vegetable stock. Bring to a boil, stirring all the while to prevent splitting the coconut milk.
Serve with Thai Jasmine Rice, Plain Rice or Pad Thai.
Serves 4.
December 17th, 2008 at 8:30 am
Thai? I have tasted it once, didnt like it that much. But this recipe seems very yum
December 17th, 2008 at 8:51 am
Hi Rustoo, vegetarians generally dont get accustomed to Thai food easily, mainly because of the oyster sauce and shrimp paste. So if you are one, as I remember ask for Thai food without these. And if you get a chance to try this recipe or have someone make it for you, you might like it just like I did!
December 17th, 2008 at 8:12 pm
What is the noodle served with this?
December 17th, 2008 at 11:28 pm
Plain Pad Thai. You can also serve it with plain rice.
December 18th, 2008 at 12:33 am
I’ve always wondered why a Thai curry is green - is it the colour of the chillies that decides what ‘colour’ it is?
December 18th, 2008 at 12:36 am
HI Katie, thanks for your visit and comment. The chillies have very little to contribute to the green colour in this case. The colour comes from fresh coriander and thai basil leaves if one is using them.
December 18th, 2008 at 8:14 am
This is the most appetising dish I have seen. Green and White. The first time I had good Thai food was at Paradise Island at West End. Good stuff
December 20th, 2008 at 6:16 pm
Hi Anu.. A visual treat, The professional touch and caring for details.. its all there.Am looking forward to more recipes.Simi is going to try the thai dish today….
December 20th, 2008 at 7:33 pm
Hi
It is nice to see your site. The recepie is mouth watering.I will certainly try. Hope we will get more and more rfreshing recepies. All the best to you.
December 20th, 2008 at 11:05 pm
Yup, as MIL says I did try this to the tee… every bit of the recipe and the specs. It was ABSOLUTELY BRILLIANT! I take no credit for it though. Its like the recipe got translated from you to the cooking pan through you… mystical!
Tejas and Amma said it was the most exotic dish they’d tried. And Mihir just loved it!
What can I say more than that it was a DIVINE TASTE!!!!
December 21st, 2008 at 6:13 pm
Uma aunty: Thanks
Medha kaku: I still owe you the jackfruit biriyani recipe.
Simi: The credit should go to you for cooking it up! Great to see you indulging in culinary jaunts.
December 21st, 2008 at 9:37 pm
I’m going to try this tomorrow! Want to get the lime leaves and lemon grass stalks…
January 20th, 2009 at 11:43 pm
The subtle flavour of the herbs in this curry render a truly saatvik taste to it. Looking forward to more curry recipes!
April 30th, 2009 at 3:56 pm
Hello,
Just came upon this site through the reference given in Kurma’s site. Really very well illustrated..hats off!
Would love to try this recipe..By any chance do you get these ingredients in India?
May 8th, 2009 at 10:07 am
Hi Anushruti,
We’re almost namesakes! I also came across your site from Kurma Dasa’s site and have really enjoyed reading your posts.
Using a combination of your recipe and another vegetarian one, I made the Thai Green Curry and it was lovely, the beautiful photo from your site was my inspiration!
I particularly like the touch of cashews, I think it’s a wonderful addition that I have not seen in the curries that you can get in Thai restaurants (outside Thailand).
Thanks for your posts and wish you well for your journey into motherhood.
May 8th, 2009 at 11:33 pm
Divya: All these ingredients are easily available in most cities of India. For this recipe, you can substitute locally available ingedients. Use dried lemon grass if fresh lemon grass is not available and substitute galangal with fresh ginger.
Shruti: Yes…the cashews add magic to this curry. Thanks for your wishes.