May 11th, 2020
I held off on making Thai curry — even though it is probably my favorite curry — for a while, because I didn’t have a jar Thai curry paste. When I searched how to make it from scratch, the recipes included ingredients like shrimp paste and fish sauce, both of which I don’t have on hand.
I finally found a recipe from the Minimalist Baker, but as I did further research, I found that it wasn’t traditional. I didn’t add an unconventional red bell pepper to the paste, which probably would have brightened it up. I ended up creating my own version of the recipe, based on ones I found from other websites. The paste ended up being brown, and made my eyes tear up as I peered into the blender. I was not expecting to be hit in eyes with spice. My blender is getting old, so I switched over to the Magic Bullet, which was a perfect size and did a good job of making the paste a paste.
In the end, this curry was surprisingly accurate, taste-wise! It was creamy from the coconut, and still had that signature Thai taste. I’m very impressed!
Ingredients:
- 1 package tofu
- 1 1/2 cups brown rice
- 1 tbsp coriander seeds
- 1/2 tbsp cumin seeds
- 1 tsp peppercorns
- 1 tbsp cilantro stems, rough chopped
- 4 whole chilis, rough chopped
- 2 tbsp ginger, rough chopped
- 5 cloves garlic, rough chopped
- 1 shallot, rough chopped
- 1 tbsp lime zest
- 1 tbsp lemon zest
- 1 1/2 tbsp salt
- 1/2 onion, chopped
- 1 in minced ginger
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 red bell pepper, julienned
- 1 carrot, diagonally sliced
- 1 can coconut milk
- 1/2 cup water
- 1 1/2 cups kale, thinly sliced (or spinach)
- 1.5 tsp brown sugar
- 1 tbsp soy sauce
- 2 tsp rice vinegar
- unsalted cashews, cilantro to garnish
Directions:
- Press the tofu to drain as much excess water as possible. I put the empty rectangular plastic on top of the tofu with a jar of water on top to weigh it down, which proves that you don’t have to buy a tofu-press! Do your part to create less waste!
- Cook rice in a rice cooker. It’s important to do this early on because brown rice takes a while to cook!
- For the paste, begin by toasting cumin, coriander, and peppercorns in a fry-pan. Then transfer to a spice-grinder or Magic Bullet and grind, until your desired texture is reached. It doesn’t have to be super fine.
- In a blender/food processor/Magic Bullet, process ingredients from cilantro stems to salt, and toasted spices. Add water as needed.
- Add neutral oil and onions to a wok, cooking for about 5 minutes on medium heat.
- Add garlic and ginger, fry for about 30 seconds.
- Add bell peppers and carrots, cook for 5 minutes until tender.
- Cut tofu into 1inch cubes, or whatever size you want.
- Add 3 tbsp of homemade curry paste to vegetables, stir, then add tofu. Cook for 2 minutes.
- Add coconut milk, water, and kale, and simmer for 5–10 minutes at least until the kale is tender. Add water as needed.
- Remove from heat and add soy sauce, rice vinegar, and brown sugar to round out the flavors and tone down the spice.
- Serve on rice, garnish with cashews and cilantro. Enjoy!
