Vegan Thai red curry is a delicious recipe with the most refreshing and soothing flavors that are required in a comfort food recipe. A must try recipe for every foodie.
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Generally, our comfort food is something which we grew up eating - something which was cooked for us by our parents or grandparents and reminds us of their soothing affection. That’s the reason most of the time our comfort food is something from our country of origin or anything which was cooked regularly in our kitchens since childhood.
Like most of the Indians, my comfort food is also home-cooked dal chawal, khichdi, kadhi chawal, rajma chawal, sambhar chawal.
However, in my list of comfort food, there is something more which I didn’t even taste until I started working – Thai curries.
I love Thai curries- be it Green / Red/ Yellow or any type of Thai curry. Thai curries are loved by almost everyone in my family.
The fresh flavors of Thai curries are so soothing that they instantly calm you down, nothing better you can ask for dinner after a stressful day.
Summer will be hitting us soon and these light, fresh Thai curries will be made more often in my kitchen now.
A few months back I shared the recipe of Vegan Thai green curry and today I will share another great Thai curry recipe - Vegan Thai red curry.
The first time I tried these recipes at a restaurant, I thought that it would be tough to cook them at home. Now that I have learned to cook Thai curries, I make them when I want to cook something easy.
For learning the tips & tricks of Thai cooking, I vouch for Pai from Hot Thai kitchen. I love watching her Thai recipes.
Even the weirdest tips given by her on Thai cooking turn out to be great. Like adding a little amount of tomato paste to Thai red curry. I could never have imagined doing it and even the thought of adding tomato paste to Thai red curry was scary. However, my experience with her Thai cooking tips was so good that I thought of taking this risk and added a little bit of tomato paste to the curry. Honestly, you can never guess the presence of tomato in the final dish and it tastes great.
If you want to skip it you can but I would highly recommend adding it.
Do you also have a comfort food which you didn’t grow up eating but now love having it when you need something comforting? Please share with me in the comments section.
Step by step photo instructions
Vegan Thai Red Curry
Ingredients
Ingredients for vegan Thai red curry paste
- 10-12 dried red chilies
- 1-2 fresh Thai red chilies optional
- 1/4 cup roughly chopped shallots/ red onion
- 1 tablespoon roughly chopped garlic adjust as per taste
- 3 stalks lemon grass roughly chopped
- 1 inch piece of galangal roughly chopped
- A handful of cilantro stems/ roots roughly chopped
- Zest of 1 kaffir lime/ regular lime-medium sized
- 1 teaspoon white peppercorns
- Salt as per taste soy sauce can also be used instead of salt
- 1 cup boiling water
Ingredients for baked tofu
- 1/2 cup medium firm tofu cubes
- 1/2 teaspoon vegetable oil/ any neutral flavored oil
- Salt as per taste soy sauce can also be used instead of salt
Ingredients for the curry
- 2 cups diced vegetables of your choice I have used cauliflower, mushrooms, French beans and snow peas
- 4-5 kaffir lime leaves
- 1 tablespoon lime juice adjust as per taste
- 5-6 fresh Thail basil leaves/ 1/2 teaspoon dried Thai basil
- 1 tablespoon soy sauce
- 1 tablespoon tomato paste optional
- 1 tablespoon coconut sugar/ brown sugar
- 3/4 cup + 2 cups coconut milk
- 1.5 cups vegetable stock
- Fresh cilantro for garnishing
Instructions
- Remove the seeds and placenta of dried red chilies and soak them in hot water for 10-15 minutes.
- Wrap the tofu block in a clean kitchen towel/ tissue paper. Cover with a plate and put something heavy on top. Leave like this for 10-15 minutes.
- After 15 minutes, cut the tofu block into bite-size pieces. Add oil and salt, toss. Spread the tofu cubes on a baking tray lined with a baking sheet. Bake at 200°C ( 400°F) for 12-15 minutes.
- In a grinder add the soaked red chilies and all the other ingredients of curry paste. Also, add 1-2 tablespoons of water in which the chilies were soaked. Grind to make a smooth curry paste.
- Heat a pot and add ¾ cup of coconut milk. Cook while stirring in between until the milk starts to thicken. It will take around 6-7 minutes.
- Add curry paste, mix, and sauté for around 5 minutes or until the raw smell of shallots and garlic goes away.
- Next, add tomato paste, dried Thai basil, and coconut sugar. Cook for another minute. If using fresh Thai basil add it later with kaffir lime leaves.
- Add all the vegetables and cook for around 5 minutes or until they are no longer raw but still crunchy.
- Add coconut milk, vegetable stock, soy sauce, and crushed kaffir lime leaves. Mix well and let the curry simmer for 10-12 minutes.
- Finally, add baked tofu and cook for another 2 minutes.
- Add fresh lime juice and cilantro. Serve hot with jasmine rice or any steamed rice of your choice.
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