I made this curry with the vegetables I had so experiment with whatever assortment of veggies you like. I served the curry over sweet potato noodles the first night and with cauliflower ‘rice’ the next day. Or enjoy it on its own!
Make it all in one go or make the curry paste in advance. I reckon this curry is as good as any I have had at Thai restaurants and it is clean and fresh!
Thai Vegetable Red Curry
Paste
Ingredients
16 dried chilies, soaked in hot water
10 large cloves garlic, peeled and sliced
2 shallots, peeled + roughly chopped
2 stalks lemon grass, outer stalk removed and the bottom 4-5 inches only, roughly chopped
2 tbs coriander roots (or stems), finely chopped
2 tbs fresh galangal root, finely chopped
skin of 1 makrut lime (kaffir lime), (just the outer green skin without the white pith)
1 tsp shrimp paste
6 tsp white pepper corns, ground
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp ground coriander
1 tsp Himalayan pink salt, finely ground
Vegetable Curry
Ingredients
1 brown onion
1 inch ginger, peeled and grated
2 cloves garlic, peeled and chopped
3 organic potatoes, washed and chopped
3 organic carrots, stems trimmed and chopped
1 red, orange or yellow pepper, core and seeds removed and chopped
mushrooms, fresh or dried and soaked overnight, sliced
2 tbs + 2 tsp homemade Thai red curry paste
1 400 ml can of organic coconut milk
1 cup dashi (water from soaking mushrooms), vegetable soup stock (no salt or fats added) or filtered water
1 tbs Son or Redboat fish sauce
fresh coriander or Thai basil, finely chopped (for garnish)
wedges of fresh lime (for serving)
Method
Paste
Soaked the dried chillies in hot water and set aside.
If using a mort and pestle, start with pounding the white pepper corns until you have a powder. Transfer to a bowl and add the ground cumin and coriander. In the mort, place all the remaining hard, dry ingredients in and pound and pound and pound until the ingredients break up and make a paste. It takes some time and elbow grease! Add the shallots, soaked chillies and pound until they are totally broken up. Then add the ground spices, salt and shrimp paste and pound until you have a very fragrant, fully dissolved paste.
If using a blender, add all the ingredients in the jar and run on high for at least two minutes until your ingredients are totally combined and your chillies have broken up thoroughly. If you do not have a twister jar, you will need to stop the blender repeatedly, scrape down the sides and run until you have a paste.
Vegetable Curry
Prepare all the vegetables.
In a dutch oven, saute the chopped onion on a medium to low heat covered with a pinch of salt. After about 5 minutes add the garlic and ginger and cook for a mother minute.
Add the potatoes, carrots, mushrooms and curry paste; mix until all the vegetables are evenly coated. Add the coconut milk and dashi. Bring to a boil covered. Uncover and simmer for about 10-15 minutes until all the vegetables are tender but not overcooked.
Serve topped with chopped coriander and a wedge of lime.