Thai Red Curry

I never fancied Thai food, but may be because of multiple trials (read forced by friends to try it) I started liking it. And, when I like something I want to try it at home. Bah! What’s new in there (wink)? The first experiment was Thai Red curry and it was successful. I promised myself, I am gonna make it more often now.Actually, it seemed trickier than it actually is. Everything is, once you try it, isn’t it? Well, I am gonna try more Thai food, that’s for sure. Both in restaurants and then at home! Now, without much ado, I’ll get back to the recipe. Here’s how I did it. I made the vegetarian version, so the fish oil (otherwise important ingredient) didn’t cut into my recipe; have used sesame oil and soy sauce instead. Hope you all like it.

 

Ingredients for Thai Red Curry

Serves – 2 -3

• Tofu – 200 g (Cut in ½ inch thick pieces. I sliced them into triangles, but that is totally upto you)
• Zucchini – 1 small (thin sliced and halved to form semicircles)
• Broccoli – 100 gm (cut in medium sized florets)
• Mushrooms – 5-6 (thin sliced)
• Yellow Bell pepper – 1 medium (roughly diced)
• Coconut milk – 400 ml
• Water – 100 ml
• Onion – 1 big
• Garlic cloves – 3
• Ginger – ½ inch
• Red chilies – 3 or if you can find the big ones, 1 will do
• Basil leaves – 5-6
• Thai red curry paste – 2 tsp
• Salt – to taste
• Lime juice – juice of approx. 3 medium limes
• Brown sugar – 1 -2 tsp
• Soy sauce – 2 tbsp
• Sesame oil – 1 tbsp
• Oil – 3-4 tbsp

 

 Method for Thai Red Curry

1. Marinade the tofu in soy sauce, 1 finely chopped red chili (or 1/3, if you found the big fat one), sesame oil and juice of 1 lime. Marinade it for 2 hours. I was in a hurry, so I gave it 1.5 hours, ssshhh!
2. Mince or make a paste of onion, ginger and garlic in your food processor, and set aside.
3. In a pan, heat 2 tbsp oil, and shallow fry the tofu. Set aside on absorbent paper. (Save the margination liquid; we’ll use it in the curry later)
4. In the same pan, shallow fry the mushrooms.
   Note: You can totally skip the above two points. I just like charred tofu and mushrooms, so I gave them a quick tour of the oil puddle.
5. If the oil is consumed, add 2 tbsp oil in the same pan, and add the onion and ginger garlic paste. Stir and let it cook until the paste turns golden brown. Splash some water, if needed.
6. Now, add the Thai red curry paste and salt. Sauté for 2 minutes and then pour in the coconut milk and water. Add the margination liquid we saved earlier, and the remaining lime juice.
7. Once the curry comes to boil, add the zucchini, broccoli, remaining red chili (cut in rounds) and bell pepper. Let it simmer until the veggies are tender; takes about 10 minutes.
8. Season with brown sugar and adjust the sweetness to your taste.
9. Finally, add the mushrooms, tofu and garnish with basil leaves. Enjoy!

I served it with red rice, and was not very fascinated with the taste of rice. But, it’s healthy you see 😉 It goes well with normal white rice. Typically it is served with jasmine rice though.