Easy Thai

Last night I made a Thai vegetable curry. The bulk of the flavor came from a can of red curry paste which I’d picked up at my handy local Asian market. It’s less “spicy hot” than the green variety. A couple of tablespoons of coconut cream, a splash of fish sauce, a bit of ginger and some cilantro rounded out the flavors. I served it on jasmine rice from Trader Joes.

Recipe for Thai red curry vegetable curry

Steam a small head of broccoli for 2-3 minutes. Separate florets and set aside.

Saute some diced carrot, celery and onion. Add, if you like, some diced red and green pepper, and sauté until they give up their moisture and reduce, about 10-15 minutes. Add some chopped garlic, chopped shallot and grated ginger and sauté for an additional minute.

Add a couple of tablespoons of coconut cream and stir. Add a tablespoon of red curry paste and stir. Add a cup of chicken stock and stir to combine flavors. Add a tablespoon of fish sauce and some chopped cilantro.

Add to this any vegetables or meat. I used broccoli, frozen peas and baby bok choy leaves—but you could just as easily use spinach, eggplant and snow peas.

Simmer for 15 minutes to blend flavors.

Serve over rice.

One of these days I'll get around to making my own red and green curry pastes. But I found the flavor of the canned variety to be quite fresh and vibrant.