Thai Green Curry with Sweet Potato, Spinach & Red Pepper

Thai Green Curry with tofu – definitely one of my desert island meals! I just love it! I was happy when this recipe turned out to taste just like the ones I have tasted in Thai restaurants! It’s the 4th time I have made it for putting on the blog, not because it went wrong, just because I ate it before I had a chance to photograph it: yes it’s that good 😉

The Thai Green paste is extremely quick and easy to prepare. You can make it ahead of time which will make future meal prep that little bit quicker too.

Nothing beats a fresh, homemade curry paste with all raw ingredients.  Most store-bought Thai curry pastes use fish sauce, but this vegan version omits that without any impact on the authentic flavours.

You can swap the veg for any that is in season.  I have used sweet potatoes, spinach, and sweet red peppers because they are readily available right now but those ingredients might change throughout the year.

This recipe serves 4-6 people.  If you do not need to serve that many people, create the paste as described and keep any unused paste in the fridge in an airtight container for up to 2 weeks, and reduce the rest of the recipe ingredients accordingly.

I hope you enjoy this dish just as much as I do!

Enjoy! Joanne 🙂

First, begin by assembling all of the ingredients for the paste.  You will need;

• Garlic
• Red or green chillies
• lemongrass paste
• spring onions
• fresh root ginger
• kaffir lime leaves
• a big bunch of fresh coriander
• ground coriander
• ground cumin
• brown sugar
• Tamari
• Tamarind paste
• 1 tbsp apple cider vinegar

Plus the ingredients for the rest of the recipe;

• 1 tin of coconut cream with a high cream content – if your brand is very watery, use only the cream from TWO cans, not one.
• 2 blocks firm tofu
• rice (amount to be determined by how many people you are serving – see rice packet instructions).
• 2 large sweet potatoes
• 2 large sweet red peppers
• 2 large handfuls fresh spinach
• 600mls vegetable stock
• To serve: black sesame seeds and fresh lime

 

Make the paste by adding all of the paste ingredients to a food processor jug;

Blitz until smooth;

Add the paste to a suitable pot or container and pop in the fridge while you prepare the rest of the meal;

Next, peel the sweet potato and chop into bite-sized chunks.  Place into a steamer and steam for 10-12 mins or until soft;

While the sweet potato is steaming, rinse the rice under a running tap, drain, then add to a pan.  Top with about 2 inches of water, bring to the boil and leave to simmer for the time indicated on the packet – usually around 25 minutes for whole grain brown rice;

Now you will need to prepare the tofu.  I use a tofu press as shown in the image below.  This tofu press was a life-changing purchase back in 2015 when I saw it at Leeds Vegan Food Festival and I ummmed and ahhhed for ages thinking was this going to be another contraption which got buried in my kitchen cupboard! Thankfully I saw sense and bought one because it gets used weekly when I am preparing tofu and I can’t imagine pressing tofu without it! It felt quite expensive at the time of buying but based on it’s longevity and amount of use, it’s turned out to be very cost effective. Long story short: if you eat tofu – buy one of these!! I think you can find them on Amazon (what can’t you find on Amazon?!!) and the company are based in the UK.  Here it is;

You just open your tofu, drain off the water from the container and place it in the Tofuture, fasten it down and leave it for 5+minutes to press more of the water out.  The longer you leave it, the more water will come out and the more firm your tofu will be! Magic!  Once pressed, removed and chop into bite-sized chunks.

The next step is optional because you can actually add the tofu cubes as they are straight into the curry, but I prefer my tofu cubes with a little ‘bite’ to them so I think this step is worth doing.

You do not need oil in your frying pan/wok but, move the cubes around the pan frequently to prevent sticking.  The medium level heat is just to evaporate even more water from the tofu cubes so that they become a little bit golden on the edges and more firm to the bite.  Just dry-fry for a few minutes;

Next, add the steamed sweet potatoes, finely sliced sweet red pepper, Thai Green Curry paste, coconut milk and vegetable stock.

(Please note that I was only making half of the recipe to make 3 small portions, so I used 1 large sweet potato, half of the thick coconut cream, 300mls veg stock.  But you use all of the ingredients to feed 4-6 people);

Stir all to combine over a low heat;

Leave to simmer with a lid on the pan for 5 minutes to heat through.

Next, add the spinach;

And stir through;

Heat through for 2 minutes before serving with the rice and a sprinkling of black sesame seeds and a squeeze of lime juice;