I really love curry dishes. I love the aromatic spices and the rich sauce, especially if it’s a coconut curry. A delightful bonus is that my 5 year old son also really loves curry! I’ve seen him happily polishing off curries with things like lentils and sweet potatoes (he usually doesn’t care for sweet potatoes in particular).
It took me years to start making curries on my own that actually tasted like the ones I’d had from restaurants. There was a lot of trial and error, some disappointing attempts, and plenty of experimenting to create curry dishes that were flavorful but also simple enough to make on a semi-regular basis.
This version had snow peas, roasted butternut squash and carrots, chickpeas, and a handful of left-over green beans
I don’t claim that this curry is necessarily “authentic” as I’m in no way an expert on actual Thai food, but it is full of flavor and inspired by Thai curry dishes I’ve eaten in the past. It has crisp-tender vegetables, limited, simple ingredients, and is easy enough to prepare without spending hours in the kitchen (which is time most of us don’t regularly have). Another benefit to this kind of dish is that it is creamy without using dairy, so it is a nice option to serve if you have anyone at your table who is allergic or sensitive to dairy (or if you just don’t choose to consume dairy at all).
This particular curry dish is vegan, as I like to have vegetarian and vegan dishes to rotate into our family meals. Although prepping the vegetables does take a little time, the sauce comes together very quickly. You can easily cut down on the prep time by having rice prepared ahead (if serving over rice), and you can also use frozen vegetables if you prefer. I like to use pre-roasted vegetables and/or leftover veggies, which really makes this meal very quick to throw together. This dish is usually a little different every time I make it, depending on what vegetables I have. In fact, I pretty regularly roast some kind of veggie medley on a sheet pan to use throughout the week.
Ingredients
Cooked brown or white rice or quinoa for serving (optional)
Vegetables:
***See notes below
1 small head cauliflower, cut into bite-size florets (about 2 cups)
1 small sweet potato, peeled and cut into 1/2” chunks (about 1 cup)
1 carrot (about 1/2 cup), sliced thinly into bite-size pieces
1 cup snow or sugar-snap peas, sliced into bite-size pieces
1–2 T oil for roasting or saute (like olive, avocado, etc…)
Suggestions for additions or swaps:
Green beans
Cubed roasted squash
Chopped bell pepper
Canned chickpeas, rinsed
Cooked lentils
Sauce:
1 t coconut oil (or other oil like avocado)
1 can (15 oz) full-fat coconut milk (I look for bpa-free cans or tetra packs)
1 T coconut aminos (low-sodium soy sauce may also be used)
1 t red curry paste
1 T peanut butter (almond butter may be subbed or use tahini for nut-free)
1/2 t ground ginger
1 t ground coriander
1 t garlic powder
3/4 t ground cumin
Optional Extras:
Chopped Thai basil for garnish
Chopped cashews for garnish
Hot sauce to add more heat (I like to add some to my portion because I like mine a little spicier than the rest of the family)
Notes:
*** I prefer to roast the cauliflower, sweet potatoes, and carrots (and/or other veggies like peppers, squash, etc…) ahead of time as this develops flavor and gives them a nice (non-mushy) texture. If you’d prefer to sauté everything instead, see instructions below. I prefer roasting my sweet potatoes on a separate pan because they sometimes take a little longer to roast due to their dense flesh.
Peas (either snow peas or snap peas) cook very quickly, so I usually just sauté these in a little toasted sesame oil right before making the sauce.
There are some recipes for this kind of curry that simmer the vegetables directly in the sauce. I don’t do this for two reasons:
1. I don’t like mushy vegetables and it’s harder to keep everything crisp-tender if you simmer it all together.
2. I don’t usually add anything like broth to my sauce because I like the thick, coconutty sauce that my method produces. This means that you don’t need to simmer the sauce very long to reduce and thicken it (longer simmering time would allow for vegetables to cook). However, you can definitely add a little vegetable broth or water to your sauce if you wish for a lighter flavor and/or thinner sauce.
Instructions:
Yield: 4–5 servings
Roast Vegetables Option:
To roast the veggies, preheat oven to 400º F, toss the veggies in 1-2 tablespoons oil to lightly coat, season lightly with salt and pepper, and bake in oven for about 30 minutes or until fork-tender. These can be made ahead and refrigerated if desired.
Heat sesame oil in a large sauté pan or wok. Add in snow peas and cook just until crisp-tender and slightly blistered, about 2 minutes. Remove veggies to a bowl and set aside.
Sauté Vegetables Option:
Heat about 1/2–3/4 tablespoon of oil (like toasted sesame, coconut, or avocado), add sweet potatoes to pan, and cook for about 12 minutes or until potatoes are fork-tender. Remove potatoes from pan and set aside. You’ll probably need to add a little more oil to the pan and then add cauliflower and carrots and cook for about 5 minutes, add peas, and cook about 2 more minutes or until peas are crisp-tender and slightly blistered (if you feel like the pan is really full you may need to cook the remaining veggies in batches). Remove all veggies from pan and set aside.
Make Sauce and Finish:
Heat 1 teaspoon of coconut or desired oil in the same pan and add curry paste and ginger. Cook these for about a minute. Add all remaining sauce ingredients and stir to combine. Simmer until thickened, about 8–10 minutes. Add in all veggies and cook for about a minute just to heat everything through. Remove pan from heat. Serve over rice or with a side of flatbread. (Optional) Sprinkle chopped Thai basil and/or chopped cashews over individual servings.
