Thai green curry

Thai food is one of my favorite cuisines. I love how in a single bite you can find salty, sweet, spicy, umami, and acidic flavors that marry each other in such a beautiful way. While I will never pretend to be able to recreate those incredible flavors, I made this Thai green curry to celebrate this cuisine in my own way, using ingredients that are more local and seasonal for me. I use a store-bought Thai green curry paste for two reasons: 1) convenience and (more importantly) 2) because a lot of the ingredients are not widely available in my area and are not grown locally. I love Mekhala’s Thai green curry paste because they use organic ingredients and the flavor (and heat level) are amazing, but feel free to use whatever you have available to you. I use eggplant and broccoli here, but I have also made this with other veg like green beans, potatoes, cauliflower, and zucchini, so use whatever you have on hand. Enjoy!

Thai green curry

ingredients

1 tbsp coconut oil

1 yellow onion, diced

4 cloves of garlic, minced

1 inch ginger, minced

2 fresh lemongrass stalks, minced

3-4 tbsp Thai green curry paste (or to taste)

2 heads of broccoli, chopped into bite-sized pieces

1 medium eggplant, diced

1 14oz/400g block of firm or extra firm tofu, diced into bite-sized pieces

1.5 14oz cans of full fat coconut milk

4 cups vegetable broth or water

1 tsp salt

2 tbsp tamari or soy sauce

½ cup Thai basil leaves, whole

½ cup cilantro, chopped

Freshly squeezed juice from 2 limes

3-4 green onions, chopped (optional, for topping)

1 fresno pepper (or other spicy red pepper) thinly sliced (optional, for topping)

White or brown rice, to serve

instructions

1. Place a large pot or Dutch oven over medium heat. Once hot, add the coconut oil.

2. Once the coconut oil is hot, add the yellow onion and cook until translucent. Then add the garlic, ginger, and lemongrass. Cook for 1-2 minutes or until fragrant. Then add the curry paste and stir continuously for another 1-2 minutes until even more fragrant (watch out for burning!).

3. Add the broccoli, eggplant and tofu to the pot and stir to combine. Then add the coconut milk, vegetable broth, and one teaspoon of salt. Turn heat to high and bring to a boil. Once boiling, turn heat down to medium-low and cover, cooking for 15-20 minutes or until the vegetables are fork tender.

4. Turn the heat off. Add the tamari, Thai basil, cilantro, and lime juice. Stir to combine. Taste, add more tamari or lime juice if needed.

5. Serve on top of rice and top with green onions and fresno peppers. Feel free to also add more cilantro, Thai basil, and lime juice for topping.

6. Enjoy!