Thai Red Curry is a vegetarian and vegan curry made with vegetables cooked in coconut milk and homemade red curry paste. It has a balanced mix of spicy and savory flavors. With a can of coconut milk on hand, this Red Curry comes together quickly. It is usually served with steamed rice.

Recipe Snapshot

  • Prep time: 15 minutes
  • Cook time: 25 minutes
  • Total time: 40 minutes
  • Yield: 4
  • Category: Main Course
  • Cuisine: Thai, World

Ingredients

  • 2 to 3 bird's eye chilies (– red colored)
  • 2 kashmiri red chillies (or low to medium hot variety of dry red chillies)
  • 1 inch galangal
  • 4 to 5 small garlic cloves (or 2 to 3 medium garlic cloves)
  • 1 to 2 shallots (or pearl onions)
  • 3 to 4 kaffir lime leaves (– medium sized)
  • 2 lemon grass stalks
  • 2 teaspoons coriander seeds
  • 1 teaspoon cumin seeds
  • ¼ teaspoon black peppercorns
  • 1 teaspoon soy sauce (– naturally fermented or brewed)
  • ½ teaspoon lemon zest (– optional)
  • 2 tablespoons water (or coconut milk, add as required)
  • ½ teaspoon salt (or sea salt, add as required)
  • 2 tablespoons toasted sesame oil (or coconut oil)
  • ⅓ or ½ cup chopped carrots
  • ⅓ cup chopped baby corn
  • 1 cup chopped button mushrooms
  • ¼ or ⅓ cup chopped bell pepper (– any colored bell pepper)
  • ¼ cup french beans
  • 1 cup chopped cauliflower
  • 8 to 10 thai pea eggplant (– turkey berry, optional)
  • 1.5 cups water (or add as required)
  • 1 cup Coconut Milk (Thick)
  • ¼ teaspoon palm sugar (or unrefined cane sugar, optional)
  • salt (as required, optional)
  • 1 tablespoon thai basil chiffonade (or whole, chopped or torn)

Method

Making thai red curry paste

  1. Take the spices and set aside– bird’s eye chilies, dry red chillies, coriander seeds, cumin seeds and black peppercorns.
  2. Also rinse, peel and roughly chop the following herbs – galangal, garlic cloves, shallots (chopped), kaffir lime leaves and lemon grass stalks.
  3. Take the spices, herbs, shallots in a grinder jar.
  4. Add soy sauce, lemon zest (optional) and 2 tablespoon water or coconut milk. Also add salt.
  5. While grinding, scrape the sides and continue to grind. Grind to a fine or semi-fine paste.

Cooking Veggies

  1. In a pot or pan, heat the toasted sesame oil or coconut oil. Keep heat to a low. Add the prepared thai red curry paste.
  2. Sauté for a minute on a low flame stirring often.
  3. Add the chopped veggies including white button mushrooms. You can add your choice of vegetables. Stir and mix everything.
  4. Now add ½ cup thick coconut milk. Mix again. Keep heat to a low.
  5. Next add water. Mix again. Since salt was added in the thai curry paste, it need not be added. But do check the taste of the curry later and if required you can add more salt.
  6. For a thicker consistency in the curry, add less water.
  7. Cover the pan with its lid. Increase the heat to medium or a medium-low. Simmer the curry till the vegetables are cooked and tender. Keep them slightly al dente if you prefer.
  8. In between do check when the veggies are cooking. If water dries up, you can add more water.

Making thai red curry

  1. When the vegetables are cooked and tender, then reduce the heat to a low and add ½ cup thick coconut milk. At this step you can also add ¼ teaspoon palm sugar or raw sugar. Addition of sugar is optional and can be skipped. For a bit more sweet taste, increase the amount of sugar.
  2. Mix very well and let the entire curry come to a gentle boil on a low or medium-low heat. Lastly, add 1 tablespoon chopped or torn thai basil leaves. Mix and switch off the heat. Check the taste of curry and if required you can add some salt.
  3. Serve the thai red curry hot with lemongrass rice or plain steamed basmati rice or jasmine rice. You can garnish it with basil leaves while serving.

Kiyaan Singh’s Kitchen Note

Keep this recipe as a working base: cook once as written, then adjust spice, texture, and serving style for your own table.