Thai green curry is a simple and quick meal, perfect for busy weeknights when you still want a flavorful and healthy vegan meal. This recipe is rich, creamy and customizable to your preferences; use any vegetables you enjoy and use as much or as little curry paste as you like.
Thai green curry is a great way to use up vegetables at the end of the week before they go bad!
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Making a Balanced Vegan Thai Green Curry Meal
Overall this Thai green curry recipe is a balanced meal. There is a good mix of carbohydrates (potato), protein (tofu) and fats (coconut milk + tofu) along with vegetables. While I’ve purposely selected only green vegetables for this recipe, you can easily use whatever vegetables you enjoy or have on hand.
This Thai green curry can be served over rice or quinoa if you’re looking for extra carbohydrates or if you want a grain to soak up the curry sauce. However, the recipe doesn’t call for preparing rice because it already includes potatoes as a starch. I find the potatoes provide enough starch/ carbohydrates for my liking, but you can serve this however you will enjoy it best!
Note: this recipe has been updated to include tofu. The initial recipe did not contain tofu however, adding the tofu makes this a much more satisfying and well balanced meal (in my opinion). You could also include cooked chickpeas for additional protein and fiber if you like (or substitute out the tofu for chickpeas instead!).
Flavoring Vegan Thai Green Curry
Green curry paste is an amazing vegan ingredient (always check the label to be sure it’s vegan). Essentially, green curry paste is a blend of delicious and aromatic Thai ingredients including green chilies, lemongrass, garlic, shallot, galangal, cumin and coriander seed. The Thai green curry paste I purchase also contains salt.
Curry paste can last for a long time in the fridge so it’s a nice ingredient to keep on hand. There is also red curry paste available and it has its own unique and delicious flavor. You can easily turn this recipe into a Thai red curry by subbing the green curry paste for a red curry paste; I would also switch out the lime juice for lemon when making red curry.
In addition to the curry paste, I’ve included extra flavor in this recipe with additional garlic and ginger, along with some soy sauce (or tamari, for gluten free) and lime juice to finish the dish off.
All-in-all you end up with a rich balance of flavors and a nice warming heat (from the green chilies in the curry paste). If you don’t like things too spicy, you can use less curry paste but be warned that green curry paste is quite spicy, even in small amounts.
Which Type of Coconut Milk to Use in Thai Green Curry
The coconut milk finishes off this Thai green curry with a rich and creamy coconut taste.
I recommend using canned coconut milk for this recipe. Other types of coconut milk (in grocery stores along with almond/ cashew/ soy milks) are not nearly as rich and creamy. Of course, it’s up to you what type of milk you use. Just be aware the recipe is best with canned coconut milk.
It’s also up to you whether you want to select a full fat or lower fat coconut milk.
Often with lower fat products, the flavor from the fat is replaced with sugars and doesn’t leave the final product much healthier compared to the full fat version. However, with coconut milk, the lower fat options are typically lower in fat because they contain more water and less coconut. Most labels will specify how much coconut is present.
Look for canned coconut milk with only 2 ingredients, coconut and water. Most brands of coconut milk also include emulsifiers or stabilizers and some include ingredients intended to keep the milk a pure white color. None of these ingredients are necessary.
If you make this recipe, please rate and comment below to help others benefit from your experience!
Simple Quick Thai Green Curry
Equipment
Ingredients
- 350 grams firm tofu (I use extra firm)
- 2-3 tablespoons oil (for cooking the tofu; avocado or coconut oil works well)
- 3 cloves garlic , minced
- 2 tablespoons ginger , grated
- 1 medium onion , diced (about 1 cups)
- 2 medium potatoes , diced (about 3 cups)
- 1 large green bell pepper (about 1 ½ cups)
- 1 medium zucchini , diced (about 1 ½ cups)
- 1 cup vegetable broth (could use water)
- 400 mL coconut milk
- 4 tablespoons green curry paste (you can use more or less to taste)
- 1 tablespoon soy sauce (low sodium preferable)
- 1 ½ cups snow peas
- 1 tablespoon lime juice (juice of about ½ a lime)
Instructions
- Slice the tofu ½ cm (¼ inch) thick. Heat about 1 tablespoon of oil in a large pan over medium-high heat and brown each side of the tofu slices. Set aside; you can dice the tofu into smaller pieces if you like.
- Chop the onion, mince the garlic, grate or mince the ginger. Dice the potato, bell pepper and zucchini. Prepare the snow peas by picking off the ends then slicing them in half.
- Place onion, garlic and ginger in a large non-stick pan or wok on medium heat with 1 tablespoon of oil. Cook until the onion starts to soften. I use the same pan the tofu was cooked in to save dishes.
- Add the potato to the pan/ wok with 1 cup of vegetable broth. Turn the heat up to medium-high and bring to a boil; allow potatoes to boil for 3 minutes.
- Add the bell pepper and zucchini to the pan/ wok along with the coconut milk, soy sauce, lime juice and curry paste. Cook for another 5-8 minutes, or until the vegetables are all tender.
- Add the snow peas and the browned tofu to the wok and cook for another 2 minutes.
- Serve.
Notes
Nutrition
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About Nicole Stevens
Nicole is a vegan Registered Dietitian (RD) and founder of Lettuce Veg Out.
She helps people thrive on a vegan diet with balanced recipes and easy-to-understand nutrition science.
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