Accept no substitutes

Vegetarian Thai Red Curry

I whipped this up tonight and added rice noodles (pad thai) at the end cooking them as in a stirfry. This recipe is for Elizabeth C who requested it and from several Thai sources online.

You need:

Olive oil for sauteing
1 red onion chopped
3 or 4 garlic cloves minced
at least a tablespoon of fresh ginger root minced. I use more
A selection of chopped veggies – I used peas, bok choi, and broccoli
1 can of low fat coconut milk
2 tablespoons of Taste of Thai or Tommy Tang red curry paste
1.5 tablespoons of Thai fish sauce
maybe half a cup water as and if needed
Lime juice and zest from half a lime
Pad Thai (rice noodles)
Basil leaves for garnishing
Green onions for garnish
Serve with the other lime half sliced as you choose.

Prepare the Pad Thai noodles for stirfry (most boxes or bags will have directions) usually by soaking in hot water
In a deep pot, heat the oil then stirfry the garlic and onion until the onion is transparent.
Then add ginger then veggies and stirfry until cooked yet crunchy.
Now add the coconut milk, red curry paste, fish sauce and some of the chopped basil leaves
Bring to a light boil and stir well then add the Pad Thai noodles
Cook for about 2 or 3 minutes stirring well.
Serve with green onion and basil garnish and lime sections.

5 Comments

  1. Sinbad

    It has fish sauce. It’s not vegetarian.

  2. Paul

    Correct. Use soy in place of fish sauce and you’ll be pure.

  3. Paul

    Also, red curry paste usually is not vegetarian either. It contains shrimp paste. I notice most of the commercially available versions don’t list it explicitly, but have some non-obvious ingredient like “Spices” which more than likely conceals it. I have two Thai cookbooks (3 total recipes), and every one of them contains shrimp paste. Allegedly the color comes from the shrimp paste (though I’m sure the red peppers contribute as well).

    Also, if scrounge around, there is such a thing as vegetarian fish sauce. I found some in a chinese/vegetarian market in Oakland, CA, but it is hard to find. I think it is made with citric acid

  4. Srilanka News

    Thanks for the receipe.
    It should be yummy after made.

  5. Vegetarian Only

    Thanks Paul for the warning, I have relied on the Ingredients list mostly. I’ll be doubly careful now on.

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