I originally added this meal to the menu for the week because I had some green beans that needed using. I kept putting off actually making it though and, sadly, by the time I finally got to it, the beans had gone a bit fuzzy. I went ahead with the curry as planned, minus the beans and it was delicious! The beans would've been a welcome addition, but it was still really lovely without them.

My plan was to make this with dried mushrooms, bamboo shoots, tofu, green beans, and bell pepper as the inclusions. That said, it's a very flexible recipe and you could use lots of different things. If you're not worried about keeping it vegetarian, you can use fish sauce in place of some or all of the soy sauce and use meat or seafood in place of the mushrooms and/or tofu. If do want to stick with the vegetarian route, I don't recommend swapping out the dried mushrooms -- they add great flavour and texture! Do feel free to add other veggies as you please though. Depending on what's in season or what you have on hand, I could see lots of different things working well: carrots, onion, baby corn, bok choy, broccoli, sugar snap peas/mangetouts, spinach, eggplant, even pineapple if you'd like a sweet twist to your curry. Play around with it and see which combos you like.

Thai Red Curry

Adapted from Hot Thai Kitchen

Ingredients

• 8 dried shiitake mushrooms
• 2 c. boiling water
• 200-250mL tinned bamboo shoots (slices or matchsticks)
• 400-500mL full-fat coconut milk
• ~1/4 c. red curry paste¹
• 1 Tbsp. tomato paste
• 1 Tbsp. light soy sauce
• 1/2 Tbsp. dark soy sauce
• 2 Tbsp. jaggery, palm sugar, or brown sugar
• 6-7 kaffir lime leaves, bruised
• 1 recipe Extra Delicious Tofu
• 450g green beans, cut into bite-sized pieces (optional)
• 1 red bell pepper (optional)
• 1/2 c. Thai basil, bruised

Directions

1. Pour the boiling water over the mushrooms and allow to soak for at least 30 minutes.
2. Drain the bamboo shoots, rinse in cold water, then transfer to a small pot and add just enough water to cover.
3. Place pot over high heat and boil for 3-5 minutes.
4. Drain and rinse again. Set aside.
5. Once mushrooms are done soaking, squeeze to remove excess liquid (reserve the soaking liquid), remove the stems, and cut into slices ~4-5mm thick. Set aside.
6. Heat 3/4 c. of the coconut milk over medium heat until somewhat reduced. Ideally the oil will begin to separate, but apparently this doesn't always happen with tinned coconut milk.
7. Add the curry paste and the tomato paste to the thickened coconut milk, stir to break up and combine well, and fry for a minute or two.
8. Add remaining coconut milk and the mushroom soaking water and bring to a boil.
9. Stir in both types of soy sauce and the sugar.
10. Mix in mushrooms, lime leaves, and tofu. If you're using carrots or other long-cooking/firm vegetables, add them now as well. Simmer for 10 minutes.
11. Add any remaining (more delicate) vegetables and cook for another 2-5 minutes depending on what you've added and how firm/soft you like it.
12. Remove from heat and sprinkle with Thai basil.
13. Serve over rice.

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¹ If you need to make this vegetarian (or vegan) be sure to check the ingredients to make sure your curry paste doesn't include shrimp paste. Also, be sure you're getting curry paste and not "curry sauce" or similar that already has coconut milk and fish sauce added to it. ^Back