We love thai food, but we were recently forced to move away from the best thai spot ever. It’s affordable and delicious, but now 45 minutes away (and longer at rush hour) and that’s just too far to eat there more than once in a blue moon. So, since Sean and Jennifer were nice enough to give me a wok for my birthday, well, I have created a green curry that is just about as good as the stuff I miss. Sean likes it a lot too.
It’s great served with rice, because once you eat all the veggies out you can tump in the rice and let it soak up the leftover liquid. Sometimes I even scoop some rice in with earlier veggie-full bites, too. Some folks are adept enough to eat this dish with chopsticks when you eat it this way (with rice in the liquid) … I’m not :D. Even Sean, who is much better with chopsticks than I am, doesn’t eat this dish with them! But perhaps you have the chopstick-fu to pull it off. If so, more power to you. One way or the other, this is delicious, so enjoy!
Thai Green Curry with Tofu
- 14 oz can coconut milk, unshaken
- 3 TBS Green Curry Paste (I buy mine from the Thai Kitchen brand, but you can make it from scratch, it’s just a lot of processing spicy peppers, so wear gloves)
- 1 1/2 cups vegetable stock
- 1 cup sliced carrots
- 3/4 cup oyster mushrooms, roughly chopped
- half of 1 large green bell pepper, chopped into roughly 3/4″ lengths
- 1 8 oz. can bamboo shoots (generally found in the same Asian section of the market as the curry paste; if you’re at an Asian market you may be able to get fresh, and either works)
- 1 lb extra-firm tofu
- 3 TBS GF soy sauce
- 1 TBS brown rice syrup
- 2 fresh small red chilies, thinly sliced
- 1 cup roughly torn fresh basil leaves (or Thai basil, if you can get it)
- Crushed red pepper flakes to taste
Directions:
1. Open and drain the tofu. Heat some peanut oil in a large frying pan. When hot (but not too hot–it shouldn’t be smoking!) add the tofu cubes and fry, turning over as needed, until the cubes are crispy. They should soak up all the oil by the time they’re done, and you may need to add a little more while they’re cooking if it gets dry too soon. Set these aside.
2. Open the can of unshaken coconut milk and spoon off the thick coconut cream (it’s practically a solid) and put it into a preheated hot wok. I usually heat mine over medium-high heat. Bring this to a boil.
3. Add the green curry paste as it begins to boil and cook, stirring, for about a minute.
4. Add the remaining coconut milk, the vegetable stock, the carrots, mushrooms, green bell pepper, and bamboo shoots. Bring to a boil and cook for about 2 minutes.
5. Add the fried tofu, soy sauce, brown rice syrup, and red pepper flakes (if using–I do, I think it needs at least a little kick, and Sean likes even more kick than that :D). Cook at a gentle boil for about 4 more minutes.
6. Remove from the heat and immediately stir in the red chili slices and basil. Serve immediately with rice. Enjoy!
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