I call this jungle curry because that was the name of the recipe I adapted it from in the fantastic “World Food Cafe” cookbook by Chris & Carolyn Caldicott. However, I have made so many changes, including switching the red curry paste to green curry paste, that I make no claim for this resembling a traditional Thai jungle curry! I think traditionally it should:
- Be hot and spicy – check;
- Not include coconut milk – check;
- Contain aubergine – mine doesn’t but you could certainly add it;
- Contain wild boar – not interested in that!
You can be really flexible with which vegetables you use depending on what you have available and what you like. This time I used mushrooms, yellow (or is that orange?) pepper, green beans, spring onions and tenderstem broccoli.
I usually make it just with the vegetables but on this occasion we were craving tofu. We’d been to our favourite local Thai restaurant a few days before and been very disappointed that they had run out of tofu!!!! To me this seemed like a BIG FAIL for a Thai restaurant and left their vegetarian options seriously depleted. We still had a lovely meal but were left with our tofu carvings unsatisfied. I fried the tofu beforehand and then added it to the curry just before the end.
I used a 2-serving pot of Blue Dragon’s Thai green curry paste (like the red one I talked about in the Thai Red Curry Noodles post). I would have preferred a jar of green curry paste because I didn’t really want the coconut that’s in these pots for this recipe but I wasn’t in the right shops to find a vegetarian one. And it turned out really well. This does have a good kick though so if you don’t like your food too hot/spicy you might not want to use the whole pot!
Like so many of my recipes this one is really quick and easy. I serve it with boiled rice but I’m sure it would also work really well with noodles.
Green Jungle Curry
Ingredients
- Vegetable oil
- 200 g firm tofu optional
- 1 pot or 2 tbsp Thai green curry paste
- 200-300 g chopped or sliced vegetables a selection from peppers, broccoli, baby sweetcorn, mange tout, green beans, spring onions, sugarsnap peas, mushrooms
- 400 ml vegetable stock
- 1 tbsp dark soy sauce
- 1 dsp brown sugar
To serve
- Boiled rice or noodles
- Chopped fresh coriander optional
- Finely sliced fresh chillies optional
Instructions
- Cut the tofu into cubes if using and shallow fry in vegetable oil until golden brown on all sides.
- Remove to a bowl lined with kitchen paper to absorb any excess oil and put to one side.
- Heat 1 tbsp vegetable oil in a large saucepan.
- Add the curry paste and fry gently stirring for 1-2 minutes.
- Add all the vegetables and mix well while frying for 2 minutes.
- Add the vegetable stock, soy sauce and brown sugar and bring to the boil. Simmer for 3-4 minutes.
- Add the cooked tofu, bring back to the boil and cook for a further minute
- Serve with boiled rice or noodles and coriander and/or finely sliced chillies to garnish.