Thai Curry has long been one of my favourite quick and easy, veggie-loaded dinners. You can use almost any assortment of vegetables, and whatever meat or fish you have hanging about (or nuts of tofu if you’re going veggie). The whole curry can be made from start to finish whilst the rice cooks, and then you’ve got yourself a brilliant, flavourful dinner in no time at all.

The base of the entire curry is Thai curry paste. Don’t confuse Thai and Indian curry pastes, they are not interchangeable. Well, they kind of are, but in the same way white and dark chocolate are interchangeable. You won’t break the recipe, but it will be very, very different.

Anyhow, this curry paste is packed with delicious things like toasted chilies, ginger, galangal, and lemongrass. I prefer red curry paste, which is made with dried, red chilies. Green curry paste is made with fresh green chilies. The differences are sort of like the difference between red and green bell peppers.

You start off by cooking the curry paste in some oil. I added extra minced ginger and garlic for the awesome factor. Yum. Once the oil and curry paste are one, add the coconut milk. In the past I’ve always added the vegetables at this point, but a friend of mine who took a Thai cooking class in Thailand taught me to switch the two, and it’s great. The veggies absorb more flavour this way, and you don’t have to worry about over-crowding the stir fry pan and dropping the heat with the addition of so many vegetables all at once.

Add some kaffir lime leaves to the coconut milk, then the veggies. Let everything steam cook until tender, maybe 10 minutes, while the rice finishes cooking. Serve over rice! Yum.

Delicious Red Thai Curry

1 red bell pepper, in strips
1 broccoli head, in bite-sized florets
1 can chopped baby corn
1 zucchini, halved lengthwise and sliced

2 tbsp coconut oil
1 tbsp Thai red curry paste

1 tbsp minced ginger root
1 tbsp minced garlic root

1 can coconut milk, shaken
5 kaffir lime leaves

Rice, to serve

Heat the coconut oil in a wok. Stir in the curry paste, ginger, and garlic. Blend and cook for a few minutes.

Add the coconut and kaffir lime leaves. Bring to a simmer and then add the vegetables. Partially cover and cook the vegetables until they’re tender-crisp, about 10 minutes.

Serve over rice. Yum!