Red Thai Curry — Learn from the World

A vegan recipe of the exotic comfort food

Main Course

Keywords Curry, Thai Food, Vegan Option

This red Thai curry combines fresh, savory and sweet tastes with different consistencies in an exotic, aromatic and wholesome meal. In the places where I have lived so far, Thai curry is still sufficiently special for most people, but also simple enough to make once some basic aspects are paid attention to: The flavor and key ingredients that are described below.

It is a dish that requires some time investment for the preparation (to a large extent also due to the tofu in this vegan), but in my opinion this effort is totally worth it. It can be easily cooked in large portions for groups of friends, events or as a meal-prep. In the end, it’s only a one-pot-dish accompanied by rice and baked tofu. My usual Sunday contains a curry meal-prep to have several lunches for the next week prepared already.

A lot of information from this rather lengthy recipe covering many details can also make other (Thai) curries better and more authentic. This recipe basically contains my iterative learning from cooking curries approx. every 2 weeks for the last couple of years.

Content

What makes it special

Flavor and key ingredients

Important aspects to watch out for

Recipe - My usual vegan mealprep

Different variations

What makes it special

In general

Thai food became very popular around the world and the large variety of slightly different and all in their own way delicious and special Thai curries probably had a significant effect on the popularity of Thai food. The different colors of many Thai curries make them easily recognizable and memorable. Basically, all Thai restaurants offer red, green and yellow curry - often accompanied by more curries, which are not only named after their color as Massaman, Khao Soi or Panang curry.

Red Thai curry sticks out because it’s often cooked in a way to be sweeter than the other ones, quite fresh (less fresh than green curry, but fresher than yellow curry). Overall, it combines the unique flavors of Thai curry in a very smooth way, which in my opinion makes it a very good “introductory Thai curry” for people who haven’t eat that many Thai curries yet.

There is one important requisite for eating red Thai curry: Some tolerance or preferably likability of spicy food, because it’s nearly impossible to make a non-spicy red Thai curry. Red Thai curry paste consists of many red chillies and is the most important key ingredient for a red Thai curry.

Red Thai curry is very versatile based on the ingredients that can be used. Both protein sources (poultry, tofu, pork, beef, fish) and vegetables can be exchanged in many combinations while still keeping the authentic Thai curry taste. I usually cook a version, which I learned to be authentic and one of the most common ones with bell pepper, tomatoes and pineapple.

For me personally

Red Thai curry has been my go-to-meal for large groups and events, because many people love it (even if they didn’t know it before) and it can be easily cooked in large amounts. From cabin trips in Norway via vacations in large groups of friends and up to team events, I have cooked red Thai curry in at least 4 countries and for up to 30 persons already and it always worked well. Bringing key ingredients on a vacation ~1.000 km away or cooking in cabins without electricity or running water are not reasons to decide against a delicious Thai curry - it’s all possible.

Most of the time I have been cooking it for a “smaller” group of roommates and friends and as a mealprep combined with that, though. The only thing to watch out for is the spiciness, but most people I know have sufficient spice tolerance to eat.

The following gallery shows just a few of the occasions when I cooked red Thai curry and how both the pictures and the curry itself evolved over time.

Flavor and key ingredients

This red Thai curry combines a slightly fresh, but at the same time savory and little sweet taste. It is overall very aromatic and flavorsome. Although generally these tastes can be be created while seasoning, as well there are some key ingredients that shouldn’t be missing in a red Thai curry. The complete aroma cannot be copied without these key ingredients, which will make your whole kitchen smell like Thai curry and get your guests excited directly upon entering your kitchen (or maybe already your front door).

The curry paste is without a doubt the most important ingredient. It brings the large majority of the authentic taste to the curry and not to mention the color. Cooking a Thai curry only with a good curry paste and without any other spices, can already make a very tasty meal.

Three fresh ingredients should not be missing in a red Thai curry in addition to the curry paste: Lemongrass, lime leaves and galangal

Although they sound very exotic, I never had large problems to find these key ingredients. Many asian supermarkets have all of these ingredients and red curry paste can be found in some supermarkets in western countries or also latin countries like Colombia by now. Lemongrass is also available fresh in some well-sorted supermarkets. Fresh galangal can be found just in few asian supermarkets, but grozen galangal and frozen lime leaves are sold in many asian supermarkets. Usually, I buy packages of frozen galangal and frozen lime leaves and keep them in the freezer until I need them. There are just few times when I do not have all of these fresh ingredients readily available in my freezer - a setup, which I can recommend for anyone who likes cooking Thai curries often.

Important aspects to watch out for

Use an authentic curry paste, because it is the most important ingredient for the final taste.
Watch the spiciness brought in by the curry paste and don’t add additional spice when cooking guests who haven’t eaten your curry yet. It’s awkward for both sides when the otherwise delicious curry is too spicy.
Press and marinate the tofu well for better taste. Plain tofu has little taste of its own.
Remove excess marinade when placing the tofu on the baking tray, because the starch will turn this “free” marinade into a sticky mass, making the tofu pieces difficult to separate after baking.
Don’t bake the tofu too long, which would make it too dry. If it’s too dry already, you could mix it into the curry, so it soaks some liquid again to “save it”.
Use sufficient coconut milk in order to have a fairly liquid curry. It’s always good to have a can or two of coconut milk as back-up at home.
Cook the vegetables just shortly in the curry to keep some tenderness.
Lemongrass, kaffir lime leaves and galangal should not be eaten and should thus either be removed by the cook or by the guest himself. I prefer serving the plate with these key ingredients to show (off) and explain these authentic spices.

Recipe - My usual vegan mealprep

Prep Time 20 minutes (in addition to cook time, cutting vegetables while cooking)

Cook Time 60 minutes

Total Time 80 minutes (+ min. 1h for pressing the tofu, + min. 1h for marinating)

Servings 6

(For me personally, it requires 1-1,5 servings to fill me after a long day ;-))

For the tofu marinade

900g firm or extra-firm tofu
9 Tbsp soy sauce
3 Tbsp tapioka starch (or other starch)
3 Tbsp mushroom sauce
3 Tbsp oil, e.g. canola oil
2 Tbsp rice vinegar
1/2 tsp galangal powder (or ginger powder)
1/2 tsp pepper

Curry and rice

3 large red bell peppers
500g cherry tomatoes
1,5 bunches spring onions
2 limes for the juice
1,2l coconut milk
1,5 cans pineapple (~ 600g drained weight) and ~200 ml pineapple juice if not in cans
600g jasmine rice (~ 3 cups)
3 lemongrass
15 kaffir lime leaves
6cm galangal piece
3-5 heaped tsp authentic red curry paste

4 make for a little spicy curry - use less curry paste for a milder curry when people tolerate very little spice
A vegan curry paste for a vegan curry (some curry paste contain dried shrimps or shrimp paste for stronger umami and salty flavors)
I usually have at least 3 different Thai curry pastes of the “cock brand” at home

Spices for seasning to the final taste

Mushroom sauce (or soy sauce)
Lime juice (or rice vinegar)
Pineapple juice (or brown sugar)
Pepper or chilli if required

Toppings / Food garnish

Thinly and diagonally cut spring onions (max. 0,5 cm wide)
Pepper
Chilli rings (of larger, milder chillies)

Instructions

Tofu preparation:

Rinse the tofu shortly and then press for min. 1h to remove excess water and create more potential to soak up the marinade
Mix the ingredients for the marinade
Cut the tofu into cubes of ~ 1-2 cm edge length
Marinate the tofu for min 1h (covered and in the fridge, if longer); Stir occasionally if feasible

Actual Cooking Process:

Heat up the oven to 180°C air circulation
Wash the vegetables and also the rice to remove starch
Add the tofu on a baking tray (without excess sauce), place in the middle of the oven and bake for ~50min, until crispy as desired. Turn once after ~30 min
Cook the rice according to the packaging (usually ~1,5 times the volume of water than that of rice, e.g. 3 cups rice and 4,5 cups water):

Add rice, water and optionally little salt to a pot (Personally, I like the flavor of jasmine rice cooked with little to no salt, too) and close the lid
Bring to a boil on high heat (if necessary, you can shortly steer)
Then directly turn the heat down to minimum and let simmer for approx. 10min
Turn of the heat after 10 min and let rest for approx. 20min
The lid should not be opened and the rice thus rice not be stirred

Cut each lemongrass and the galangal in 3 pieces and make small cuts on each side (just hitting quickly with the cutting face of a knife). This will open up the outer layers and help extract more aroma into the curry
Heat up 2 tablespoons of the white solid upper part of the coconut milk in a wok (with some liquid coconut milk, when the ambient temperature is too hot for the fat to separate)
Stir until most of the water in the coconut milk evaporated and the remaining fat throws some bubbles (see image below)
Stir in ca. 3-4 heaped teaspoons of red curry paste (depending on the desired spiciness) and stir-fry in the coconut milk fat for a minute
Add the remaining solid part of the coconut milk and the other key ingredients (lemongrass, galangal and lime leaves), then mix until evenly distributed to a nice red sauce
Add the rest of the coconut milk (the liquid part and leftovers of the solid). I usually rinse out the coconut milk cans to use the complete coconut milk, because the water I’m adding while doing so evaporates during the cooking process
Bring the curry to a boil, then reduce heat to simmer.
Meanwhile cut the bell peppers to pieces of ca. 3cms, halve the cherry tomatoes and cut the spring onions in thin diagonal slices (max. 0,5cm wide for the white bottom part, and up to 3cm for the green leaves). Leave some spring onions for the topping
Drain the pineapple juice from the cans for seasoning
Season to the desired fresh, but savory and little sweet taste with freshly pressed lime juice, mushroom sauce and / or soy sauce, the pineapple juice from the cans or brown sugar. Simmering the curry longer will only improve the taste so don't worry about taking to long with the tasting
Add the vegetables and pineapple pieces
Bring to a boil for a last time while stirring occasionally, then reduce the heat
Serve the curry with jasmine rice and topped with the baked tofu, thinly cut spring onion pieces, pepper and optionally chilli rings

This vegan red Thai curry contains a large variety of ingredients, which give a nutrient-rich and balances meal: fresh vegetables, tofu as protein source, rice, coconut milk, pineapple, the key ingredients for the red curry taste and several sauces for the tofu marinade

When finished, the cooked rice will still have the small “holes” where boiling water evaporated and may rest a bit longer for the remaining water to be soaked up by the rice. After the vegetables were added, Thai curry shouldn’t boil too long, but it can surely sit for a while and keeps getting better while the taste spreads and becomes more intense (similar to a chilli con / sin carne)

Different variations

When keeping the key ingredients, red Thai curry can be a very versatile dish that still keeps the same unique red Thai curry flavor although the protein source or vegetables are substituted. There are so many possible varieties that I will just stick to a few I sometimes do and leave the creativity for further adjustments up to you and your taste buds:

Chicken red Thai curry with fish sauce

Before reducing my meat consumption, I used to always cook red Thai curry with chicken breast. This recipe is actual much simpler than with the tofu, because the chicken is simply cooked in the curry:

Buy 900 g of chicken breast instead of 900 g tofu. You can leave out all ingredients for the marinade
Cut the chicken breast in bite-sized pieces
Simply add the chicken to the curry after the sauce has been evenly distributed to a nice red sauce and before adding the remaining coconut milk (between 9. and 10.) above
Then let the curry boil on medium-heat for about 15min until the chicken should be tender

The chicken will remain very juicy when cooked directly in the curry and not for too long

Jasmine Rice glazed in coconut oil

In order to add some extra coconut taste to the jasmine rice, I sometimes like to glaze it in coconut oil by

Heating up 2 tbsp coconut oil in the pot where I want to cook the rice
Adding the washed rice and stir quickly to glaze all grains like in a risotto
Then quickly add the water, bring to a boil and cook as described above

Crispy tofu stir-fried in the pan

It is also possible to cook crispy tofu in the pan, which overall takes less time, but some more manual effort to evenly stir-fry all pieces from all sides. I’m using the following method for tofu in teriyaki sauce, but it can also be used for other tofu marinades / sauces before adding to this red Thai curry for example:

First cover the tofu in the starch by mixing well in a large bowl
Fry the tofu until crispy from all sides on high heat while preparing the sauce, approx. 10min
Once the tofu is crispy enough, reduce the heat, pour the sauce over the tofu and quickly mix until the sauce has been decently absorbed or the liquid evaporated

The starch will make the tofu even more crispy from the outside while keeping it soft inside. That is probably the best way to keep these two consistencies in tofu at the same time, but adding the taste later is only possible with a sauce on the outside instead of a marinade.

Sidenote

Reaching an authentic, full-flavor taste requires going to an Asian supermarket or a grocery store with an Asian food section. Without some of the fresh key ingredients, the curry still tastes good, but not exactly as it should. However, it’s still a great vegan and nutrient balanced food then.

Adding toppings like spring onions, chillie rings or flakes, nuts, pepper, lemon zest or parmagiano makes almost any dish look even better and more luscious

Inspired by

Primarily: Küchen der Welt - Thailand, Thidavedee Camsong, Gräfe und Gunzer,

and many other recipes and people I learned from in the last years