Foodie Friday: How To Make A Thai Red Curry From Scratch (Vegan recipe)

Thai Red Curry is one of my favourite meals to order as a weekend takeaway, but it's also incredibly easy to whip up a healthier homemade (and much cheaper!) version, with the right key ingredients. 

When I was in the my first year of Uni living in halls, the girl who lived across from me had recently come back from a gap year around South-East Asia, and she made an awesome Thai Red Curry from scratch for one of our society meetings that everyone loved. Since then, I've subtly tweaked her recipe to make it suitable for vegetarians and vegans, as most traditional Thai Red curries contain some element of fish sauce, so I've simply removed this. I've also used less sugar and swapped white refined sugar for coconut sugar instead to make it healthier. 

Making a Thai Red Curry (or any curry for that matter) is much easier than you might think, and once you've made one from scratch, you'll never want to make one from a packet or a jar mix ever again! This Thai Red Curry tastes so fresh and vibrant, and makes a wonderfully warming meal to enjoy for lunch or dinner.

The first thing to do is to the make the paste, and the recipe below serves between 3-4 people, depending on how hungry everyone is!

Ingredients for Thai Red Curry Paste:-

• 1 stalk of Fresh Lemongrass (pick it up from an Asian supermarket if you have one close by - they're so much cheaper than regular supermarkets!)
• 3 Red Chillies
• 1 small thumb-sized chunk of Fresh Ginger
• 3 or 4 cloves of Garlic depending on your personal tastes
• 2 tbsp of Tomato Puree
• 1 tsp of Coconut Sugar
• 1tsp of Ground Cumin
• 4 tbsp of Soy Sauce
• 1 tbsp of Fresh Lime Juice
• Pinch of White Ground Pepper
• 2tbsp Coconut Milk (regular variety if you're making the curry straight away, or thick if you want to store the paste for later use)

Method for Thai Red Curry Paste:-

1. Roughly chop up the Lemongrass, Red Chillies, Ginger and Garlic and add these to a Food Processor or Blender. Add in the rest of the ingredients and blend until it's a paste consistency. And that's it!

Storage for Thai Red Curry Paste:-

You can store the paste in an airtight jar in the fridge for a week or freeze it in a zip locked freezer bag for up to a month. If freezing, ensure that it's fully defrosted before using.

To Make a Thai Red Curry:-

Once you've made the paste, you can then make the actual Thai Red Curry whenever you fancy. 

1. In a large saucepan over a medium heat, add your paste to a whole tin of Coconut Milk and stir until everything is combined.
2. Add whatever ingredients you like into the curry - protein like Tofu is great or a meat-free substitute like Quorn Chicken Pieces works really well too. I also like to add a mix of vegetables, for example Red and Green Peppers, Onion, Cauliflower, Spinach, Tomatoes, Sugar Snap Peas and Courgettes. If you like your curry especially hot, you can of course add some more Red Chillies if you want! 
3.  For extra flavour, throw in a Cinnamon Stick.
4. Cook everything over a simmering heat for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.
5. Serve with Basmati or Wholegrain Rice, and enjoy!

Have you made Thai Red Curry before?

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