What’s For Dinner? Vegan Thai Green Curry

This is one of our family favourites. What makes this special is the curry paste made from scratch. With no preservatives in it, it is far better for you, plus it really zings. You can experiment with different leftover vegetables – just make sure they are cut the same size so that they all take the same time to cook.

Serves 4

Ingredients

For the curry paste
4 garlic cloves
1 small onion
1 thumb-sized piece of ginger
2 lemongrass stalks
1-2 chillies
1 tsp ground cumin
½ bunch of fresh coriander

For the curry
150g mushrooms
1 tbsp groundnut oil
2 x 400ml tins coconut milk
vegetable stock cube
6 kaffir lime leaves (optional)
1 broccoli, cut into florets
200g frozen peas
juice of 1-2 limes

To serve
handful of fresh coriander, chopped
1 spring onion, finely sliced
lime wedges
brown rice, cooked

Method
To make the curry paste, peel, roughly chop and place the garlic, onions and ginger in a food processor.

Trim the lemongrass, remove the tough outer leaves, then finely chop it and add it to the processor. Cut the stalks off the chillies and put them in too, along with the cumin and half the coriander, stalks and all. Blitz it until you have a smooth paste.

Cut the mushrooms in half and fry them in the oil in a large saucepan for 4-5 minutes. Transfer them to a plate using a slotted spoon.

Reduce the heat to medium-low and fry the curry paste for 4-5 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Pour in the coconut milk and 200ml boiling water, crumble in the stock cube with the lime leaves. Turn the heat up and bring it the boil, then let it simmer for 10 minutes, or until it has reduced slightly.

Stir the mushrooms into the sauce and cook for a further 5 minutes, then add the broccoli and peas. After another 5 minutes, the vegetables should be cooked but firm.

Season to taste with lime juice, salt and freshly ground black pepper. Before serving, stir through the coriander and spring onion. Serve with lime wedges and brown rice.

Extracted from Home Economics by Jane Ashley (Short Books, approx €17). Copyright Jane Ashley 2017.
Photography by Phil Ashley.