~Amanda~
We’re onto the final course of our amazing Thai dinner menu, Vegetables with Coconut Curry and Jasmine Rice! The first two courses (Coconut Chicken Soup and Beef Satay Skewers with Peanut Sauce) were both so tasty and got us in the Thai spirit and our palates are wanting more delicious Thai flavors. This final course is packed full of that amazing Thai flavor and received amazing reviews from our family when my mom and I made it for Jackie’s birthday dinner. They were all so impressed with this dish because it doesn’t sound super impressive… just vegetables and rice, how good can it be? Well, pretty freaking good actually! The spicy coconut curry and perfectly cooked vegetables over the sweet jasmine rice is divine.
In our cooking class, they had us flash cook all of the vegetables over high heat in vegetable oil. And each vegetable was cooked on its own in separate batches. You do this because all the vegetables are different shapes, sizes, and textures so they will all take different amount of times to cook. For example, the thicker, fibrous broccoli florets will take a bit longer to sauté than the soft, smaller mushrooms will. The goal here is just to quickly sauté the vegetables, not to cook them all the way though. They will continue to cook and soften more when they are simmering in the coconut milk later on. Once all the vegetables have been cooked, you put them all back into the pan together to finish up the dish.
Now it’s time to add in the coconut milk and curry paste. Before taking this class, I didn’t know too much about the different types of curry (paste) other than the fact that I knew I liked it a lot haha. The first thing we learned was about the different colors; yellow, green, and red. The red chilies that make red curry paste are moderate in heat; fresh green chilies give green curry pastes a spicy kick; and the yellow peppers in yellow curry paste are the most mellow. You can use whichever curry paste you like best in all of these recipes. If you use one that ends up being too spicy, a trick we learned was to add some Greek yogurt to your food when you’re eating it. The cool yogurt will help to mellow out some of that spice (my mom and I aren’t the best with spicy food, so I will admit we both had to put some yogurt to use during dinner!). Now just add some water and then simmer for about 20 minutes until the vegetables are cooked through. Serve over some white or brown jasmine rice and top with freshly chopped scallions and enjoy! We hope you loved this delicious Thai menu as much as we do and that you learned a little more about Thai food in the process! Happy Cooking!
Vegetables with Coconut Curry
- 1 pound broccoli florets
- 1 pound cauliflower florets
- 2 medium onions, thinly sliced
- 2 red bell peppers, seeded and chopped
- 2 cups green beans, cut in half
- 3 cups shitake mushrooms, halved
- 4 tablespoons vegetable oil
- 3 1/3 cup coconut milk
- ½ cup green curry paste
- 1 1/3 cup water
- Scallions, chopped, to garnish
- White or brown jasmine rice (cooked according to package instructions), for serving
- The first step is to cook all the vegetables in batches (you cook each vegetable separately as they are all different shapes and textures). Start by adding a dash of the oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add in the broccoli, sauté for 1-2 minutes until just cooked and slightly browned. Remove from pan and set aside in a large bowl.
- Repeat step one for the cauliflower, onions, peppers, green beans, and mushrooms, adjusting the cooking time by vegetable.
- Add all vegetables back into the pan with the curry paste and coconut milk. Stir.
- Add in the water and bring to a boil. Cook for about 20 minutes until the vegetables are all tender and cooked through.
- Serve over jasmine rice.
