Thai green vegetable curry

Curry is a great way to get your plant points up if your aiming for 30 a week. This recipe is full of colour and anti-inflammatory herbs and spices. Why not make double the curry paste and freeze it for next time.

Great served with pan fried tofu, tempeh or halloumi and some brown rice or quinoa.

Curry paste

(you can of course use a ready made paste but be careful to avoid added sugars, emulsifiers and preservatives where possible. Alternatively this keeps really well in the freezer if you want to scale up and save for later use)

Serves 4

Ingredients:

1 tsp ground coriander

1/2 tsp ground cumin

2 tsp ground turmeric

1 lemongrass stalk

1 thumb sized piece of ginger

4 cloves garlic

Large handful coriander leaves and stems (approximately 1 cup when chopped)

1 small onion/shallot

Green chilli (to taste, I use 1/2)

Zest & juice 1 lime

1/2 tsp white pepper

2 tbsp fish sauce (optional to keep veggie/vegan)

1 tbsp soy sauce

1 tbsp sesame oil or coconut oil

Method:

Combine all ingredients in a food processor. Freezes well if you want to do a double batch.

For the curry:

Curry paste

2 tsp coconut oil

1 can coconut milk

Veg of choice cut into bite size pieces - I like a mix of butternut squash, bell peppers, aubergine, courgette, spinach, green beans but anything you fancy or have that needs using. About 4 handfuls, or enough for 4 people.

optional:

Pack of halloumi or tofu pan fried

4 lime leaves

handful of fresh Thai basil or coriander

spring onions thinly sliced

live plain greek yogurt to serve

Method:

Prepare the slower cooking veg (squash, peppers, sub, courgette) into bite size pieces and roast in the oven at 200’C until almost cooked/al dente.

Whilst that’s cooking, place the coconut oil in the pan and gently cook the curry paste. Once heated through add the coconut milk, curry leaves if using and allow to simmer for 5 mins or so.

In another pan cook the halloumi/tofu if using then set aside ready to serve.

Once the veg is cooked add it to the curry paste sauce and allow to cook through. Add in quicker cooking veg like spinach, green beans etc at this point.

To serve, top the vegetable curry with the halloumi/tofu, yogurt, Thai basil/corriander & spring onions.

Great served with brown rice or tofu.