Thai Curry Recipe & Red Curry Paste

thai curry garnished with basil chiffonade in a cream ceramic bowl on a black marble table

5 from 25 votes

This delicious Thai Red Curry recipe is both vegetarian and vegan. It is packed full of bright flavors and hearty vegetables. If you have a can of coconut milk at the ready, this recipe will come together very quickly and will deliver a ton of flavor.

Prep Time15

Cook Time25

Total Time40

Course: Main Course

Cuisine: Thai, World

Diet: Vegan

Difficulty Level: Moderate

Servings:

Calories: 252kcal

Author: Dassana Amit

Ingredients

For red curry paste

2 to 3 bird's eye chilies - red colored
2 kashmiri red chillies or low to medium hot variety of dry red chillies
1 inch galangal
4 to 5 small garlic cloves or 2 to 3 medium garlic cloves
1 to 2 shallots or pearl onions
3 to 4 kaffir lime leaves - medium sized
2 lemon grass stalks
2 teaspoons coriander seeds
1 teaspoon cumin seeds
¼ teaspoon black peppercorns
1 teaspoon soy sauce - naturally fermented or brewed
½ teaspoon lemon zest - optional
2 tablespoons water or coconut milk, add as required
½ teaspoon salt or sea salt, add as required

For the thai red curry

2 tablespoons toasted sesame oil or coconut oil
⅓ or ½ cup chopped carrots
⅓ cup chopped baby corn
1 cup chopped button mushrooms
¼ or ⅓ cup chopped bell pepper - any colored bell pepper
¼ cup french beans
1 cup chopped cauliflower
8 to 10 thai pea eggplant - turkey berry, optional
1.5 cups water or add as required
1 cup Coconut Milk (Thick)
¼ teaspoon palm sugar or unrefined cane sugar - optional
salt as required - optional
1 tablespoon thai basil chiffonade or whole, chopped or torn

US Customary - Metric

Instructions

Making thai red curry paste

Take the spices and set aside– bird’s eye chilies, dry red chillies, coriander seeds, cumin seeds and black peppercorns.
Also rinse, peel and roughly chop the following herbs – galangal, garlic cloves, shallots (chopped), kaffir lime leaves and lemon grass stalks.
Take the spices, herbs, shallots in a grinder jar.
Add soy sauce, lemon zest (optional) and 2 tablespoon water or coconut milk. Also add salt.
While grinding, scrape the sides and continue to grind. Grind to a fine or semi-fine paste.

Cooking Veggies

In a pot or pan, heat the toasted sesame oil or coconut oil. Keep heat to a low. Add the prepared thai red curry paste.
Sauté for a minute on a low flame stirring often.
Add the chopped veggies including white button mushrooms. You can add your choice of vegetables. Stir and mix everything.
Now add ½ cup thick coconut milk. Mix again. Keep heat to a low.
Next add water. Mix again. Since salt was added in the thai curry paste, it need not be added. But do check the taste of the curry later and if required you can add more salt.
For a thicker consistency in the curry, add less water.
Cover the pan with its lid. Increase the heat to medium or a medium-low. Simmer the curry till the vegetables are cooked and tender. Keep them slightly al dente if you prefer.
In between do check when the veggies are cooking. If water dries up, you can add more water.

Making thai red curry

When the vegetables are cooked and tender, then reduce the heat to a low and add ½ cup thick coconut milk. At this step you can also add ¼ teaspoon palm sugar or raw sugar. Addition of sugar is optional and can be skipped. For a bit more sweet taste, increase the amount of sugar.
Mix very well and let the entire curry come to a gentle boil on a low or medium-low heat. Lastly, add 1 tablespoon chopped or torn thai basil leaves. Mix and switch off the heat. Check the taste of curry and if required you can add some salt.
Serve the thai red curry hot with lemongrass rice or plain steamed basmati rice or jasmine rice. You can garnish it with basil leaves while serving.

Video

Notes

Recipe Tips

Substitute the coriander seeds with 1 teaspoon coriander powder. Similarly, use 1 teaspoon cumin powder instead of cumin seeds.
For a spicy Thai curry, increase the number of bird’s eye chilies or use dried red chilies that are spicy and hot.
Adding sweetener is optional, and can be omitted. You can also alter the quantity as per your taste preferences.
You could use palm sugar or unrefined cane sugar as the sweetener.
You can use coconut cream instead of coconut milk, but add water as needed, to get the consistency you prefer.
If using ready store brought Thai red curry paste, then add 3 to 4 tablespoons of it.
This recipe can easily be reduced or scaled to make a small or large batch of curry. The Thai curry paste recipe is also scalable. Make a large portion and freeze it.

Substitutes for the Thai herbs

I suggest to use all the Thai herbs and spices as listed in the recipe. If you are not able to source them, use the substitutes I have mentioned below. But kindly note that your Thai red curry will have a different flavor and taste, but will still taste delicious.

Galangal: Use ginger instead.
Kaffir lime leaves: Add lime leaves or zest of lemon instead.
Bird's eye chilies: Substitute fresh red chilies or dry red chilies.
Shallots: Use small onions or regular onions instead.
Thai basil: Italian basil leaves can be swapped.
Lemon grass: No substitute. At the most, you could just do away with the zest of lemon.

Nutrition