This is flavorful and so dang healthy… lemongrass, galangal, lime juice, basil, cilantro, jalapeno, garlic, etc… The fragrance and taste are so much more than what you see on your plate.

If you’ve never made a Thai-style curry paste from scratch before, give it a whirl. It’s easy—the only hard part being locating ingredients. I saw galangal root, fresh lemongrass stalks and jasmine rice at the Korean H Mart the other day and destiny took over. Any leftover galangal (or curry paste) can wait it out in the cold darkness of my freezer till next curry time.

There are three phases to putting this together: 1) Make the paste, 2) make the curry sauce and 3) cook the Jasmine rice (or basmati, or quinoa, or cous cous).

Ingredients for vegan green curry paste
Makes enough for one large batch of Thai green curry, to serve 4-6

1 cup fresh cilantro, roughly chopped
1/2 cup Thai basil (basil can be substituted)
1 lemongrass stalk, roughly chopped
6 garlic cloves, roughly chopped
1/4 red onion, shallot, or mild onion, chopped
3 green chilies, deseeded and chopped (you can leave a few seeds in for heat)
2 tbs chopped fresh galangal root
3 tbs soy sauce
juice of 1/2 lime
1/4 can coconut milk or coconut cream
few grinds of salt
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp ground coriander
1 tsp palm sugar or brown sugar

1) Add everything to a food processor or blender and blitz until completely blended. The end.

Putting the curry together*

All the green curry paste
3/4 can coconut milk (or 1/2 can coconut cream and 1/2 water)
handful fresh Thai basil (or basil)
1/2 cup vegetable stock
a few kaffir lime leaves (I didn’t have these and it was fine)
vegetables such as asparagus, bell peppers, mushrooms and bak choi
1/2 a block of firm tofu, cubed (optional)
Olive oil
* Cut the recipe in half and add in only half the curry paste if you are cooking for only 2 or 3 people.

1) In a large frying pan or wok, heat up a glug of olive oil and add in all the homemade green curry paste. Fry the paste for a minute on medium heat.
2) Add the coconut milk, stock (and water if necessary).
3) Add the chopped vegetables and cook on a medium low heat till just tender. Add the tofu and fresh basil in and cook another minute or two.
4) Serve over jasmine rice, cous cous or whatever you like. Who cares? It’ll be awesome. Don’t forget a cold Thai beer!