Vegan Thai Green Curry

Freshly-made vegan Thai green curry with grilled tempeh – simply irresistible!

日本語は、こちらから。

Green curry is definitely one of my favorite kinds of curry. I used to buy ready-made green curry paste to make it at home, but I realized that the paste is not vegan and wanted to see if there is a way to make it at home. What really surprised me about this freshly-made green curry was the bright green color! It was nothing like I’d ever seen even at an authentic Thai restaurant! And the taste, of course, was also super fresh, and I don’t think I can go back to the store-bought paste again (even if it were vegan…) after experiencing this curry.

Good news is, it’s also super easy to make and doesn’t require that many exotic or hard-to-find ingredients!

For this recipe, I’m using fresh tempeh, but you could use tofu or even just vegetables like pepers, bamboo shoots, mushrooms, etc.

Dice 1 pack tempeh and grill with 2 Tbsp coconut oil. Set aside. I highly, highly recommend using coconut oil here – it gives such great flavor to the tempeh.

Chop 1 eggplant into bite size pieces. Set aside.

Remove seeds from 10 green chili peppers. Don’t forget the protective gloves when handling them! (If you love spicy curry, you can leave the seeds in…)

Combine green chili peppers, 1/2 small onion, 3g ginger, 4 cloves garlic, 1 bunch cilantro, 1/2 tsp coriander powder, 1/2 tsp cumin powder, 1 tsp salt and 200ml water in a blender. Process until the mixture becomes smooth.

Pour the mixture into a deep pan. Add 1 Tbsp amazake concentrate, dry lime leaves (about 10) and dry lemon grass. I think the lime leaves and lemon grass are really the only hard-to-find ingredients here. It would be best to use fresh ones, but if you don’t have a Thai store near your home like me, dry version works fine also! (I got my dry herbs online…)

Add 400ml coconut milk. Stir.

Add the eggplant and tempeh. Cook on low heat until the eggplant pieces become cooked and soft.

Serve with freshly-cooked Thai jasmine rice! This dish had a perfect combination of spicy, creamy and fresh! Because it is so easy to make, it will definitely be a repeat recipe for me:)

Vegan Thai Green Curry

Servings: 2-4

Ingredients:

• 1 eggplant
• 1 pack fresh tempeh
• 2 Tbsp coconut oil
• To combine:
  • 10 green chili peppers
  • 1/2 small onion
  • 3g ginger
  • 4 cloves garlic
  • 1 bunch cilantro
  • 1/2 tsp coriander powder
  • 1/2 tsp cumin powder
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 200ml water
• 1 Tbsp amazake concentrate
• 400ml coconut milk
• Lime leaves (dry) – as needed (about 10)
• Lemon grass (dry) – as needed
• Freshly-made Thai jasmine rice (optional) – as needed

Instructions:

1. Dice the tempeh and grill with coconut oil. Set aside.
2. Chop the eggplant into bite size pieces. Set aside.
3. Remove seeds from green chili peppers.
4. Combine all the “to combine” ingredients in a blender. Process until the mixture becomes smooth.
5. Add the rest of the ingredients, including the tempeh and eggplant.
6. Cook on low heat until the eggplant becomes cooked and soft.
7. Serve with freshly-made Thai jasmine rice.