Vegetable Thai Curry in a Hurry

Steamboat Pilot reporters Scott Franz and Matt Stensland stop by for dinner on the boat.

I'll Bet You're Famished

You never know when you are going to need a meal in a hurry. When we were docked in Marina Hemingway near Havana, Cuba, reporters from our hometown newspaper stopped by.  Steamboat Pilot reporters Scott Franz and Matt Stensland were visiting Cuba for a "journalism activity"- one of the 12 categories of travel permitting Americans to travel to Cuba.  Our sailing trip provided a local angle for their story about traveling to Cuba (check out their excellent article) and it was great fun to meet up with friends from home.  While we had expected their visit, we didn't realize that they would arrive at dinnertime.  No worries...I whipped up a pot of Vegetable Thai Curry (in a Hurry) because it is made from items that I had in my galley and only took me 30 minutes - start to finish.

Bring on the Thai

Once I discovered the flavor and convenience of prepared red curry paste, Thai curry became an easy weeknight meal.  There are plenty of red curry paste recipes that can guide you through the traditional process of toasting, grinding and pounding the exotic ingredients into the smooth, intensely flavored paste, but kaffir lime leaves and shrimp paste aren't easy to find in The Boat and who has that kind of time?

This combination of vegetables in curry sauce can easily be made from ingredients in your refrigerator and pantry.  The cauliflower, carrots, garbanzo beans and peas give this meatless dish its substance.  The lite coconut milk provides a flavorful base for the curry paste.  Many people prefer to us the full fat coconut milk, but the lite version is my choice because it has 60% less fat and calories. 

Print Recipe

Vegetable Thai Curry in a Hurry

This dish can be made in one pan, so clean-up is easy. The sauce is thin and flavorful so if you want a richer dish substitute full fat coconut milk.

Prep Time10 mins

Cook Time25 mins

Total Time35 mins

Course: Meatless Main Dish

Cuisine: Asian

Servings: 4 servings

Calories: 384kcal

Author: Karen

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon canola oil
• 2 cups cauliflower flowerettes
• 1 cup julienned carrots
• 2 tablespoons Thai red curry paste
• 1 14 ounce can lite coconut milk
• 1 cup frozen peas
• 1 14 ounce can garbanzo beans drained
• 1 tablespoon soy or tamari sauce
• 1 tablespoon fish sauce (can be omitted for vegetarian version)
• ¼ teaspoon Sriracha hot sauce or to taste
• 2 cups cooked brown rice
• 1 lime

Instructions

• Heat 1 tablespoon of oil in a wok or large skillet over high heat.
• Add cauliflower and carrots, cooking until the vegetables start to soften and turn brown.
• Add Thai curry paste to the pan and saute for one minute to develop it's flavor.
• Add coconut milk, peas, garbanzo beans, soy sauce, fish sauce and hot sauce.
• Turn heat to medium and simmer for 15 minutes.
• Serve over rice with a squeeze of lime juice.

Notes

The canned coconut milk used in this recipe can be found in the ethnic aisle of your grocery store.  It is different that the coconut milk found in the dairy case. I use lite coconut milk because it saves 30 grams of saturated fat and 350 calories for the recipe than the same recipe using full fat coconut milk.  The lite version is simply a watered-down version of regular, so you can always dilute regular and make your own lite version.