Faster than Take-Out Thai Coconut Curry
This meal can be ready in 15-20 minutes! Not just that, you can make this three different ways so you’ll never get bored! It’s so dang easy and whips up into a satisfying bowl of yum in no time at all. I personally love the steamed veggie combo because, well, it can get chilly only eating salads throughout the winter in the Pacific Northwest and there are only so many sweaters one can wear (although the vendors at the farmers market seem to push that limit). This has so many vegetables that I’m sure it classifies in health-land as a salad, but is so much more warming.
It can be really difficult to find take-out foods that don’t force you to compromise your diet. Thankfully, healthy restaurants are gaining some headway so recently I went to a fantastic little place here in Vancouver called “Fresh Bowl.” Aside from the organic brown rice (grains), it was everything I could’ve dreamed of! I promptly went home to make my own version of take-out. (I’m also pretty sure there may have been white sugar and soy sauce in the original so I wanted to make a healthier version.)
I slaved away in the kitchen trying out all kinds of curry sauces when I realized while grocery shopping, that there are these sweet little pre-made jars of curry in the grocery store for less than $5! (I never buy pre-made sauces so I hadn’t noticed these before.) So if you want, you can make the long-version that requires making a curry from scratch or you can use two tablespoons from one of these bad boys and have a meal ready in maximum 20 mins. Don’t run away! Here me out here…
Check out the ingredients!
Spices
Shallots
Coriander root
Kaffir lime leaves
Salt
(And all GMO verified.)
At first I felt guilty buying something pre-made but I realized that this is so much better than ordering take-out and compromising my diet in some way or another. Plus, who said everything needs to be made from scratch? Anyone else have these interesting little rules they force themselves to abide by until they realize that these “rules” really just complicate life? Why do we do this to ourselves?!
Now these little jars have a prominent location in my fridge door since they really are simple ingredients with no weird additives or preservatives. (I think avoiding chemicals and citric acid was the original reason I made a rule for myself to make everything.)
Anyway, I’m over it. Sort of. Kind of. Trying…. It’s worth it!
In the end, we get:
a sweet, spicy, tangy Thai coconut curry sauce, all on
a base of steamed sweet potato, broccoli, and kale, and
topped with a variety of sprouts for
lots of crunch and
a big hit of prana! YUM!
Not too shabby for a weeknight-rush-meal, if ya ask me.
Faster than Take-Out Thai Coconut Curry
Ingredients
Base Ingredients
- 1 sweet potato, peeled and cubed
- 1-2 stalks of broccoli, crowns and stalks, sliced and cubed
- 1 bunch kale, chopped into large pieces
Toppings
- 2 cups mixed sprouts and shoots i.e. mung bean sprouts, sunflower shoots, pea shoots, broccoli sprouts, etc
- 1/2 cup chickpeas (optional)
- 1 cup mangoes or pineapple, cubed (optional)
- 1/2 cup toasted peanuts, cashews, or almonds (optional)
Thai Coconut Curry Sauce
- 1 can coconut milk
- 2 tbsp Thai Curry Paste (Green or Red)
- 1 tbsp maple syrup
- 1/2 small lime, juiced (or a bit more to taste)
- 1 dash of cayenne pepper (to taste)
- 2 tbsp peanut or almond butter (optional)
- 1/2 cup cilantro leaves, torn (optional)
- salt to taste
Directions
- Put a pot on the stove with about 2 inches of water and a steamer basket. Turn on medium high.
- Peel and cube the sweet potato. Add the sweet potato to the steamer basket. Cover, so the potato starts steam cooking.
- Chop up the broccoli and kale. Set aside.
- In a small saucepan, heat up the coconut milk with the Curry Paste, Maple Syrup, Salt, and Cayenne. Whisk it up so it's nicely blended. (If you have a blender that heats your liquids, just throw it all in the blender and blend till heated.) Try not to boil this mixture, it's best just heated up.
- Take off the heat, and pop the lid on to keep the Thai-Curry sauce warm.
- By this time, the sweet potatoes are mostly-cooked, so it's time to add the broccoli and kale to the steamer basket. Cover, and let those ingredients steam a bit longer.
- Juice the lime and add to the Thai-Curry sauce.
- Once the veggies are steamed through but still crunchy, you are ready to assemble the meal! (This meal is fairly low in fats so you'll want loads of veggies.)
Assembly
- Make a base of the steamed veggies on each plate (pasta plates work best here)
- Top with lots of shoots and sprouts (and all the other toppings you'd like)
- Pour the coconut sauce over and enjoy! Yum!