Thai-Stylie Root Veggie Curry
Prep Time:10 Mins, Cook Time: 30 - 40 Mins, Total Time: 40 - 50 Mins
January 23, 2014
Please revert your eyes if you’re a stickler for authenticity, the name ‘Thai Stylie’ should be a clue. Would you believe this was born out of a request from my distinctly non-foodie five year old daughter who had asked me to make a curry for three days on the trot last week. She’s suddenly showing quite an interest in her food which is truly heartwarming. However, I think what she was hoping for was some sort of fruity chicken curry that she’d recently had for Diwali at school, and a version of which I’ve made her in the past (which I unbelievably have thus far failed to blog).
But being that I had a hampering for something Thai and no chicken but a barrage of veggies to use up, I thought I’d take my chances with this one. It’s been a while since they last had Thai flavourings and last time they’d had my own chilli-less Green Curry paste and loved it. This time I used a tiny bit of convenient shop bought Red Curry paste, just enough for a nice flavour but without much heat. Adding my own garlic, ginger, fish sauce, lime juice and coriander for a non-spicy flavour boost. I naturally revved mine up with a more generous amount of paste!.
So Miss F made her request and sauntered off to the lounge while Jacques I set to work on the veggies. I’m still staggered that chopping veggies is right up there in his favourite things to do, dead handy though. My fridge has virtually always a bowl or two of Jacques’s conveniently pre-chopped veggies. Great for quickie soups and stews!
Not looking so keen for a curry now!
I’m very fortunate that both my kids seem to genuinely like most veggies now, which is an enormous relief from where we were at six months ago. So I had high hopes they’d like go for this curry. I have to confess Francesca was initially less than impressed (check out that face on the pic!), but with considered ‘encouragement’ she polished off a big bowl. Jacques wolfed his down. Served with brown rice this made for an exceptionally nutritious dinner with a barrage of good stuff. Kind of made up for their cinema going chocolate and popcorn fueled day.
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I’m entering the post to a number of challenges. Firstly to Four Seasons Food which I co-host with Anneli and has a ‘Virtuous‘ theme for January. To Extra Veg, a new challenge from Fuss Free Flavours and Utterly Scrummy. To Elizabeths Kitchen’s No Waste Food Challenge, as I was on a serious mission to clear out my roots! To Shop Local, also hosted by busy lady Elizabeth’s Kitchen, as all my veggies were supplied by local veg box company Skylark Organics. And finally to Lavender and Lovage‘s Cooking with Herbs event as my curry uses both coriander and a citrus fruit. Sending it over to Karen with sincere apologies for my failure to have entered the last couple of months, how did that happen?
Sweet Potatoes, Swede, Carrots, Onion, any other veggies you choose to use, Coconut Milk, Ginger, Coconut OIl if using
Great For:
Toddlers, Preschoolers, Big Kids, Grown Ups, Family Meals, Lunch, Dinner, Mid-Week Dinners, Making Ahead, Freezing, Vegetarians (omit the fish sauce)
Notes:
The veggies in the recipe are only a suggestion, use whatever you have in or are seasonal, try butternut, pumpkin, potatoes or parsnips
Serve with wholemeal rice for added nutrition
Makes a generous amount for a Family of Four
Special Equipment:
Just a large saucepan or casserole
Thai-Stylie Root Veggie Curry
Ingredients Prep Time:10 Mins, Cook Time: 30 - 40 Mins, Total Time: 40 - 50 Mins
For a Family of Four:
1tablespoon coconut, rapeseed or vegetable oil
1 onion, diced
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
thumb sized piece of ginger, grated
1 dessertspoon Thai red curry paste (add more if you want some heat)
2 large carrots, well scrubbed, sliced
1 large sweet potato, washed and peeled, and cut into 2 cm chunks
1 small swede, peeled, cut into 1 cm chunks
1 x 400ml tin coconut milk
pinch soft brown sugar
1 dessertspoon Thai fish sauce
1 tablespoon lime juice (or lemon if you don’t have a lime)
1 tablespoon finely chopped coriander (omit if your kids may be adverse, mine usually are!)
1) Heat the oil in a large saucepan and fry the onion for 5 minutes
2) Add the garlic, ginger and curry paste and fry for a further minute before stirring in all the veggies followed by the coconut milk
3) Bring to a gentle simmer and cover with a lid. Allow to bubble away for 30 to 40 minutes until all the veggies are fully tender, adding a splash of water if thin if necessary
4) Stir through the pinch of sugar, Thai fish sauce, lime juice and coriander. Taste and add more of any to suit individual tastes
I eat more veggies recently so I would love to have a bowl of this for lunch 😉 Looks droolworthy!
Thanks Sylvia, it’s certainly a good recipe for upping your veggies!
I agree with Sylvia. It looks droolworthy and very easy to put together. Now if I can just get my kiddoes to like chopping veg.
Ha ha, I know I’m very lucky with Jacques. I think Francesca would rather saw off her own hand than chop veggies, so he’s a bit of a rarity!
Congratulations on having two children that like vegetables! This looks delicious!
To be honest I’ve no idea what’s happened to them lately, but they’ve both done a massive u turn on the veggie appreciation in the last few months! Long may it last.
Can we substitute the fish sauce with something else? My son, for some reason, does not like that and avoids dishes having it.
Either leave out entirely or add a little soy sauce?
Really good to hear you’ve won the kids over to liking veg – great achievement. Thai flavours are one of my favourites and this curry sounds delicious.
Thanks Choclette. I’m delighted on the veggie eating front, I was getting quite worried earlier in the year and had to employ a good deal of deception. So much easier now.
This looks fab, I don’t mind whether it’s authentic or not! I have been trying to coax my son onto Thai style curries, I add just a teaspoon of the paste to the coconut and he seems to be troughing it down quite happily 🙂
Actually I should have mentioned in the post, some pastes are a good deal stronger than others so go easy on the quantities until you know. Mine don’t like much or any heat at all these days, they were much easier a year or so ago. Funny eh.
I like the sound of this curry its right up my street.Love the thai paste but would need to substitute the fish sauce for veggie option .Can you recommend an alternate replacement to fish sauce???
How about trying soy sauce? I’ve used it in the past as a substitute and it works reasonably well.
Looks gorgeous Louisa, I have lots of root veg still in the garden that would be great in this. Wishing Ruby would ask for curry though, she isn’t too keen on spicy food which is a real shame. Seeing your two tuck in is inspiring me to do something about it though – maybe I start off with less curry paste and add extra chilli for us grown-ups at the end.
Whilst my kids do seem to like curry occasionally they’re suddenly non too keen on any heat. There’s hardly any heat with this amount of paste, but you could always try less for Ruby and after serving her stir an extra dollop through as well as some additional chilli.
I LOVE root vegetables and I love curry, so this is a dream recipe for me! Karen
Thanks Karen, there’s something very comforting about a purely veggie based curry.
I enjoy eating curries with a Thai flavour so this recipe has won me over, especially as it is packed full of nutritious goodness. It looks like sunshine on a plate.
I would also like to know more about this fruit curry you made…could you post the recipe on the blog please 🙂
Thanks Tina! My fruity chicken curry is actually a baked dish with plenty of tomatoes, apple and sultanas. Pretty sweet but actually very pleasant and the kids love it. MUST make soon!.
This sounds fab Louisa, authentic or not! (on the note, a great tasting end result is more important to me than authenticity!). I know Rich and I would love this and I’m fairly certain that Izzy would too, bookmarked!
Thanks Sian, oh please do try. You’re so right the end taste is so much more important the rules used to get there!
LOL too funny – I never worry about authentic – just whether it tastes and (hopefully) looks good. I’m sure this tastes fab and it certainly looks great!
Thanks Fiona! Good call on the authenticity, feel better now! And indeed it does taste fab 🙂
Oh, that face! I can remember pulling that very same look whenever spinach made an appearance on my plate. Funnily enough Mum only ever served spinach on the same day as she served peas (my brother hated veg). We’d have to sit at the table until we’d cleared out plates, and she’d always leave the room for a while giving us time to swap plates and polish off each other greens 🙂
Janie x
Spinach didn’t do it for me either when I was little, nor broad beans (double yak then, but I LOVE them now). And not a chance could either be left, nor the opportunity to swop! It’s a great ‘there’s no way I’m going to eat that face’ isn’t it, though actually she did and ended up enjoying it. Ahrr.
It looks great. Cooper used to like curries when he was wee, but then started to reject them. Maybe it is time to try him with one again.
I’d give him another go. My two used to love Thai style and mild Indian curries when they were very little then went totally off for them for a while, but seem to be back on now! Funny how their tastes continually change isn’t it, infuriating too though!
Such a lovely and innovative way to get the veggies into the kids tummies ! Great way to involve them ur sunny boy is quite the chef isnt he?!
A lot of flavour and the fact that I can add any veggies lying around is so appealing , I don’t care if its authentic as long as it tastes yum and has that thai hint and being a lover of coastal cuisine form bk home I always have coconut paste with me ! double yay!
This sounds scumptious. I love that you’re little’un loves chopping vegetables. I might need to borrow him!
I’m loving it! I love your children have requested a curry and that they are so eager to help with the preparation. Thank you for sharing with the No Waste Food Challenge!
Thanks for sharing with Shop Local too 😀
This is exactly my kind if food, spiced, nutritious, fragrant, colourful; lovely. Would love youtp add it to fabfusionfoods when I kick off again in the next couple of days x