Vegan Thai Green Curry from scratch
with Sweet Potatoes, Tofu, and Green Beans

Finally, a Vegan Thai Green Curry from scratch that takes only an hour to make! Hello meatless Monday!

This intensely flavorful Vegan Thai Green Curry is hearty, colorful and easy to make. You’ll savor the fresh green taste of the coconut sauce and the satisfying combo of vegetables and tofu.

When I first learned to cook Thai food, I would make curry pastes from scratch with a mortar and pestle. They were extremely delicious, but it was a laborious process. So over time, I started buying ready made curry pastes.

The trouble is that commercial curry pastes vary in quality, with many being bland. So, even though it’s not authentic, I’ve started making curry “pastes” in the blender. It’s fast and it makes a nice smooth sauce.

But to get the flavor right, you’ll still need authentic ingredients like galangal, kaffir lime leaves, lemongrass and Thai basil. Not a problem if you can find an Asian or International grocery store near you. If you live in a small town, this is the hard part of the recipe…

I regularly make the 20 mile trek to Food Maxx, but the awesome prices make it worth the drive. EVERYTHING is cheaper than my usual grocery store, so I stock up on veggies, spices and other ingredients while I’m there.

After you’ve got your Thai curry ingredients, you throw them in the blender and whir up a bright green saucy “paste”. Really easy peasy. Good thing too because like I said in the Easy Asian Baked Salmon post, there are just not enough evening hours lately.

But this hearty dinner takes just about an hour to make. If you have kitchen helpers, it takes even less time.

It’s also more fun to cook together. Too often we eat in front of the TV, so I like it when we can prepare dinner together while winding down with a glass of wine. It gives us a chance to chat about our day. Call me crazy, but I find chopping of vegetables therapeutic and the ritual of tasting and adjusting the sauce a welcome reprieve from the workday.

I also love that we can save money by making dinner from home. Sure, we could go out and save ourselves the mess of dirty dishes, but it costs more and I always eat too much…because my eyes are way bigger than my stomach! “I’ll take one of everything please!” is not a recipe for healthy living!

Now, I know that we can get just about any ingredient any time of year now, but I strive to eat as seasonally as possible. So, this recipe is perfect for late summer/early Autumn with it’s green beans and sweet potatoes. And the Thai basil came from my herb garden!

The purple peppers I used for garnish also came from my yard. They are called Chinese Five Color Peppers and they’re hot, prolific and very ornamental. Ironically, green is not one of the colors of this particular pepper, so they didn’t go into the sauce (see a picture in this Seed Saving 101 post). But because they last really well on the plant, I know that during the summer months I can always run outside and pick a few for a stirfry. It might be my favorite plant to grow because it’s so pretty and low maintenance.

I think that’s the trick to life…being able to find balance. So, it’s not always about doing less, but finding ways to make the doing easier! I’m going to leave you with that pearl of wisdom, and let you get to cooking this tasty Vegan Thai Green Curry for #meatlessmonday!

Vegan Thai Green Curry Recipe

This excellent Vegan Thai Green Curry starts from scratch, so no premade curry paste is required. You'll find these authentic ingredients in most international grocery stores.

4.67 from 3 votes

Print Rate

Course: Main

Cuisine: Thai

Prep Time: 20 minutes mins

Cook Time: 40 minutes mins

Total Time: 1 hour hr

Servings: 6 servings

Calories: 351kcal

Author: Charity Beth Long

Ingredients

Curry Paste

• 10 coriander seeds
• 6 cloves garlic
• 3 fresh green Thai chiles
• 3 large green serrano peppers
• 4 teaspoons galangal , grated
• ½ small yellow onion , diced
• 1 bunch cilantro stems
• 4 leaves kaffir lime
• 6 inch lemongrass , woody outside layer discarded and sliced into rounds
• 2 teaspoons lime zest
• ½ teaspoon sea salt
• ½ cup water

Curry

• 2 teaspoons golden mountain sauce
• 1 teaspoon soy sauce
• 4 tablespoons coconut sugar , divided
• 2-3 tablespoons canola oil
• ½ pound firm tofu , pressed to remove excess water and cubed
• 3 cups sweet potato , cubed
• 2 cups green beans , cut into one inch pieces
• 13.5 ounces coconut milk
• 1 cup Thai basil leaves

Accompaniments

• lime wedges
• rice

Instructions

Curry paste

• Combine all curry paste ingredients in a blender and puree until smooth.

Curry

• Mix together the golden mountain sauce, soy sauce and 2 tablespoons coconut sugar in a small bowl
• In a dutch oven, heat a tablespoon of oil over medium heat.
• Once hot, add in tofu and 1 teaspoon of golden mountain sauce and toss gently.
• Sear tofu on each side until browned and then remove and set aside.
• Add more oil if necessary, another teaspoon of golden mountain sauce and sweet potatoes and toss.
• Saute potatoes until soft, flipping the cubes every couple minutes to brown all sides. Remove sweet potatoes and set aside.
• Add more oil if necessary, and saute green beans until tender, then set aside with the tofu and sweet potatoes.
• Pour curry paste into the dutch oven and cook for 5 minutes, stirring often.
• Add in coconut milk and remaining coconut sugar and golden mountain sauce.
• Bring to a simmer and cook for another 5 minutes, or until sauce has turned to a darker green.
• Add in tofu, sweet potatoes and green beans and cook until vegetables are hot.
• Finally, add in Thai basil and cook for one minute.
• Serve over rice with lime wedges.

Nutrition

Calories: 351kcal | Carbohydrates: 38g | Protein: 8g | Fat: 21g | Saturated Fat: 13g | Sodium: 318mg | Potassium: 798mg | Fiber: 6g | Sugar: 14g | Vitamin A: 19818IU | Vitamin C: 33mg | Calcium: 138mg | Iron: 4mg

Tried this recipe?Let us know how it turned out for you! Scroll down to leave a comment below.

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