Thai Vegetable Curry
I’m still in heaven, staying at Kamalaya until the end of the week.
Thought I’d post one of the yummiest curries I’ve ever eaten. It’s a Detox Vegetable Curry, made purely for those on the detox program (Detoxification at Kamalaya excludes cow dairy, meat, fish, poultry, egg, soy, wheat, corn, tomato, bell pepper, eggplant , potato, peanut and sugar) However for those not on the detox you can add your protein source to the dish such as pan seared tempeh, fish or organic chicken.
The food here aims to nurture and restore health and harmony. This curry is full of enzyme rich vegetables that aid the cleansing process. The vegetables have minimal cooking times, so they are still bursting with colour, flavour and nutrients.
In Ayurvedic medicine, ginger and galangal is great for stimulating your circulation and metabolic rate. Ginger improves gastric mobility – When the digestive system is functioning at its best, food is freely moving through the body, which reduces bloating and constipation. In fact, studies have found that ginger regulates peristalsis, the rippling movement of the muscles in the gastrointestinal tract that is needed to push food and waste through the digestive system. Since it actually helps regulate peristalsis, it also helps to tone and strengthen the muscles involved in digestion.
Capsaicin is the substance contained in chillies that can help with weight control. It suppresses the appetite, raises metabolic rate, stimulates thermogenesis (creation of heat in the body) therefore burning more calories and slowing down spikes in blood sugar. Lemongrass can help improve digestion and stimulate the lymphatic system for improved drainage. Green vegetables are packed with folate for a energy metabolism.
Don’t forget to enter the health spa competition:
http://www.thehealthychef.com/2011/07/win-a-health-spa-holiday/
Ingredients
300 ml Fresh coconut milk
450 ml Pumpkin seed milk
100 ml Vegetable stock
25 g Thai herb paste (see recipe below)
30 g Carrot, thinly sliced
20 g Snow peas
30 g Asparagus, cut in 3cm lengths
40 g Broccoli, cut into bite-size flowers
50 g Cauliflower, cut into bite-size flowers
20 g Shitake mushrooms
3 Kaffir lime leaf, crushed
4 slices Galangal or ginger, finely sliced
Lemongrass, finely sliced, ½ stick
Coriander leaf, For garnish
10 ml Lime juice
Sea salt, Pinch
Pepper, to taste
Method
Place the coconut milk, pumpkin seed milk and vegetable stock in a saucepan and begin to heat.
Add the Thai herb paste, galangal, lemongrass and kaffir lime leaves and bring to a gentle simmer.
Simmer until it has reduced to your desired creamy consistency.
Add lime juice and season to taste with salt and pepper.
Add the shitake mushrooms, cook for one minute.
Blanch your vegetables for 15 seconds and drain well. Add them straight into the curry.
Ladle the curry straight into serving bowls and garnish with fresh Thai basil leaves.
Serves 2
Thai herb paste
50 g dry red chilli
50 g chopped garlic
50 g chopped ginger
90 g chopped lemongrass
1 tsp kaffir lime leaf
50 g onion, roughly chopped
Place all ingredients into a food processor or VitaMix and blend for about 1 minute. Makes about 300 g and can be stored in the fridge covered for up to 2 weeks or frozen for up to 1 month.
Pumpkin seed milk
350 g pumpkin seeds
1 liter filtered warm water
100 g raisins or fresh dates
Place the seeds, raisins and warm water in a good high speed blender like a VitaMix and blend of medium for about 1 minute.
Strain through a fine sieve and discard pulp
NB: if time allows soak the seeds overnight in the water before blending.
If you add a little tempeh, it is made from fermented soy beans that helps contribute good bacteria into the gut. Tempeh is also high in protein that can help nourish your immune system.
Hi Teresa, I have eaten tempeh recently in Bali and enjoyed it. The photo of your tempeh looks great. Do you have a recipe for this? Many thanks and I look forward to your reply. Kind Regards Lisa
This recipe looks great. Absolutely love Thai food so will be trying this. Thanks for posting your recipes. My husband is a big fan of your muesli cookies . Enjoy your break.
I made this curry the other night, with fish pieces. I absolutely loved it! It was so light and refreshing. My boyfriend is Sri-Lanken, so it was a nice change to the type of curries that I am used to. Love all your recipes, cant wait for your new book! :- )
Hi Teresa
If not detoxing is it ok to use the coconut flavoured light evaporated milk in this recipe of any of your other recipes (like you vegetable curry and laksa)?
BTW I bought 80/20 last week and have cooked from the meal plan every night, easy and delicious!
Thanks
Kelly x
Yes for sure Kelly you can use light evaporated milk. Also feel free to add some lovely protein sources such as fish chunks or tofu.
This soup is insanely delicious, my mum cooked it for our book club last week and I have woken up thinking about it twice since. It is going to be a regular in my house, my 4 year old daughter loves it too : ) Thanks Teresa!
Teresa, I have been eating the blood type diet for 16mths. One of the ingredients, coconut milk is to be avoided. Would soy or rice milk work well in the Thai vegetable curry.
Many thanks for being “The healthy chef”. I am a coeliac, and was googling for a g/free low gi recipe when your site came up. I am sorry I did not know about you before, but now I do, I have been letting all my friends know know how wonderful you and your web site are!
Thankyou again
Gloria
Hi Gloria, any of the milks that you have listed will nicely replace coconut milk. Soy, rice, almond, seed and quinoa. A few cashew nuts blended with with water or your prefered milk will also give it a creamy consistency if you like. You can thicken slightly by either reducing or adding pureed vegetables to the curry. Thickening with a little kuzu will also work nicely. TX:)
Thank you, Teresa!
This is a beautiful recipe that left me very satisfied! So fresh and very tasty, quick and easy too. This recipe will be going to my favourite weekly file.
Keep up the good work.
Thank you!
Elize
Hi Teresa,
can I ask what you mean by fresh coconut milk please? Do you mean taking it from the whole coconut ourselves, which I thought was coconut water? Normally I buy my coconut milk or cream in a can and I know it has more fat that you normally recommend for your recipes. The ‘fresh’ has thrown me! Your banana cake is my favourite!
Thanks
Julie