Red curry with tofu & veggies

[dullard]

I've tried making red curry with tofu and vegetables a few times now, but I can never seem to get the heat/sauce level correct. A coworker makes it and it is always wonderful, but when I follow her directions, it doesn't work to well. Following directions on the red curry paste can doesn't help either. The store clerk suggested lime leaves this time, and I'll try that. But can anyone else debug this recipe?

* 1 can red curry paste (I forget the size, maybe 3 oz).
* 1 can coconut milk (~13 oz)
* 1/2 tub firm tofu - drained, squeezed dry, salted and left out to dry more, and pan fried until golden brown.
* 1 Splash of fish sauce. I don't like it though, so I've tried soy sauce and it worked better.
* 2 cups mixed veggies (bell pepper, potatoes, broccoli, beans, eggplant, or whatever I have on hand).

So, what needs to be changed to make it better and hotter? Fewer veggies? Less coconut milk? Brown sugar? How do you use the lime leaves (boil them in the sauce and remove, or chop thin and eat)?

 

[amoeba]

better is not very descriptive, but to make it hotter, you can always add some minced thai bird chilies or something like that. For flavor, you can consider adding kaffir lime leaves and chopped basil at the end. Also, starchy veggies like potatoes will make your sauce weaker as it soaks up so much and it also thickens if you leave it in too long, thus I only add potatoes in to curries I want to leave mild.

Also, when cooking thai curries, its important to cook the curry paste in the coconut milk for a while before you add other ingredients. The easy way to tell is that after a while, there appears a film of red oil. If you don't have the time, you can first cook the curry paste in a bit of (like 1 teaspoon) veg oil on low heat for a while then adding the coconut milk.

if you decide to add additional chilies, cook those first.

so the order is.

oil
chilies
cook on low heat until you can smell a bit of the flavor
add paste
cook on low heat until oil turns red
add coconut milk
simmer on low heat for a while (15 min)
add other ingredients
cook until they are about the texture you want
cut kaffir lime leaf and basil leaves in a fine chiffonade. add at end.
cook another 2-3 minutes and you are done.

if you want a bit of sweetness to counteract the heat, you can add a bit of brown sugar or sugar, but I prefer to just put in a can of pineapple chunks.

 

[Tiamat]

toss in some chopped thai peppers, or habeneros.

Try less coconut milk.

 

[dullard]

Thanks for the suggestions. I'll keep the potatoes out, put in some chillis, and chop up the lime leaves into strips. I don't think I'll go the pinapple route, but I do have a fresh pineapple available if my guests want it.

 

[amoeba]

also, curry is one of those things you can do ahead of time as it only gets better with more flavor melding the longer ingredients meld. the downside is that if you want your tofu to have a bit of crispness, it will lose that with time but its a tradeoff.

 

[Roguestar]

Needs more meat.

 

[GDaddy]

Substitute Beef for Tofu

 

[dullard]

Originally posted by: Roguestar
Needs more meat.

Originally posted by: GDaddy
Substitute Beef for Tofu

Agreed on both counts. But this is a meal for multiple vegetarian/fish only guests. I can't stand fish, so tofu it is. I've used up my normal vegetarian dishes for past meals with them and I'm stretching beyond my normal foods to come up with a menu.

I could go with paneer cheese for good vegetarian flavor. Although, maybe I'll be scolded here for mixing Indian cheese with Thai curry.

In the past, I've liked pan fried chicken most in red curries.

 

[waggy]

there was a little place in town that would make chicken with red curry. man it was amazing.