Thai Red Curry with Edamame and Cashews – Vegan
This Thai red curry has such amazing flavor and it’s surprisingly easy to make.
It’s become one of our favorite vegan meals. Here it is again on another night – this time we diced the peppers and onions instead of slicing them.
It’s the perfect recipe to have in your repertoire when your vegan or vegetarian friends come for dinner. To ensure it’s vegan be sure to use vegan red curry paste, palm, coconut or raw sugar and soy sauce or mushroom sauce instead of fish sauce. If gluten is also a concern, use tamari sauce instead of soy sauce. My go to vegan red curry paste comes from Thai kitchen brand. It has all the amazing curry herbs and spices you need for great flavor without any of the fish sauce.
All the protein you could want comes from the edamame beans, cashews and brown rice.
Flavor comes from the red curry paste and additional aromatics like onion, ginger, garlic, red chilis, kaffir lime leaves and Thai basil to ensure that classic Thai flavor. If you don’t have kaffir lime leaves or thai basil, don’t worry your red curry paste has plenty of flavor. If you have regular fresh or dried basil go ahead and use that.
As they taught us in the cooking class I attended in Thailand, there are also salty, spicy, sweet and sour flavors. They also taught us to add cilantro stems with the ginger and other aromatics for extended cooking, the tops are added at the end.
And of course there’s the coconut milk that makes everything smooth and creamy and oh so good.
Thai Red Curry Recipe
Thai Red Curry with Edamame and Cashews
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups whole grain brown Jasmine rice
- 1 Tbsp canola oil
- 1 medium onion, diced
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 inch ginger root, minced
- 1-3 red chili peppers, sliced in half lengthwise
- 2-3 Tbsp red curry paste
- 1 cup veggie broth
- 1 can coconut milk (full fat) (14oz/400 ml)
- 1 cup shelled edamame beans
- 1 red pepper, sliced or diced
- 1 yellow pepper, sliced or diced
- 1 Tbsp sweetener (palm, raw, coconut, brown sugar)
- 2 Tbsp soy sauce
- 1 Tbsp lime juice
- 2-4 kaffir lime leaves optional
- 2 tsp dried thai basil optional
- 2 Tbsp chopped cilantro (stems and leaves divided)
- 1/2 cup shredded carrots
- 1/2 cup dry roasted, unsalted cashews
- 1 lime cut into wedges
Instructions
- Rinse brown rice. Add to large pot with 31/2 cups water and cover. Bring to boil over medium-high heat. Reduce heat to low and simmer for 45 to 50 minutes until rice is tender.
- Heat oil over medium high heat in large deep pan or wok .
- Sauté onions until clear. Add garlic, ginger, cilantro stems and chili peppers and sauté 1 minute until fragrant but not turning brown.
- Add red curry paste, stir well and cook for 1 minute.
- Stir in veggie broth and coconut milk. Rinse can well with 1/2 cup water and add to pan. Cook until heated through.
- Add edamame beans, red and yellow peppers, sugar, soy sauce, lime juice, kaffir lime leaves and thai basil. Cook for 5-10 minutes.
- Taste and adjust seasoning to your preference. Consider more hot pepper, sugar, soy sauce or lime juice.
- Remove chilis and kaffir lime leaves before serving.
- Garnish with carrots, cashews, cilantro or green onions and serve with lime wedge. Or serve garnishes on the table and encourage guests to customize their curry as they'd like.
Video
Nutrition Facts (per serving)
What to Serve with Thai Red Curry
I prefer to serve this red Thai curry with brown Jasmine rice. In case you don’t know by now, I’m a fan of whole grains! But of course, you can serve it with white rice, Jasmine rice, quinoa or anything you’d like.
I also like serving extra ingredients on the side. Usually this includes:
lime wedges
cilantro
green onions
fresh basil leaves
finely shredded carrots, cabbage, red cabbage or mung bean sprouts
chopped tomatoes
cashews or peanuts
extra hot sauce or chopped chili peppers
Our tradition of serving extras on the side started when my kids were younger and a little more picky about what was in their bowl. Offering extras on the side is a great way to let people customize their dish to their liking. The shredded carrots, cabbage or sprouts is great for anyone who finds the curry too spicy while the extra hot sauce or chili peppers provides additional oomph to those who like things spicy. Everyone walks away happy!
Will you give this Thai red curry a try? Let me know if you make it and tag me on social media so I can like your work. I’m on Instagram @getgettys and Facebook @GettyStewart.HomeEconomist.
Sign up to get articles by Getty delivered to your inbox. You’ll get recipes, practical tips and great food information like this. Getty is a Professional Home Economist, speaker and writer putting good food on tables and agendas. She is the author of Manitoba’s best-selling Prairie Fruit Cookbook, Founder of Fruit Share, a mom and veggie gardener.