2012 Cooking Club Week 13: Green Curry with Tofu

Muirgheal

Something fast, light and fresh to suit our summer weather. Enjoy.

BTW - Please forgive my tiny, matchbox of a kitchen, and my malfunctioning camera.

This quantity serves the six savages in our house, and I usually accompany it with rice.

Green Curry with Tofu.


BILD1991 by Muirgheal, on Flickr

400g firm tofu, drained and cut into 1” cubes.
2 tbsp cooking oil, I used rapeseed oil, (not in pic.)
200g mushrooms, sliced.
8 spring onions, separate the dark and pale green parts of the spring onions, finely chop both, and keep the dark part for adding just before serving.
5 tbsp green curry paste, for a hot hot curry.
3 green thai chillies, finely sliced, again for a hot hot curry.
1” piece of ginger, minced.
Approx. 1 tbsp fish sauce.
15 g palm sugar.
A can of coconut milk.
Large bunch of spinach, rinsed and well drained.
3 carrots, julienned.
Some fresh coriander, chopped.
Rice, to accompany.


BILD1997 by Muirgheal, on Flickr

To drain the tofu well, it is best to place between two plates, with kitchen towel and tea towels. The weight on top, in this case, my pestle and mortar, which will help remove most of the liquid from the tofu.


BILD1999 by Muirgheal, on Flickr

Heat the oil in a saucepan. Add the sliced mushrooms, and the pale spring onion, and sauté for two minutes.


BILD2006 by Muirgheal, on Flickr

Add green curry paste, ginger, chillies, fish sauce, palm sugar, and coconut milk. Allow saucepan to heat up until simmering.


BILD2013 by Muirgheal, on Flickr

Add the tofu cubes, and simmer for 15 minutes. I find this is the best time to put my rice on to cook.

Remove from heat, and add in spinach and carrot. Cover, and leave for a few minutes while you sort out your rice.

Stir in chopped coriander and dark spring onion just before serving, and serve with a wedge of lime.


BILD2022 by Muirgheal, on Flickr


Bon Appetit!

triseke

il have to make this! looks super tasty

irish_goat

Probably shouldn't be adding fish sauce if this is for veggies. :P

Will definitely give this a go though.

Muirgheal

irish_goat wrote: »

Probably shouldn't be adding fish sauce if this is for veggies. :P

Will definitely give this a go though.

Meateaters are allowed to eat tofu too!

Wurly

Muirgheal wrote: »

Meateaters are allowed to eat tofu too!

I think he/she means that the fish sauce automatically counts veggies out. Which is a shame considering its a tofu curry.

There is a veggie version of fish sauce.
Here is a recipe

Sorry if this is a silly question, But what does the palm sugar add? Is it just sweetness?
I have never used it.

Mellor

Wurly wrote: »

I think he/she means that the fish sauce automatically counts veggies out. Which is a shame considering its a tofu curry.

Maybe if on a menu people might assume it was vegetarian. But that hardly applies here.
A vegetarian that's making this would know about fish sauce and simply has to leave it out or sub it

Wurly

Mellor wrote: »

Maybe if on a menu people might assume it was vegetarian. But that hardly applies here.
A vegetarian that's making this would know about fish sauce and simply has to leave it out or sub it

Why would it hardly apply here? I'm a vegetarian and assumed it was such. No big deal. I was just trying to offer an interpretation on the other persons post. Obviously, a veggie can just leave out the fish sauce but wouldn't that mean that a key component for flavour is missing?

The Black Oil

Moonbaby wrote: »

There is a veggie version of fish sauce.
Here is a recipe

Sorry if this is a silly question, But what does the palm sugar add? Is it just sweetness?
I have never used it.

I haven't used palm sugar, but there's a reference to it here in another tCC curry recipe.

I saw some in Tesco yesterday.

Muirgheal

I deliberately did not call this recipe a vegetarian recipe because There are so many "varieties" of vegetarianism that I will not dare to suggest that any one food item or recipe is acceptable to all.

However I will add I first learned about fish sauce from someone who claimed to be a vegetarian.

(In bold- I'll save someone the trouble of saying that they "obviously were not veggie if they used fish sauce!")

I am not a vegetarian myself.

Marmite or yeast extract would be my first thought for a substitute, but I haven't tried this.

Edit... Also palm sugar does have it's own flavour along with the sweetness. I think myself that it is like nutty carmel.

Mellor

Wurly wrote: »

Why would it hardly apply here?

i wasn't suggest that veggies don't use this forum. Only that once they open the thread they would see the fish sauce, and know its not vegetarian.
There isn't a fishy flavour off the finished dish, its added mroe for the salt in my experience. I'd just sub in soy sauce, or kirkoman teriyaki sauce if you had it. It will do a very similar job.


QQ for you Wurly, or even Muirgheal.
I went to pick up tofu atthe weekend to make this, but where were a few different types. Any tips on which to get.
I've never bought the stuff and only ever had it if it came as part of a dish from a thai place.

Muirgheal

Firm tofu. I get mine in an Asian food shop in town, and it is packed in 1kg or 1.5kg tubs for €3 to €5. (They seem to have a different brand in stock every time I go in, so different size and price every time.)

When I take out the portion I am going to use, I rinse the remainder with cold water, and store it in fresh cold water in the fridge, making sure the tofu is covered. I normally use it within five days ie open Monday, eat the last of it on Friday.

Little Alex

I made this last night, Muirgheal. It was lovely! I used soy sauce and some Maggi instead of the fish sauce.

Muirgheal

Little Alex wrote: »

I made this last night, Muirgheal. It was lovely! I used soy sauce and some Maggi instead of the fish sauce.

Now I'm starving!!!!

Roald Dahl

Had this for dinner tonight and used green curry paste that I cobbled together myself.

Really enjoyed it!



A while bck in Aldi they had 'Thai Brown, Black and Red Rice' and this is what I used to make the rice with.

As regards tofu... I'm not really a fan of any of the traditional type of tofu, at least not of the ones that I have come across. They have all been tasteless, watery and without any texture. Even after attempting to squeze the excess water out of them

However, for this recipe I used Tofoo brand tofu, which I got in Tesco. It is nice and firm and has a bit of 'bite'. Before using it I marinated it in a little oil and what I call pixie dust, which is equal parts of sugar, MSG and salt. It tasted pretty good on its own just at that

Definitely worth trying for anyone who has tried tofu before and vowed never again to!