Veggie coconut curry - keeps going wrong

funkey_monkey

Hi,

I am always trying to make a coconut based veg curry and it seems to consistently go slightly wrong in that the sause is too thin.

This is what I do:

Roughly chop 1 - 2 onions, 1 pepper, 0.5 courgette, 1 medium chilli.

Heat pan using approx 2-3 tblsp olive oil. When oil is hot add onions, wait a few minutes, stir, and then add the peppers and chilli. Cook for a minute or two and then add the courgette.

Cook for a further minute and then add the curry paste - usually tesco red or green curry paste. Cook through for a further few minutes and then reduce heat.

Add 1 tin coconut milk and stir through thoroughly. Add 0.5 punnet of mushrooms. Leave to cook through and reduce (a bit).

The problem is that no matter what I do, my sauce turns out to be watery - why is this? Is this the type of the dish?

Also, are there any better ingredients which I could use than what I have currently?

Any advice appreciated as I am not a good cook



Thanks.

strandroad

Courgettes and especially mushrooms give up a lot of water when fried/cooked. I'd add them both early (mushrooms at the same time as courgette in your plan) and drain most of the liquid before you add coconut milk. I'd probably only use half a can too.
Butternut squash and spinach are good for curries as well!

funkey_monkey

Do they not tend to overcook though if you add them early? I thought by adding the food gradually that the heat would be kept in the pan and the excess water would not be an issue - only appearing if you chuck everything in at once?

Thanks for the tip - I'll try it tomorrow.

kayos

With the recipe you are using it would not generally be a thick sauce unless you really reduce it down. It's Thai style curry. I cook them a lot and would never have a thick source out of it, but its not exactly water either.

First off generally you start with frying off the curry paste for a min or two and then add your bits to that. Cougettes as stated by a previous poster give off a lot of water(ever notice the oil spits when you add them?) so in this case you would fry them off first, remove them and drain the liquid. Its been a while since I cooked with them in a curry but if I remember right that's one trick with them.

You have a lot of liquid going in with your veg. Peppers, Onions, Mushrooms and courgettes= lots of liquids. Why not try a combination of the following baby corn, peas, mange tout (or the likes), frozen peas work great, Pak choi and whole cherry tomatoes. Other things handy to have for this style curry is lemongrass (even in dried form), Thai basil, limes (for juice), coriander. Heck even the humble spud . Oh ya pineapple too .

Onions just don't really fit this curry imho. And while in Indian cooking they are one of the first things to hit the oil a lot of the time. For this style curry they would be sliced and added later in the process than your doing (leave them with a bit of bite).

Of course everyone has their own way of doing things but my curries have keep the Mrs happy for years.

Outkast_IRE

I make thai style curry regularily and I can give you some tips which I use to great effect to keep it thick.

1. The quality of the Coconut milk makes a hell of a difference, honestly Thai gold Coconut milk which I get in dunnes is streets ahead of the competition. What I do is buy it as far in advance as possible and keep the tin in the fridge,
This will allow the coconut cream and milk/water to separate, keep it in the fridge until your just about to add it to the curry, open the tin and use a spoon to add the thick coconut cream to the curry, leave the water in the tin.
I am not exaggerating when I say I did this yesterday and 3/4 of the can was thick coconut cream thick, as thick as butter its amazing, and none of the other brands of milk have come near this in my experience.


2. I never allow the coconut milk/cream to boil in the pan, when making the dish I literally stand over it and control the heat to a fine art and don't allow it to bubble, always keeping it just below boiling and quickly moving it off the heat if it looks like its about to start.

3. The max cooking time once coconut milk is added to the pan is about 15 mins or so. The longer you cook it the greater the risk of it separating and leaving it watery tasting.

4. If using veg with a high water content cook it well and drain the pan before adding the coconut milk.

Also the thai gold curry paste is well worth a try.
Don't add mushrooms at the end they release too much water in my experience.

Mr.Boots

Like poster said, your probably using rubbish coconut milk, if you can, get it in an Asian supermarket...look for coconut cream.
Add something starchy like squash which will help to thicken it up.
Try making your own curry paste from the millions of recipes online, it's sooooo easy to do and you can freeze portions of it for future use.
Try oyster mushrooms in it instead of button or flat.
Season with fish sauce and palm sugar, thai basil, coriander and if you can get them.....fresh peppercorns.

Mellor

As above using coconut cream will thicken it.
But the water is definitely coming from your veg. I'd cook then separately and carefully and drain, fry the paste in a little oil and add the coconut to make you sauce, add this to your veg

the beer revolu

Apart from frying veg separately, you could chop your onions supersuperfine (or whizz them in the blender to a puree) and add them just after you've fried the paste. They will help to form a base for your sauce.
Also try salting the courgette for 20 - 30 mins, then rinsing and drying it to remove some liquid.

twerg_85

funkey_monkey wrote: »

Leave to cook through and reduce (a bit).

If you want it thicker, just let it reduce more.

Water from veg and coconut milk isn't a problem if they're the ingredients you like - just leave it simmer for longer.

F.

Curry Addict

Not sure why you would want it thicker. what you are doing sounds good to me and nice and healthy. restaurant thai curries use way to much coconut cream, nice texture but disgustingly creamy and masking other flavours imho. Add a tbs of sugar and fish sauce and a few basil leaves to lift the flavour and your sorted

funkey_monkey

I tried it again last night.

No onions, but used pepper, mange tout, chilli, butternut, mushrooms & courgette. Fried off first and then removed from heat. Added paste to pan and heated. Drained the veg and added to pan (a few tblsp water drained off here).

Had coconut milk in fridge and it had separated from the water – looked to be 50/50 ratio of cream and water. Put in all cream and ignored majority of the separated water.

Curry was delicious. I could taste the coconut and it was a massive improvement over my previous efforts.

Thanks.

funkey_monkey

Okay - I'm now a dab hand at this curry.

Is there anything else simple like this I can try with a similar range of ingredients?

Are there any recommended cook books for veggies? I don't eat meat, fish, dairy or beans/pulses.

Thanks.

doctorwhogirl

Can always add a small amount of cornflour mixed with water as a quick solution to thicken the sauce. Also, if it's for one serving I wouldn't use a whole tin of coconut milk either!

Dizzyblonde

funkey_monkey wrote: »

Okay - I'm now a dab hand at this curry.

Is there anything else simple like this I can try with a similar range of ingredients?

Are there any recommended cook books for veggies? I don't eat meat, fish, dairy or beans/pulses.

Thanks.

You should try the Vegan & Vegetarian forum.

thimble

Also, have you thought about protein (e.g. soya)? A lot of vegetarians get their protein from pulses and dairy but if you don't eat them either it won't be great in the long term.

funkey_monkey

thimble wrote: »

Also, have you thought about protein (e.g. soya)? A lot of vegetarians get their protein from pulses and dairy but if you don't eat them either it won't be great in the long term.

I can't eat natural protein, so I get it through synthetic supplements.

Semele

As others have said- coconut cream rather than milk does the job! I never once managed a good curry using coconut milk, even though recipes specified it. Now I use coconut cream and some veg stock and it's great every time!