The label “curry” covers such a wide variety of dishes in so many cultures. Soups, stews, sauces, even gravy. Curry is so customizable and welcoming to everyone; it can be soft and subtle, bold and flavorful, or sweet and spicy. This Thai Green Coconut Curry with Rice Noodles is mild, soft, and subtle. It’ll fill the room with the warm and inviting scents of lemongrass, lime, and cilantro. Hungry yet?
Tell me down below in the comment section; what’s your favorite curry dish?
What's Lemongrass?
Lemongrass, also known as cymbopogon, is a tall grass plant that typically grows in tropical climates. This ingredient is commonly used in Thai cooking but can also found in teas and other drinks. It has slight flavors of lemon and ginger. Fresh stalks like this can be a little intimidating to work with, but with practice it’s not so hard. Some cooks prefer to simmer the whole stalk in their food and remove it just before serving, like bay leaves. I prefer to cut the ends off, then peel back the first few layers until the yellower stalk emerges and chop it into the smallest possible pieces. The reason for this is because lemongrass is extremely sturdy and fibrous, and if not cut very small or removed from food, it isn’t edible.
Ingredients
- Oil
- Salt
- Onion
- Jalapeños
- Garlic
- Ginger
- Lemongrass
- Spinach
- Basil
- Cilantro
- Curry paste
- Lime
- Coconut milk
- Cornstarch
- Carrots
- Eggplant
- Mushrooms
- Bell pepper
- Tofu
- Rice noodles
. If you prefer more spice, go ahead and leave the seeds in the jalapeños. Although I enjoy spice, I find jalapeños often vary in spiciness from hardly noticeable to hardly handleable.
. For both ginger and garlic, I recommend buying fresh and using a cheese grater with smaller holes (or a microplane) to grate both items. These are often available in paste tubes in the produce section, and they’re super convenient, but a lot more expensive.
. Depending on location, lemongrass is not available in every grocery store, so when you’re shopping, take notice of where you see it. Sometimes I can find it fresh as pictured above, but sometimes I can only find it as a paste.
. Spinach can be fresh or frozen. Either option is totally fine, just make sure that if you buy frozen spinach it has some time to thaw before adding it in to the sauce.
. The basil is best purchased fresh. If you’re using dried basil, make sure to look on the packaging to see the conversion rate. Additionally, any kind of basil will do, but Thai basil is best. This variety of basil is bolder and spicier than more common sweet basil.
. Curry pastes vary greatly in their flavor and boldness. Pick whichever you like best, but for context, I used Thai Kitchen for this recipe. In the Pacific Northwest, Thai Kitchen and Mae Ploy are the most common brands to find, but Thai Kitchen tends to be much softer.
. Shiitake mushrooms are better for this this curry than more common criminis. They hold up better over time and add a fun bouncy texture!
. I used Taste of Thai Linguine Rice Noodles for this recipe, but you can switch them for another type of rice noodle or even swap for white rice.
Helpful Tools
- Grater or microplane: You can use an array of tools to grate or make paste out of ingredients like garlic or ginger. My favorite is to use a hand held cheese grater with small holes. It works to zest and grate, plus it’s easier to clean than the trendy microplane. Another option for for garlic specifically is a garlic masher, but those are an extra kitchen tool to spend money on that can only really do one thing.
- Immersion blender: This tool is essentially a portable hand blender and it’s seriously upped my game over the years. The prices range, but you can get a basic one for as little as $20. The alternative to this is to pour your mix into a standing blender which is messy, a little wasteful, and potentially dangerous.
How to Make this Curry
This recipe comes in two parts: making the smooth curry and simmering the added veggies. To make the curry sauce, cook the onion, jalapeños, ginger, and lemongrass in a large pot. After a few minutes, add the leafy greens and stir until wilted, then stir in the paste, salt, and lime juice. Pour in the coconut milk and use the immersion blender to create a smooth creamy sauce. Thicken with corn starch and blend again.
After the sauce is made, simmer the remaining produce and tofu on low for about a half an hour. Serve with chopped scallions and fresh lime juice alongside rice noodles.
Green Coconut Curry with Rice Noodles
Equipment
- Immersion blender or regular blender
Ingredients
Blended Sauce
- 1 tbsp vegetable oil
- 1 medium yellow onion, roughly chopped
- 2 jalapeños, deseeded and roughly chopped
- 3-4 cloves garlic, minced or shredded
- 1 tsp ginger, minced or shredded
- 2 tsp lemongrass, crushed and finely chopped
- 1 cup spinach roughly chopped
- 1/3 cup basil leaves, roughly chopped
- 1/4 cup cilantro leaves
- 2-3 tbsp green curry paste
- 1 1/2 tsp salt
- 2 tsp lime zest,
- 2-3 tbsp lime juice
- 2 13.5 oz cans full fat coconut milk, unsweetened
- 2 tbsp corn starch
Filling
- 3 large carrots, cut into rounds
- 2 cups eggplant, cubed
- 2 green bell peppers, cut into bite sized pieces
- 2 cups shiitake mushrooms sliced into strips
- 1 lb extra firm tofu, cubed
- 16 oz flat linguine rice noodles
Instructions
- In a large pot, heat the oil for the sauce, then throw in onion, jalapeños, garlic, ginger, and lemongrass. Stir and let sweat for 5 minutes.
- Add chopped spinach, basil, and cilantro to the pot and wilt 2 minutes.
- Add curry paste, salt, zest, and lime juice. Stir until aromatic, about 2 minutes.
- Pour in coconut milk and blend with a immersion blender until smooth.
- Add 2 tbsp corn starch to the sauce, then blend again.
- Toss in the carrots, eggplant, peppers, shiitakes, and tofu.
- Turn heat down to low, cover, and let simmer 30-40 minutes.
- While the curry is simmering, cook rice noodles according to package directions.
Notes
- If you don't have a immersion blender, you can heat the sauce, then pour in a larger blended and blend until smooth, then pour it back into your pot. Just be very careful not to burn yourself!
- For a spicy kick, leave the jalapeño seeds in.
- You can always swap out vegetables to go in the curry sauce if you don't like carrot, eggplant, or shiitakes.
- I use shiitakes because they keep better in stews and curries and their texture fits to vibe of the food better, but beware they can be expensive.
- The rice noodles I used for this dish were A Taste Of Thai Linguine Rice Noodles.
- If you're looking to beef up the protein content, you can add a few cups of frozen or canned peas for a small boost.
2 thoughts on “Green Coconut Curry with Rice Noodles”
Excellent flavor! The recipe made enough for leftovers, good for lunch tomorrow.
I’m so glad you liked it!