Red curry noodles with vegetables
Chewy rice noodles tossed in a thick, spicy coconut red curry sauce with peppers and broccoli, finished with lime, cilantro and crunchy peanuts.
- 30 min total
- 25 min hands-on
- Follow-a-recipe easy
- Serves 4
- About $2.20 a serving
- 480 calories
- Gluten-free
- Dairy-free
Dolly says: Read the steps once before you start. Everything goes smoother after that.
Ingredients
For 4 servings.
- 8 oz rice noodles, flat, pad thai style
- 1 red bell pepper, sliced
- 2 cups broccoli, small florets
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 tbsp fresh ginger, grated
- 2 tbsp Thai red curry paste
- 1 can coconut milk, 13.5 oz
- ½ cup vegetable broth
- 1 tbsp gluten-free tamari
- 1 lime, half juiced, half in wedges
- ¼ cup cilantro, chopped
- ¼ cup peanuts, chopped (optional)
From your pantry
- 1 tbsp vegetable oil
- 1 tsp brown sugar
Each serving has about 480 calories, 8 g protein, 59 g carbs and 24 g fat, and costs about $2.20 at typical US grocery prices. Both are estimates from what the recipe uses.
Missing something?
- No red bell peppers? Yellow bell peppers work.
- No broccoli? Frozen broccoli works.
- No coconut milk? Light coconut milk works.
- No limes? Lemons work.
- No cilantro? Fresh parsley works.
Steps
Tap an underlined word for a quick explanation.
Bring a large pot of water over high heat.
Bring to a boil. It means heating a liquid on high until it’s fully boiling before you move on. A lid on the pot gets it there faster, which makes it a good moment to chop something.
How you’ll know: Big bubbles break all over the surface, and they keep coming when you lift the lid.
High heat
Cook the rice noodles as the package says, then and them under cold water so they don’t stick together.
Drain. Draining means pouring off liquid, like tipping pasta into a colander or spooning extra fat out of the pan. Pour hot grease into a can or jar, not the sink, where it hardens and clogs the pipes.
How you’ll know: Only a few drips are left, and the food isn’t sitting in a puddle.
Rinse. Rinsing means running cold water over rice or canned beans in a strainer while you swish them around. It washes off loose starch and can liquid, so rice cooks up fluffy and beans taste clean.
How you’ll know: The water running out goes from cloudy to mostly clear; it doesn’t have to be perfect.
High heatTimer: 5 min
Dolly’s tip: Rice noodles go from chewy to mushy quickly. Pull them when they’re just bendy, since they soften more in the sauce.Slice the pepper, cut the broccoli into small florets, the garlic and the ginger.
Mince. Mincing means chopping something into the tiniest pieces you can, smaller than a grain of rice. Tiny pieces melt into the dish, so you get the flavor without biting into a chunk of garlic.
How you’ll know: Every piece is tiny and about the same size, and the pile starts to look almost like a paste.
Grate. Grating means rubbing food across the holes of a grater to make fine shreds or flakes. It spreads cheese, garlic or ginger evenly through a dish so it melts right in.
How you’ll know: Even shreds fall off the back of the grater, and you stop while the piece is still big enough to hold.
Heat the oil in a large over medium-high. Add the pepper and broccoli and cook 3 to 4 minutes, stirring, until .
Skillet. A skillet is a frying pan: wide and flat with low, sloped sides. The shape lets steam escape, so food browns instead of stewing.
How you’ll know: It’s the pan you’d fry an egg in, and a 10 or 12 inch one handles most recipes.
Tender-crisp. Tender-crisp means vegetables cooked until just tender but still with a little snap. They keep their bright color and crunch instead of going soft and dull.
How you’ll know: A fork goes in with slight resistance, and the color is bright, not olive or gray.
Medium-high heatTimer: 3 min 30 sec
Add the garlic, ginger and curry paste and stir 1 minute, .
Fragrant. Fragrant means cooking until you can clearly smell it, usually garlic or spices, often in about 30 seconds. That’s the moment the flavor is ready, just before it can burn.
How you’ll know: You can smell it from a step back, and garlic is pale gold, not brown.
Medium heatTimer: 1 min
Dolly’s tip: Curry pastes vary in heat. Start with 1 tablespoon if you’re spice-shy and add more later.Pour in the coconut milk, broth, tamari and brown sugar and 3 to 4 minutes, until slightly .
Simmer. Simmering means keeping a liquid just below a boil, with small bubbles rising gently. It cooks food evenly and lets a sauce thicken without scorching on the bottom.
How you’ll know: Small, lazy bubbles break the surface every second or so, and nothing is churning.
Thicken. Thickening means cooking a sauce or soup until it’s less runny, by simmering it down or adding something like cornstarch. A thicker sauce clings to food instead of pooling on the plate.
How you’ll know: It coats the back of a spoon, and a line drawn through it with your finger holds its shape.
Medium heatTimer: 3 min 30 sec
Add the noodles and for 1 minute, until coated and hot, then squeeze in the lime juice.
Toss. Tossing means gently lifting and turning food so everything gets coated, like pasta in sauce or vegetables in oil. It coats every piece evenly without mashing anything.
How you’ll know: Every piece looks glossy or evenly coated, with no dry spots hiding underneath.
Medium heatTimer: 1 min
Serve topped with cilantro and peanuts, with lime wedges on the side.
Plan this in Dollop, and get the grocery list
Dollop puts this dinner on a night that suits your week, lists only what you still need to buy, and walks you through each step while you cook.
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