Thai red curry with tofu
Silky coconut red curry with tofu, sweet peppers and green beans, rich and gently spicy, with jasmine rice to catch every drop, and even better the next day.
- 50 min total
- 25 min hands-on
- Follow-a-recipe easy
- Serves 4
- About $3.52 a serving
- 750 calories
- Good the next day
- Gluten-free
- Dairy-free
Dolly says: Make the full amount. It’s just as good for lunch the next day.
Ingredients
For 4 servings.
- 2 packages extra-firm tofu, drained
- 1½ cups jasmine rice
- ½ yellow onion, thinly sliced
- 3 tbsp Thai red curry paste
- 1 can coconut milk
- ½ cup vegetable broth
- 1 red bell pepper, thinly sliced
- 2 cups green beans, trimmed and halved
- 1 tbsp gluten-free tamari
- 1 lime, juiced
- ½ cup fresh basil, leaves (optional)
From your pantry
- 2¼ cups water
- ¼ tsp salt
- 1 tbsp vegetable oil
- 2 tsp brown sugar
Each serving has about 750 calories, 33 g protein, 77 g carbs and 37 g fat, and costs about $3.52 at typical US grocery prices. Both are estimates from what the recipe uses.
Missing something?
- No extra-firm tofu? Firm tofu works.
- No jasmine rice? Long-grain white rice or basmati rice works.
- No yellow onions? White onions or red onions work.
- No coconut milk? Light coconut milk works.
- No red bell peppers? Yellow bell peppers work.
- No green beans? Frozen green beans work.
- No limes? Lemons work.
Steps
Tap an underlined word for a quick explanation.
Wrap the tofu in a clean towel and press it under something heavy for 15 minutes.
Timer: 15 min
Dolly’s tip: Pressed tofu soaks up the curry instead of watering it down.Meanwhile, the rice and bring it in a with the water and salt over high heat.
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.
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.
Saucepan. A saucepan is a pot with tall, straight sides and one long handle. It’s for things that need depth, like rice, sauces or a few boiled eggs.
How you’ll know: The food fills it about halfway, leaving room to bubble without spilling over.
High heat
Stir once, cover, and cook on low for 15 minutes. Take it off the heat and leave the lid on until you serve.
Low heatTimer: 15 min
Heat the oil in a large, deep or pot over medium heat. Add the onion and cook about 4 minutes, 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.
Softened. For vegetables it means cooked until they bend and lose their crunch; for butter, left out until it dents easily. Soft onions taste sweet, and soft butter mixes in smoothly.
How you’ll know: Onions squash easily against the pan with your spoon, and butter dents under a finger without looking greasy.
Medium heatTimer: 4 min
Add the curry paste and stir 1 minute, and a shade darker.
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: Frying the paste in oil wakes it up. It should smell toasty, not raw.Pour in the coconut milk and broth, stir until smooth, and .
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.
Medium heat
Cut the tofu into 1-inch and add them with the pepper and green beans. 10 minutes, stirring gently now and then, until the beans are tender.
Cube. Cubing means cutting food into chunky, even squares, usually three quarters of an inch to an inch. Same-size cubes cook at the same speed and brown on every side.
How you’ll know: Your pieces look like a handful of sugar cubes, a little bigger than diced, all close to the same size.
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.
Medium heatTimer: 10 min
Food safety: Tofu is safe to eat straight from the package; cooking is only for texture and flavor.
Stir in the tamari, brown sugar and lime juice. Taste, and add more tamari for salt or more sugar to soften the heat.
Pinch. A pinch is what you can hold between your thumb and two fingers, less than an eighth of a teaspoon. It’s a small, forgiving amount, so there’s no need to measure.
How you’ll know: It’s a light sprinkle you can barely see on the food, not a little pile.
Dolly’s tip: Curry pastes vary a lot in heat. The sugar and lime are how you tune it.Fluff the rice, ladle the curry over it, and tear the basil over the top.
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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