an easy thai curry.

In an effort to reduce how often we go out to eat, I try to recreate some of my favorite dishes at home. Curries and other dishes with a lot of different spices in them can be challenging – but luckily, Thai curry paste is fairly easy to come by and helps you skip the process of gathering herbs/spices/roots and blending them together. For a healthier option, use light coconut milk and serve over brown rice or quinoa instead of white rice.

Red Thai Curry with Pumpkin
1 medium sized kabocha squash, peeled & cubed
1 large handful sugar snap peas
1 small piece ginger (less than 1″), peeled and chopped
1 clove garlic, chopped
1 small onion, chopped
1 stick of lemongrass, smashed and cut into 3″ segments
1 Asian eggplant (the long, thin kind), sliced diagonally
2 kaffir lime leaves, torn
6 Thai basil leaves, chopped
1 tbsp coconut oil or a neutral oil like safflower/sunflower
3 tbsp red Thai curry paste
1 15-oz can coconut milk
1/4 cup water
1 tbsp fish sauce (if you’re veggie, you can search out vegetarian fish sauce – it exists!)
2 tsp coconut sugar (can sub brown sugar)
1-2 red Thai chilies, optional, if you like spicy!

cooked jasmine rice for serving

Heat the coconut oil in a Dutch oven or soup pot over medium-high heat. Add curry paste and cook through. Add onions, garlic, and ginger and stir-fry until fragrant. At this point, stir in the coconut milk and do your best to break up the curry paste so it is well blended. Thin out a little with some water (don’t add all at once – use what you need to as you go along). Add in the kabocha squash and eggplant, chiles, lemongrass, kaffir lime leaves, fish sauce, and sugar, lower the heat, and simmer until the squash is tender. Lastly, add the basil and sugar snap peas and stir, simmer for a few more minutes until the peas are cooked (but not over cooked).

Serve over a generous portion of white rice (or other starch of your choice). I also love serving this with rice noodles when I don’t feel like having regular rice, and it is delicious!

Variations: you can also add chicken, pork, shrimp, tofu, mushrooms, red bell peppers, and cilantro.