Meera Sodha’s vegan recipe for Thai yellow curry with green beans and potatoes

From theguardian.com

A delicious, mild curry characterised by tasty aromatics including lemongrass, turmeric and coriander 

I enjoy the rather simplistic naming of the Thai curries: yellow, red and green. Straightforward names for complex dishes is a genius bit of marketing that has made their journey to westerners’ plates all the easier. I’ve already written recipes for green and red in this column, which I think (in short) are defined by their corresponding chillies: the green is fresh, sweet and light; the red warmer and richer. The yellow, however, is not characterised by chilli at all, but instead by the coming together of a great line-up of aromatics that includes lemongrass, turmeric, ginger, makrut lime, cumin and coriander.

Photograph: Louise Hagger/The Guardian. Food styling: Emily Kydd. Prop styling: Jennifer Kay. 

Food styling assistant: Valeria Russo

Thai yellow curry with green beans and potatoes

You can buy makrut lime leaves fresh or frozen; the dried ones, however, are, in my opinion, a bit useless. I’ve recommended using a waxy potato in this over a starchy one, so it soaks up less of the sauce and leaves you with a better sauce-to-potato ratio, but use whatever you have at home. You’ll need a blender to make this, incidentally.

Prep 15 min
Cook 30 min
Serves 4

1 large banana shallot (or 2 small ones), peeled and roughly chopped
1 whole garlic head (about 15 cloves), separated and peeled
2 sticks lemongrass, outer leaves removed, the rest bruised and chopped
4cm x 4cm piece fresh ginger, peeled and chopped
4 bird’s-eye chillies, chopped (remove and discard the pith and seeds if you prefer less heat)
4 makrut lime leaves
1 tsp ground turmeric
½ tsp ground cumin
1 tsp ground coriander
1½ tsp fine sea salt
2 x 400ml tins coconut milk
600g waxy potatoes (such as charlottes), quartered
2 tbsp rapeseed oil
400g green beans, tailed
Steamed rice, to serve

First make the curry paste. Put all the ingredients apart from the coconut milk, potatoes, oil and beans in a blender, add four or five tablespoons of coconut milk, and blitz for a minute or so, until you have a nice, smooth paste. Put to one side.

Bring a pan of water to a boil, carefully lower in the potatoes and cook for 10-12 minutes, until a knife slips easily in and out. Drain and set aside while you start on the curry.

Put the oil in a wide saucepan for which you have a lid, set it over a medium heat and, once it’s hot, stir-fry the curry paste for five minutes, until it starts to darken slightly in colour and turn noticeably fragrant.

When the paste starts to look a little oily as the fat splits out of it – that’s a good sign, by the way, so don’t be alarmed – add the rest of the coconut milk and 200ml water, and bring to a simmer. Add the cooked potatoes and the green beans, bring everything back up to a simmer, cover and cook for five to six minutes longer, until the beans are cooked and the curry has reduced and thickened slightly. Serve with steamed plain rice.

https://www.theguardian.com/food/2021/dec/11/meera-sodhas-vegan-recipe-thai-yellow-curry-green-beans-potatoes