I LOVE a good curry dish. They are so warm and comforting, packed full of interesting flavors, and depending how they are prepared, they can be pretty dang healthy too. So they are obviously a big win in my book. I’ve shared a few other favorite curry recipes on our blog before, like: red curry, yellow curry, massaman curry, and a pumpkin curry. But variety is the spice of life, so I figured it was time I shared a recipe for green curry with you all.
This one is quick to throw together (taking 20 minutes or less to make) and packed full of vegetables—basically the perfect weeknight cold weather dinner. Bonus points are that at our house this tends to make enough for leftovers, so I have a delicious lunch waiting for me in the refrigerator the next day. 🙂
20-Minute Vegetable Green Curry, serves 3-4
1-2 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons chopped onion
2 potatoes
1/2 bell pepper
2 carrots
1/3 cup green peas
2 tablespoons green curry paste (or more to taste)
1 can coconut milk (light or full fat, up to you)
1/4 to 1/2 cup water
cilantro and lime for garnish
cooked rice or naan for serving
If you are cooking rice to go with this, get it started now because the curry will come together quickly.
Prep the vegetables: peel, slice, and chop as needed. On the potato, be sure to keep the pieces quite small (see mine in the photos for reference). If you cut the potato pieces large, this will add on cooking time, or result in not quite cooked through potatoes while everything else is ready to be eaten. You’ll also note that I was using frozen green peas so to prep those I simply thawed, or partially thaw (you don’t want them mushy).
Here’s the brand of green curry paste I used: Mekhala. I really like that all the ingredients are organic and it’s a completely plant-based curry paste (meaning it’s vegan friendly). I will say that the label has three peppers to indicate the spice level, but I found it to be not very spicy compared to other brands, like Mae Ploy (another curry paste brand I like—great taste!). But with any curry paste you are using for the first time, I recommend using a lower amount, just 1-2 tablespoons initially, and you can always stir more into the final dish once you taste and see what you think. Adding more spice is easy, but once a dish is too spicy for you it’s much harder to go back!
In a large pan or skillet, heat the olive oil over medium heat. Cook the potatoes and carrots for 3-4 minutes. Then add the bell pepper and onion and cook for another 3-4 minutes. By this time the potatoes should be fork tender, meaning you can easily slice one with the side of a fork. Test one if needed.
In a separate bowl, whisk together the coconut milk and curry paste so they are well combined. Then pour this in the pan along with the peas. Cook for another 2-3 minutes. Add 1/4 to 1/2 cup water to thin the curry some. I personally like my curry on the thicker side, more like a thin sauce, so I tend to stick to a 1/4 cup, but this is up to you and your own preferences.
Once everything is nice and hot, taste and if needed add a little more curry paste, or soy sauce, or red pepper flakes depending what you feel the dish needs.
Top with cilantro and a big squeeze of lime juice over rice or with naan bread. If you have leftovers, I recommend saving the curry separate from the rice (or bread) and rewarming before mixing to eat again. Note: If you’d like to add some protein to this, feel free. You could easily add some baked tofu, shrimp, or chicken depending what you and your family likes. Happy curry making! xo. Emma
PS – I bought my glass storage containers from Amazon and looove them!
20-Minute Vegetable Green Curry
Ingredients
- 1-2 tablespoons olive oil
- 2 tablespoons chopped onion
- 2 potatoes
- 1/2 bell pepper
- 2 carrots
- 1/3 cup green peas
- 2 tablespoons green curry paste or more to taste
- 1 can coconut milk light or full fat, up to you
- 1/4 to 1/2 cup water
- cilantro and lime for garnish
- cooked rice or naan for serving
Instructions
-
If you are cooking rice to go with this, get it started now because the curry will come together quickly.
-
Prep the vegetables: peel, slice, and chop as needed. On the potato, be sure to keep the pieces quite small (see mine in the photos for reference). If you cut the potato pieces large this will add on cooking time, or result in not quite cooked through potatoes while everything else is ready to be eaten. You’ll also note that I was using frozen green peas so to prep those I simply thawed, or partially thaw (you don’t want them mushy).
-
In a large pan or skillet, heat the olive oil over medium heat. Cook the potatoes and carrots for 3-4 minutes. Then add the bell pepper and onion and cook for another 3-4 minutes. By this time the potatoes should be fork tender, meaning you can easily slice one with the side of a fork. Test one if needed.
-
In a separate bowl, whisk together the coconut milk and curry paste so they are well combined. Then pour this in the pan along with the peas. Cook for another 2-3 minutes. Add 1/4 to 1/2 cup water to thin the curry some. I personally like my curry on the thicker side, more like a thin sauce, so I tend to stick to 1/4 cup, but this is up to you and your own preferences.
-
Once everything is nice and hot, taste and if needed add a little more curry paste, or soy sauce, or red pepper flakes depending what you feel the dish needs. Top with cilantro and a big squeeze of lime juice over rice or with naan bread. If you have leftovers, I recommend saving the curry separate from the rice (or bread) and rewarming before mixing to eat again.
Recipe Notes
if you’d like to add some protein to this, feel free. You could easily add some baked tofu, shrimp, or chicken, depending what you and your family likes.
24 Comments
It sounds yummy! Where did you get the glass dish with divider?
Amazon! I recently got two sets of glass tupperware type containers and they have made meal prepping and saving leftovers WAY better. I love storing food in glass over plastic. I prefer it anyway and it holds up better to dishwashing too.
This looks delicious, and is so convenient to make! Reminds me of when I went to Chiang Mai last month and made a green curry in a cooking class. Would love to bring the flavours of Thailand to my home! 😀 ❤️
Charmaine Ng | Architecture & Lifestyle Blog
http://charmainenyw.com
This looks amazing! I totally need to add this into my weekly menu for next week!
Paige
http://thehappyflammily.com
I adore a good curry so I’m excited to try this. Thanks Emma!!
Lulu x
This looks amazing. I’m going to use this recipe for mid-week dinners (I’ll put chicken in it). I also like those glass divider containers. I saw the previous comments about them too! I’ve almost switched all my food storage to glass now but I don’t have ones with dividers. They would be so handy.
Looks delicious, but how do you get potatoes to cook in 6-8 minutes!
This looks all kinds of tasty! I just cooked with curry for the first time earlier this week and it turned out amazing. It’s such a great winter flavor. Can’t wait to try green curry:-)
I always add 1 tsp. of brown sugar per can of coconut milk to my curries, it balances out the spicy and adds a deeper flavor. You also can’t forget fish sauce!
This looks & sounds delicious! We’re not vegetarian, or vegan, but I think with some chicken added in, even the hubby would like this meal! Perfect for cold winter nights!
I seriously cannot wait to try this! There’s a place by my house that occasionally serves an amazing coconut curry ramen, and I have been obsessed with that type of flavor ever since I tried it. As someone who is also a self-described “mostly vegetarian”, I’m always looking for quick healthy meal ideas that are still interesting and hearty enough that my carnivore husband will actually eat them, and the struggle is real. Thank you!
Well, dang! I was so excited to try this dish last night. But even with 3 TBSP of curry, I found it rather tasteless. I am not a fan of spicy, either. Ended up needing a lot of salt and pepper. It was also incredibly thick, even with the full 1/2 c. of water. But my boyfriend thought it was good. But I think he may have been trying to be nice, since I was so excited to try this. I did saute some shrimp for him, since he” needs” a protein. No vegetarian for him! He is a spicy freak. So he added more curry to his bowl, red pepper flakes, and Tabasco. I even used my Lodge pan, since this is the same pan in the pictures above. Oh well! Maybe I will try again, and just add more water & curry?? More coconut milk?? Suggestions???
I use veggie broth instead of coconut milk, so it’s not thick. I also add garlic salt, which I think ups the flavor.
I agree! I just made it and I think green curry might not be for me. I like a more layered and deep curry spice. I tried to amp it up with a little added salt, red pepper flakes, curry powder, garam masala, and extra curry but it just fell flat for me. Maybe if I’d added the spices while the potato was cooking? I don’t know but I’m going to try another curry recipe.
@ELIZABETH Thank you for actually making and reviewing the recipe. My pet peeve is wading through tons of comments about how the food LOOKS but not how it TASTES.
I just made this as part of my meal prep for the week. I used one potato and four carrots because that’s what I had on hand. I cooked the roots a little bit longer and subbed 3-4 handfuls of chopped mesclun greens for the peas (again, using what’s in the fridge). Simple recipe with great flavor!!
Awesome!
This turned out amazing! I doubled the recipe and added 2 teaspoons of coconut sugar and chicken. My husband loves it and so does our one year old daughter! Thanks for the recipe!
Is Cilantro the same as Coriander? I’m in Australia and have never heard of Cilantro but when I googled, it seems they are from the same plant but taste very differently. However, in Australia people just call it Coriander. So not sure if you are using what is known as Coriander. Can you confirm either way? Thank you!
LULU T., no, I would not use coriander as a substitute. Here in Texas, cilantro is the leaves, and coriander is the seed. In the UK, coriander is the leaves. Use parsley as a substitute for garnishment if available. Our sympathies are with you about the wildfires.
I just made this recipe for the third time tonight and I love it! I do make a number of substitutes though. Instead of coconut milk I use 2 cups vegetable broth and 1 (vegetarian) chicken bouillon cube. I also add a hefty few shakes of crushed red pepper and garlic salt. Because I use broth, I leave out the extra water. I think this is a great base recipe for curry and can really be tweaked to fit your personal taste. It’s been added to my regular meals rotation!
Yum! You’re changes sound delicious, thanks for sharing!
This looks lovely. I love time saving recipes especially with teenagers wanted fed now!
Thanks
Lisa
http://www.purelyfinances.com
This was really tasty and so simple! We decided not to thin it out with water, so it turned out more stew-like (which might have helped retain some of the flavor). It did taste a little bland at first, but a few shakes of salt and a squeeze of lime helped a lot. We had it with a side of homemade naan and it was incredibly filling, even without a protein.