Coconut Ginger Vegetable Curry

This coconut ginger vegetable curry is bright, flavorful and easy to make. It’s packed with fresh flavor thanks to garlic, ginger, coconut and lime.

Watch the Video

Vegetable Curry Video

Southeast Asian Inspired Veggie Curry

Let’s talk about this veggie curry recipe, shall we? It’s rich, creamy, packed with nutritious vegetables and extremely flavorful. Think creamy coconut, ginger, chilies, fresh lime and lots of texture from veggies. You’ll want to enjoy this with something that will pick up all of the sauce like rice (try cilantro lime rice), quinoa or naan (this soft and fluffy flatbread would also work).

Thai Red Vegetable Curry

The word curry is a very loose term and one that was likely used by colonizers to simplify the dishes they were seeing in foreign countries. There are quite a few curry products sold in stores including curry powder and curry paste. In this recipe, we call for Southeast Asian red curry paste. For the most authentic flavor, you can make your own, but we have to admit that store-bought curry paste makes this dish extra easy. It’s made with fresh, bright ingredients like lemongrass, ginger, galangal, chiles and herbs.

Our recipe is not an authentic one, but it is something that we make often. This is a perfect recipe to keep in your back pocket for when you don’t have a plan for dinner, but you do have a bunch of half used veggies piling up in the fridge. In the recipe below, we call for onion, carrot, cauliflower, potato, green beans and tomatoes. Feel free to substitute or add other vegetables in this curry.

Making vegetable curry

In addition to the vegetables, we add a few simple, but very flavorful ingredients:

Coconut Milk — This adds creaminess and is the base of our curry. Use full-fat coconut milk. Before buying a can, shake it. If you don’t hear anything or there is only a little noise, it’s perfect. If you shake it and it glugs back and forth too easily, choose a different brand. We want our coconut milk to be thick and creamy! Check the video of us making the recipe and watch me add the coconut milk. See how thick it is? That’s what we are looking for.

Thai Red Curry Paste — As I mentioned above, you can make your own (thumb through Southeast Asian cookbooks or online for inspiration). We use store-bought curry paste. It’s easy, keeps in the fridge and tastes great. Thai Kitchen is the brand we have in our fridge.

Fish Sauce — This is one of my favorite ingredients in our kitchen. When a dish just isn’t singing to me, I add a splash of fish sauce and guess what, the dish tastes SO much better. Fish sauce is packed with glutamates, which means it adds an unbeatable rich savory flavor to dishes. If you don’t eat fish sauce, there are some vegan fish sauce options available (although we have not tried one). You can also try to mimic some of that umami rich flavor by combining soy sauce and mushrooms or mushroom powder. We use mushroom powder to make our taco seasoning and talk more about its benefits in that recipe.

Fresh Lime Juice — This vegetable curry isn’t done until I’ve added a bunch of fresh lime juice to it. When you think you’ve added enough, add an extra splash. Trust me.

More veggie recipes we love

Coconut Ginger Vegetable Curry

Coconut Ginger Vegetable Curry

  • PREP
  • COOK
  • TOTAL

This vegetable curry is quick and packed with flavor. We use store-bought Thai red curry paste to make it (Thai Kitchen), but if you have your own, feel free to use it. You are also welcome to substitute green curry paste for the red curry paste.

Makes 4 servings

Watch Us Make the Recipe

You Will Need

1 ½ tablespoons coconut oil or vegetable oil

1 large onion, halved and sliced

Half of a medium cauliflower, cut into florets

2 medium carrots, sliced

1 large Yukon Gold potato, halved and thinly sliced

1 tablespoon minced garlic, 3 to 4 medium cloves

1 tablespoon minced fresh ginger, 1-inch piece of ginger

1 teaspoon dried turmeric or substitute 1 tablespoon minced fresh turmeric

1 ½ tablespoons red curry paste, we use Thai Kitchen

1 (15-ounce) can full-fat coconut milk, about 1 ½ cups

1 to 1 ½ cups water or use broth

Handful of green beans or snap peas, trimmed and cut in half

1 cup chopped tomatoes, 3 small tomatoes

1 tablespoon fish sauce, we use Red Boat

Handful fresh cilantro leaves with tender stems, chopped

Juice of 1 lime or more to taste

Directions

    1Heat the oil in a wok or wide saucepan over medium-high heat. When the oil is shimmering, add the onions, carrots and cauliflower florets. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the vegetables begin to take on a little color and soften; about 8 minutes.

    2Toss in the minced garlic, ginger and turmeric. Cook, while tossing the spices around the pan for one minute.

    3Add the curry paste, and then toss, making sure that it has a chance to coat most of the vegetables.

    4Stir in the potatoes, coconut milk and 1 cup of water. Stir, and then bring to a simmer. Cook, at a low simmer, until the potatoes are almost tender, 5 to 10 minutes. If the curry seems too thick or there doesn’t seem to be enough liquid, add another 1/2 cup of water.

    5Toss in the tomatoes and green beans, and cook another 3 to 5 minutes or until the green beans are bright green and tender.

    6Finish by stirring in the fish sauce, cilantro and juice of one lime. Taste, and then adjust with more fish sauce or lime juice.

Adam and Joanne's Tips

  • Refrigerate in an airtight container for up to three days or freeze for up to one month.
  • Vegan/Vegetarian substitution: Substitute the fish sauce for coconut aminos or a vegan fish sauce. You can also mimic the glutamates in fish sauce (rich, savory flavor) by adding soy sauce and mushroom powder. We make mushroom powder when making our homemade taco seasoning and explain more about it in that recipe. We recommend starting with 1/2 tablespoon of soy sauce and a teaspoon or two of mushroom powder, and then add more of each to taste.
  • Gluten-free: Make sure that the curry paste and fish sauce you use are gluten-free.
  • Nutrition facts: The nutrition facts provided below are estimates. We have used the USDA database to calculate approximate values.

If you make this recipe, snap a photo and hashtag it #inspiredtaste — We love to see your creations on Instagram and Facebook! Find us: @inspiredtaste

Nutrition Per Serving Serving Size 1/4 of the recipe / Calories 363 / Total Fat 23.7g / Saturated Fat 20.4g / Cholesterol 0mg / Sodium 550.1mg / Carbohydrate 35.8g / Dietary Fiber 6.7g / Total Sugars 7.9g / Protein 7.4g
AUTHOR:  Adam and Joanne Gallagher
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13 comments… Leave a Review
  • deborah king January 17, 2023, 3:35 pm

    Hi, I randomly came across your website. I was looking for easy vegetarian recipes and happened on your site. I’m so jazzed! Thank you for what you do.

    Reply
    • Joanne January 19, 2023, 1:26 pm

      That’s very kind of you to say, Deborah! Welcome.

      Reply
  • Pauline April 27, 2022, 1:06 am

    Really love this recipe. I add fresh pineapple to make it sweeter. The only concern is that will prefer to make my own curry paste instead using off the shelf. Will really hope to see the making of the red or green curry paste in the near future. Thank you.

    Reply
    • Adam April 27, 2022, 2:29 pm

      Glad you enjoyed the recipe. Making our own curry paste is something we have wanted to do for some time now. It is going to be dependent on sourcing all of the ingredients required to make the paste from scratch. If we find a method that we love we will be sure to update this recipe.

      Reply
  • Ann March 16, 2022, 6:20 pm

    Delicious! Would definitely make this again, hit the curry spot for me

    Reply
  • eliane February 7, 2022, 9:28 pm

    DELICIOUS!!!

    Reply
    • Gina March 28, 2023, 6:09 am

      Possibly the best curry I’ve ever made. Thanks for the recipe!

      Reply
  • John Howard July 1, 2021, 9:23 am

    Was not pleased with this recipe – first the timing was completely off – you Indicate 5 minutes to have the potatoes be “almost tender”, it was more like 35 minutes – also it took ages to tenderize the peas. Second the use of snap peas was a complete mistake – they are in season but it should have been snow peas or as you did in the video green beans. Third it was not “packed with flavour “ as indicated- the fish sauce added a bitter taste which had to be over ridden with salt and sugar.
    Most of your recipes are great – but this one not so much.

    Reply
    • Joanne July 6, 2021, 3:15 pm

      Hi John, We are sorry you didn’t enjoy the recipe. We slice our potatoes quite thin (see the video) so they do cook quickly. I altered the recipe instructions to make sure that is more clear. I’m not sure why your peas took so long to cook. For us, we really only need a few minutes for them to turn crisp tender and bright green. We use Red Boat fish sauce and love it. It’s possible that the fish sauce you used has a more bitter flavor than ours. If you can find it, I’d give Red Boat a try (we’ve seen it in most US grocery stores). Again, we are sorry the dish didn’t come out as expected!

      Reply
  • Angie June 15, 2021, 4:26 am

    Very tasty

    Reply
  • LS June 14, 2021, 3:06 pm

    Delicious and so easy. If you are averse to heat, start with less curry paste and build.

    Reply
  • D Jarvis June 11, 2021, 9:55 am

    Can’t wait to try these recipes

    Reply
  • Leslie A Yoder June 10, 2021, 7:50 pm

    I KNOW this will get 5 stars when I make it tomorrow. I am a “more-than-half a century” cook and your ingredients and photos make me in a hurry to make this. I would make it tonight but my chicken-veggie-noodle soup is already on the stove. Thanks for sending me your email. Can I get on your list which sends out more frequent emails? Keep on cooking and sharing your “do-able” recipes. One more thing: I have all these ingredients in my fridge and pantry so I don’t feel daunted by ingredient list. I encourage others to be creative and use what you have on hand. Eventually you will have curry paste and fish sauce and sesame oil among your pantry items.

    Reply

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