The husband loves Thai Yellow Curry. It’s pretty much guaranteed that when we visit a Thai restaurant, he will order some form of curry: Yellow, Panang, Red, and occasionally Green. He’ll never order a stir fry or noodles, although he does like Pad Thai from time to time.
I love curry too.
But, I usually order stir frys at Thai restaurants because the curries are SO heavy and full of cream and oil.
So of course my mission became: to makeover Thai Yellow Curry in our kitchen – making it healthier but still “husband approved” and restaurant quality!
My main healthy swaps included:
- Light coconut milk instead of regular
- TONS of spices instead of cream/oil
- TONS of veggies for great texture
The Ingredients
- 2-3 cups light coconut milk (about 20 oz)
- 3-4 tablespoons high quality curry powder (I like the one from Trader Joe’s)
- 1/2 teaspoon fine grain sea salt (or more to taste)
- 1 large red onion, chopped
- 3-5 medium garlic cloves, chopped (adjust the amount of garlic based on how spicy you like it)
- 8 ounces firm tofu, cut into small cubes
- Veggies: 2 heads of broccoli, 1 pound asparagus – chopped, 1 yellow pepper, thinly sliced
- 1/3 cup chopped cashews, toasted
- a handful of cilantro, loosely chopped (optional – I like cilantro but the husband doesn’t, so I omitted this)
- 1/8-1/4 tsp cayenne pepper (if you like things spicy)
- Cumin, cardamom and pepper (to taste – I used about 1 tsp cumin, a sprinkling of cardamom, and a pinch of pepper)
- Brown rice for serving
The Directions
Step 1: Cut all your veggies. Saute the onion and 2 cloves chopped garlic in 1/2 tsp olive oil in a large pot over medium heat. Add 2 Tbsp curry powder and salt and stir until combined.
Step 2: Add the coconut milk to the onion mixture, bring to simmer and work out any clumps. Stir in the tofu and cook for a few minutes until the tofu has absorbed most of the flavors. Simmer the liquid on low heat until it has cooked down slightly.
Step 3: Meanwhile, in a large pan, saute the broccoli, asparagus, and pepper (or whatever veggies you use) with 2 cloves chopped garlic over medium heat. Add salt, cayenne, and remaining curry power/cumin and other spices to taste. Cook until veggies are crisp.
Step 4: Pour tofu/coconut milk mixture over veggies (in the pan) and stir to combine.
Step 5: Add additional spices as needed. Cook through for a few minutes.
Step 6: Remove from heat and stir in cashews. Serve with brown rice.
Now this is one yellow curry you can enjoy guilt free!
The spices and the creaminess of the light coconut milk are really the ingredients that make this dish. I’m a huge fan of cashews as well – their crunchiness and slight sweetness are absolutely perfect in this curry.
This also makes for great leftovers, because the spices just marinate even further with the tofu and veggies so the flavors continue to build even further! Although you may not have any food left, because this dish is so delicious you can’t help but devour it all.
