Green Curry Noodle

Though my holiday to Phuket was not as magical as I expected it to be, I fondly look back on the delicious vegetarian food that I got to enjoy. As I was there during the Phuket Vegetarian Festival, it was relatively easy to get veg food and often I was stuffing my face with fried fritters and street snacks. And, it was also the first time I got to try the famed green curry and it was a mild spicy curry that tantalizes the taste buds almost apologetically. The use of coconut milk reminded me of a Malay dish called Lemak (literally translated: 'fats'), so called for the heavy use of coconut milk. It is also mildly spiced with turmeric and often with some shrimp paste but the green curry was a favourite for its refreshing and aromatic allure.

So, after coming back, I needed to recreate green curry. I was initially tempted to use store bought paste but unfortunately they contained fish sauce or shrimps in it. A cursory search on trusted google let me to this website which made very good green curry paste. I actually doubled the recipe and made green curry another day. 

I also decided to try using the curry as a base to make noodles and it turned out pretty good. Just throw in flavourful vegetables of your choice, like corn, carrots and top it with some beancurd for proteins. Unfortunately, the picture covers the noodles completely but its somewhere underneath all that veggie!

Green Curry Noodles

2 teaspoon coconut oil (I used it as I didn't want to use too much coconut milk, but any oil is fine)

1 tofu

100g shallots, sliced

700ml water

100g carrots

150g broccoli

100g cauliflower

80g baby corn

60g oyster mushroom

2 teaspoon salt or to taste

1 tablespoon soy sauce

pepper to taste

6 tablespoon green curry paste (adjust salt according to how saltiness of the paste)

12 tablespoon coconut milk

300g - 400g noodles

Method:

1) Slice the tofu into triangles and fry them in the coconut oil. Remove and drain on kitchen paper.

2) In the same oil, add shallots and fry until golden brown.

3) Pour the water and bring to  a boil. Add hard vegetables like carrot, baby corn and cauliflower first. Cook until it softens a little and add the remaining vegetables.

4) Add the remaining seasonings, green curry paste and coconut milk. Add more coconut milk if you would like it creamier.

5) Bring to  a boil and remove from heat.

6) In a pot, boil the noodles until it is cooked. Drain and serve up into bowls. Pour the green curry on top and add the sliced tofu.