Description
This spicy coconut lime curry is a blend of aromatics like lemongrass, Thai chili, sweet shallots, and coconut milk, along with crispy tofu, for a spicy and comforting curry perfect for winter!
Ingredients
Scale
Crispy Tofu
- 1 block (10 oz / 284 g) high-protein tofu or extra-firm tofu
- Avocado oil and kosher salt
Aromatics
- 3 large shallots, finely minced (100 g)
- 5 cloves garlic, finely grated or minced (10 g)
- 2” piece ginger, finely grated or minced (20 g)
- 3 stalks lemongrass, finely minced (10 g)
- 2 tbsp(38 g) red curry paste
Other Ingredients
- 1 tsp sweet paprika
- 1/2 tsp kosher salt, plus more as needed
- 1 tbsp (15 g) coconut sugar
- 1 tbsp (15 g) soy sauce
- 1 can (13.5 oz / 400 g) coconut milk
- 1/2 cup water
- 6 makrut lime leaves, torn
- 1 lime, zest and juice
- 1/2 cup fresh thai basil leaves, whole
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 450°F and line a pan with parchment paper.
- Bake the tofu. Break the tofu into bite-sized chunks*, and dump onto the prepared sheet pan. Drizzle over a generous amount of avocado oil and kosher salt, toss to coat, and bake in the preheated oven for 25 minutes or until crisp and golden.
- Make the curry – bloom the aromatics. Add a generous amount of avocado oil to a deep pan and heat on medium heat until the oil shimmers, then add in the shallots. Saute the shallots until translucent, then add in the garlic, ginger, lemongrass, and red curry paste. Saute for an additional 1-2 minutes until fragrant.
- Make the curry – add the remaining ingredients and simmer. Lastly, add in the paprika, kosher salt, coconut sugar, soy sauce, coconut milk, water, and lime leaves. Stir well to combine, and let simmer until it reaches a soft boil, about 2-3 minutes. Then dump in the tofu and stir to coat. Partially cover the pan, reduce the heat to low, and let the curry simmer for 8-10 minutes until thickened. This will also give the makrut lime leaves time to steep into the curry.
- Finish and serve. Right before serving, remove the lime leaves, and stir in the lime juice, lime zest, and basil leaves. Adjust for salt as needed. Serve the curry on top of white rice or with flatbread.
Notes
*Tearing the tofu instead of chopping it creates tons of little edges and crags that get super crispy and golden as the tofu bakes.