Thai Peanut Coconut Curry

This curry is always a hit on our dinner table. The wonderful thing about it is that you can always switch things up by using different vegetables that are in season or that you have on hand. Whatever veggies you use, this curry will taste wonderful, because the secret lies in its sauce.

Ingredients:

• 3 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• 1 medium size sweet onion, roughly diced
• 1 medium size sweet potato, cut into ~ 1″ (2 1/2 cm) cubes
• about 1/2 lb (250 g) shiitake mushrooms, cleaned and cut into thick slices
• about 1/2 lb (250 g) broccoli, cut into florets with stems peeled and cut into bite size pieces
• 2 medium size carrots, sliced
• 2 oz (~ 60 g) fresh ginger, cleaned and minced
• 5 cloves of garlic, minced
• 1 red bell pepper, quartered, cored, seeds removed, and sliced
• 2 baby bok choys, cleaned and roughly chopped
• 2 sticks celery, diced
• 2 Tbsp Thai seasoning ( I use Frontier organic)
• 1/2 tsp whole cumin seeds
• 1/2 tsp crushed cardamom seeds
• 1/2 tsp ground turmeric
• 1/2 cup (120 ml) gluten free soy sauce
• two 14 fl oz (400 ml) cans full fat coconut milk
• 1 Tbsp maple syrup
• 1/3 cup sugar free peanut butter
• 1 ripe mango, peeled, seed removed, cubed
• cilantro, chopped
• 1-2 hot peppers, cored, halved, seeds removed, finely sliced (optional)
• black sesame seeds (optional)
• sprouts of your choice (optional)

Preparation:

Prepare your vegetables and line up the ingredients. Heat wok or large, heavy pot on medium. Add the olive oil with diced onion and sauté 5-10 minutes until the onion is soft. Add sweet potato cubes and fry for another 5 minutes. Add shiitake mushrooms and fry for 5 more minutes. Now add broccoli, carrots, ginger, and garlic and turn up the heat to medium high. Stir the vegetables very well for about 10 minutes. Now add bell pepper, bok choy, and celery. Stir until bok choy starts to wilt. Turn heat back to medium and stir in Thai seasoning, cumin seeds, cardamom seeds, and turmeric until everything is well combined. Pour in soy sauce, coconut milk, and maple syrup. Stir again until well combined. Place peanut butter in a small bowl and spoon in some of the curry sauce. Stir until very smooth and all the peanut butter chunks are gone. Don’t omit this step, because nobody likes those chunks in their sauce. Pour the peanut mixture into the curry, stir well and cook until veggies are almost soft but still have a bite, which will only take a few minutes. Don’t overcook! At the very end, add mango chunks, stir, and top everything with cilantro. If you like it spicy add hot peppers and, also optional, sesame seeds and sprouts. Enjoy with rice or rice noodles!

Notes: 

• Roasted peanuts, fried tofu or tempeh would be a wonderful protein rich addition to this dish.
• Instead of mango, you could try this recipe with pineapple.
• You could also use some pumpkin or winter squash instead of sweet potato.
• Sometimes I like to substitute shredded green cabbage for bok choy.
• If you are allergic to peanuts, you could try other nut butters.
• As always, be creative and make this your own!