Tofu Thai Yellow Curry
My restaurant-style Tofu Thai Yellow Curry recipe is a vegetarian and vegan-friendly makeover of the classic dish, but lighter and healthier. It is packed with veggies, tofu, and cashews, and cooked in a curry-spiced coconut sauce that takes ONLY 30 minutes. You'll wanna bookmark this curry!
Servings: 6 servings
Calories: 277kcal
Equipment
Ingredients
- 3½ cups light coconut milk about 2, 15oz cans
- 3 tbsp curry powder more or less depending on how spicy your brand of curry powder is
- 1-2 tsp fine grain sea salt or more to taste
- 1 large red onion chopped
- 3-5 medium garlic cloves minced (adjust the amount of garlic based on how spicy you like it)
- 16 ounces firm tofu cut into small cubes
- 8 ounces baked tofu cut into small cubes
- 2 heads broccoli
- 1 pound asparagus chopped
- 2 yellow peppers thinly sliced; or any other color sweet pepper
- 1 potato diced (optional)
- ⅓ cup chopped cashews toasted
- a handful of cilantro loosely chopped (optional – I like cilantro but the husband doesn’t, so I omitted this)
- ⅛-¼ tsp cayenne pepper or to taste
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1 pinch ground cardamom
- 1 large pinch ground black pepper
- Brown rice for serving or about 1-2 cups of brown rice, steamed
Instructions
- 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.
- 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.
- Meanwhile, in a large pan, saute the broccoli, asparagus, potato (if using) and pepper with 2 chopped garlic cloves over medium heat. If you are using the potato, I recommend adding that first, and cooking it for about 5-10 minutes before adding the other veggies. Add salt, cayenne, remaining curry power, cumin, and other spices to taste. Cook until veggies are tender.
- Add the tofu and coconut milk mixture to the pan of veggies. Stir to combine.
- Add additional spices as needed. Increase the heat to medium and bring the curry to a simmer. Cook through for about 5 minutes.
- Remove the curry from the heat and stir in cashews. Serve with brown rice.
Notes
- My #1 Secret Tip for this tofu Thai yellow curry is to drain and press the tofu before cubing and adding it to the dish, as it will help your tofu retain a nice texture. Additionally, it removes any extra water from the tofu, which can make the yellow tofu curry sauce too thin.
- Cut the vegetables into uniform sizes: I always cut the vegetables into small, even pieces to cook quickly and evenly.
- Cook the potatoes first: If you use potatoes in this recipe, make sure to cook them first before the other veggies so that they become al dente. Then, add the other veggies so that all veggies become tender at the same time. Otherwise, if you throw all veggies together, the broccoli will become tender before the potatoes and turn into mush.
- Adjust the spices: I always adjust the spices in curry recipes to suit my kids and guests. All of the spices (the coriander, curry powder, cumin, cayenne, and cilantro) can be increased or decreased.
Nutrition
Calories: 277kcal | Carbohydrates: 23g | Protein: 16g | Fat: 14g | Saturated Fat: 7g | Sodium: 527mg | Potassium: 710mg | Fiber: 7g | Sugar: 5g