When I tell people that I am a food blogger, one of the most common follow up questions is, "What's your favorite food to cook?" For the longest time, I would respond, "I don't know. I like to cook everything."
Way to be indecisive, right? It wasn't until recently that I realized, deep down in my core, I love Asian food the most.
There's something about the combination of ginger, garlic, onions and spice that is like magic to my palette.
One of my favorite dishes to cook at home is this one-pot curry noodles. It is a Thai-inspired dish made with red curry paste, which you can find in the Asian aisles of most supermarkets. (I use this Thai Kitchen brand red curry paste.)
To make the curry broth, you heat up slices of ginger, minced garlic and red curry paste until they're fragrant. I don't usually bother with slicing the ginger too finely because it mainly serves to flavor the broth. I don't eat it.
For the curry broth, I highly recommend adding full-fat coconut milk. It's the natural sweet flavors of full-fat coconut milk that make the broth special. However, if you are looking for a lighter dish, feel free to use light coconut milk.
One more thing to note is that the rice noodles will continue absorbing the liquid even after you're done cooking the dish.
If you want a soupier bowl of noodles, you'll want to eat the noodles right when they're done. If that's not possible, you can also add another 2 cups of vegetable broth and another ¼ cup of coconut milk so that you have more broth to work with.
Oh, and this recipe can be made completely vegan by simply using agave syrup in place of the honey.
And if you love this recipe, be sure to check out these One-Pot Thai Green Curry Noodles too. It's a slightly different twist, but equally delicious!
Ingredients
For the one-pot curry noodles:
- 1 ½ tablespoons olive oil
- 1 tablespoon ginger sliced
- 3 garlic cloves minced
- 2 tablespoons Thai red curry paste
- 5 cups vegetable broth
- ¾ cup full-fat coconut milk
- 1 tablespoon honey (or agave for vegan version)
- 1 teaspoon salt ,depending on your taste
- 14 ounce container extra-firm tofu drained and cubed
- 8 ounces rice noodles
- 2 large carrots peeled and julienned
- 1 ½ tablespoons lime juice (optional)
Optional garnishes:
- cilantro sliced
- bird's eye chili (or Thai chili)
- black sesame seeds chopped
- scallions
Instructions
- Heat the oil in a heavy pot over medium-high heat.
- Add the sliced ginger and sauté for about 30 seconds.
- Add the minced garlic and red curry paste, and stir for another 30 seconds to a minute. The red curry paste usually contains a tiny bit of liquid, so there will be some splattering when you heat the paste in the pot. Be careful here.
- Stir in the vegetable broth, cover the pot and bring everything to a boil.Once the broth has boiled, add the coconut milk, honey (or agave) and salt, and bring the broth back to boil again.
- Add the cubed tofu and noodles, and cook everything, uncovered, for 4 to 5 minutes, until the rice noodles have softened.
- Turn off the heat and stir in the julienned carrots. Finish off the curry noodles with lime juice, if you like.
- Garnish noodles with cilantro, chilis and sesame seeds.
Rachael says
This sounds delicious 🙂
Rachael xx.
theteacozykitchen.blogspot.co.uk
Sarah says
Do you have a recommendation for good red curry that's vegetarian? I have some non-vegetarian paste that I love but I'm hosting some people that can't eat it soon.
Jennifer says
I love your site! I have two small kinds who love big flavors but not spice. Can you suggest a red curry brand that isn't spicy or suggest a reasonable substitute? Thank you!
Jennifer says
Oops! Kids, not kinds:)
Rebecca says
Made this last night and it was so very delicious! Added slivered red sweet pepper and shredded red cabbage. Thanks for a very quick, easy and wonderful meal!
Rebecca says
Made this last night with a few tweaks - I actually made this in my slow cooker on high for 4 hrs, and cooked the rice noodles separately. Used almond milk instead of coconut to lower the fat content, and chose to use chickpeas for my protein. Also added in some swiss chard as the more veggies the better in my opinion. Enjoyed this for dinner last night and lunch again today, and excited to eat the leftovers the next few days. Thanks for a fabulous and versatile recipe 😀
Jessie says
If you don't plan on eating immediately or want left overs make sure to cook the noodles seperately. Mine went completely to mush while we were waiting for a side dish to finish cooking and the soup was ruined :/
jolie says
you do not specifiy whether the red curry paste is vegan or not. A lot of curry pastes have shellfish, fish flakes and/or oyster sauce.
Karin says
If you're concerned about dead critters in your curry paste, the Indian brands are much more likely to be vegan. Soy and my gut don't get along at all so I added scrambled eggs instead of tofu. We enjoyed this with some naan. Thanks for the recipe!
Katie Trant says
Thanks for the tip, Karin! And scrambled eggs sounds like a great substitute for tofu - so quick and easy!
Nikki says
I made this earlier this week and we enjoyed it! Simple and easy. I did cook the tofu in the dry pan to put color on both sides of it before making the rest of the meal in the same pot. I also added green peas for some extra color and skipped the cilantro because the grocery store was actually out of cilantro! We reheated it to have leftovers for dinner last night and it was great reheated too. I was careful with the noodles because I did not want them to get too mushy but they were fine even reheated.
Katie Trant says
Love the idea of adding peas for extra colour. Thanks, Nikki!
Susan says
IS this supposed to be really soupy? It is delicious but it doesn’t turn out quite as thick as the picture looks - it turns out more like a soup. Is that right?
Katie Trant says
Hi Susan, it shouldn't be too soupy. It's possible that your noodles cooked faster than ours did and left more liquid behind.
Susan says
Can you share what brand you used?
Katie Trant says
We used Asian Kitchen rice noodles - the wide ones like you'd normally use for Pad Thai.
Jason says
Hi! Could I serve this over rice instead of rice noodles? Would that change the recipe at all?
Katie Trant says
Hi Jason, it would indeed change the recipe. The noodles are cooked in the broth, which thickens it up. Serving over rice you'd have a much runnier soup.
Ria says
Hi all, newbie at veganism and cooking in general . This was delish! I followed the recipe to the T. The only thing is that when I added the 5 cups of broth, the flavor was totally diluted. So i doubled up on everything but couldn’t get it to where I had it before the broth. Next time: less broth. Still, it was delicious and soooo easy.
And yes, gotta read the labels. I even found out the tapenade I was eating had anchovies!?????!!!???
Elizabeth Cannell says
SOOO so yummy! I added a tsp of sesame oil and 1/2 tsp of tumeric and it was delicious 🙂 Thank you so much for the recipe!
Janet says
We aren't vegetarian, but love tofu and Thai curry, so jumped right on this dish--halved for only 2 of us. I also like more veggies in my curries so in addition to the carrot, put in some sliced sweet onion and red bell pepper, both sliced thin, with a handful of snow peas tossed in the mix long enough to get warmed up. We gobbled up the whole thing and will make it again soon.
For those who are afraid to use full fat coconut milk, this recipe calls for less than half a can, or about 6-7 grams of fat, or 55-65 fat calories per serving. We all need some fat for a healthy brain, not to mention healthy skin, hair, nails, and digestive tract. Most nutritionists recommend 25-30% of calories from fat for a healthy diet. As someone who has to count calories every day, I feel your pain. But if you use a nonstick pan to saute the veggies, you can cut back the oil--I used 1/2 T for a half recipe and it was ok. You can nuke the veggies using a covered dish in the microwave and use no oil at all. Since there are 18 grams of fat in 1 T of oil, the same amount as is in 1/2 c full fat coconut milk, you decide which particular fat source is going to give you the most flavor. I vote for full fat coconut milk--it's SO worth it, and a calorie bargain, IMO.
Emily says
Great recipe, I've made this several times but I only use 3 cups of broth because I don't like it soupy at all.
michael says
i would recommend pan frying or baking the tofu in oil instead of simmering in the broth. crispy tofu is a nice contrast imo.
Jade C says
Hi! Was just wondering if there was any good altérnate to coconut milk? My partner would love this but is anaphylactic to coconut!
Nicole says
For a vegetarian version, you can try plain yogurt or heavy cream to get the creaminess. For a vegan version, I would try a thicker plant based milk like cashew milk or soy yogurt.
suzi says
FAB U LUSH!!!! Made tonite and added a bunch of baby zucchini sliced uber thin. Layered the carrots all raw and julienned on top and gluten free fettuccini with a slice of lime in each container of soup to go. Ready to plop in the pot heat and enjoy thru the week.