G is for…Green Curry Paste!
I ummed and ahed over what to choose for “G”. A rummage in my pantry had me pull out garam masala, ginger, green tea and goldenberries before I found this jar of green curry paste. It’s a bit of a giveaway as to how long I’ve had it that the label is in French. I lived in Paris from January to July 2012 so over a year has gone by since I bought this, and it was unopened! Ooops!
It might seem a rather strange thing to bring back with me but often curry pastes contain shellfish so when I stumbled across this one I excitedly snapped it up. It turns out it’s not actually difficult to find vegan curry paste here after all, but, as you can probably tell, I like to be prepared…
I of course could have just made a curry but I was feeling more creative than that and came up with these Thai Green Curry Tempeh Patties instead. They’re pretty easy to make, with just a few ingredients, including the curry paste. Topped with a zingy lime-coconut sauce I had the full curry experience in a different form.
I had half a package of tempeh to use up so just made a small batch of these. You could easily double the ingredients to use a whole package though.
Green Curry Tempeh Patties:
1/2 225g/8oz pkg Tempeh
1/2T Green Curry Paste
1/2C Shredded Courgette (squeeze out water and measure afterwards)
1 Small clove of garlic, minced
2 Green onions, minced (approx 2T)
2T Breadcrumbs (I make breadcrumbs with any leftover bread and freeze them so I always have them to hand, For GF use GF bread)
1/2T Ground flax seed + 1 1/2T Water
Salt + Pepper to taste
Whisk together ground flax and water and leave to thicken whilst you prepare the other ingredients.
Crumble tempeh into a bowl with your fingers, add shredded courgette, garlic and green onions, Stir in breadcrumbs and flax mixture and mix well, use your hands if you like. You may need another tablespoon of breacrumbs if it’s still very sticky.
Cover the bowl and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.
Heat a medium-sized pan over medium heat and add a little drizzle of oil. Shape mixture into 4 patties and cook for a few minutes on each side, until lightly browned. (You could probably bake these for a drier texture but I haven’t tried it)
Serve with the Lime-Coconut Sauce
Serves 2
Coconut-Lime Sauce:
1 Small clove of garlic
1/2 Chili, deseeded and minced
1/8t Salt
1/2C Coconut Milk
3/4T Lime juice
2 Green onions, finely chopped
2T Chopped fresh coriander
Using a pestle and mortar (or the flat of your knife on a chopping board) smash together the garlic, chili and salt. Stir in the coconut milk and lime juice and finally the fresh coriander and green onions.
Pre-sauce
I loved these over sautéed kale and quinoa, especially as the greens and grains soak up the tasty sauce.
Now, does anyone have a good Thai green curry recipe?! Or other dishes using green curry paste?
What unopened ingredients do you have in your pantry? It can’t just be me!
Hope everyone’s keeping up with Vegan MoFo now we’re into Week 2 
Thai Green Curry is one of my favesm love the idea of serving it with quinoa.
It’s got a great flavour hasn’t it? I adore coconut milk too
I must find a recipe for a “real” curry!
I’m pretty boring and have only used it for curry. Those look delicious! I’ve never thought of making tempeh into patties before, the flavor combination sounds so good.
Awesome G post, girl! Your post is filled with awesome “green” photos, i.e., green tempeh bag, green courgette, and all green fonts! The Green Curry Tempeh patties sound so good, I would love to use them in my burgers, plus sound lovely on a bowl of quinoa and kale! I haven’t tried making Thai green curries (I know a couple that did who have been to Thailand before), but I love these spicy ones in Thailand. You can use the green curry paste to make pad thai noodles with avocado (miam miam!) Ok, since we are leaving next week, there are loads of stuff in the pantry to be finished: baked beans (Heinz), pasta packages, Valsoia “Nutella” jar, a sack of Spanish onions and potatoes, one mixed berry tartlet, and I think that’s about it…except for two Spanish olive oil. Almost done with Sriracha (lasted the whole month).
I didn’t even notice all the green! Hehe. Love your idea to use the green curry paste with noodles and avo. Yum!
You have to use those up before you leave.
You’ve got Heinz baked beans!I think Beans on toast is one of my all-time comfort foods
Crazy that you got through a whole bottle of sriracha in just a month!
I love green curry paste, and I would totally stuck up on them if I had enough room. I often have a hard time finding curry paste that are vegan.
I have quite a lot of unopened items in the pantry, items that have been there for many months : a cilantro sauce for marinating things, annatto, canned vegan duck, etc.
Glad it’s not just me! I’ve never heard of annatto before? Just looked it up and it sounds intriguing. I wonder how you’ll use it…
Wow, these look amazing! I’d say I have a good green curry recipe. But my boyfriend makes it and he refuses to write anything down.
Thank you.
My little notebook and pencil is always at the ready.
I’m just getting used to writing recipe notes as I cook now I’ve started blogging
I have some green curry paste sitting in my fridge too. You’ve inspired me to put it to use tonight! Yum
It’s so easy to forget about these things isn’t it? Hope you had a tasty dinner
Oh, how I wish my husband didn’t dislike green curry! It is one of my favorites, and I used to have a wonderful recipe for green curry chicken - I think it was the first thing I fed him after we got married, and the expression on his face wasn’t pretty… This recipe does sound wonderful. And who knows, maybe I can sneak some of this in at some point. The other idea I have is to substitute Massaman curry that he does like.
Oh dear! It must be difficult to have to cook for someone who’s fussy.
You could definitely sub another curry paste though. I’m not sure how strong Massaman is, you might have to adjust the quantity to taste.
Massaman has some heat - the level was nice when I recently put a can of it (4 oz) with two cans of coconut milk. My husband is actually not terribly fussy, or at least he isn’t any more…
In the last few months I’ve gotten into food blogs big-time and that has resulted in many experiments, most of which he has liked. A few he’s asked me not to make again, but he has not made any more faces. I think he’s come a long way. In looking at the recipe again, I think that Massaman would be a direct substitution - same amount.
Love your description “he hasn’t made any more faces”!! Hehe. Good for him in embracing healthy food
What a lovely, healthy meal!! So what if it took you a while to use the green curry paste - it was like finding a gift in your pantry. Celeste
That’s a lovely way of looking at it!
Those look great! I unintentionally (fine, slightly intentionally) tend to hoard unopened items in my pantry… I just don’t want to be caught without a key ingredient!
That’s my outlook too! I like to be prepared for every flash of inspiration or every recipe I come across!
I’ve never thought to make tempeh into patties like this! What a beautiful dish. And I just happen to have a jar of green curry paste in the fridge.
They’re tasty little cakes
I’m thinking you could put them in a bun too for an exotic burger!
Your zucchini is so pretty. We don’t get them with stripes. We have a bunch of shrimpy curry paste in Canada butt when we moved, we bought a vegan red curry paste. Still unopened, but I think it can easily be remedied now.
PS, I was routing for ginger. But what will F be? All I can think of is fenugreek
Damn that shrimp. I hate how non-vegan ingredients sneak into unexpected places.
You’re spot on with fenugreek! Although I think you’ve got mixed up as F comes before G!! I probably confused you with the lack of F recipe on Monday though. You’ll have to wait until after MoFo to see how I used fenugreek
OK, now I just seemed silly.. HAHAHA! OK, H… is for… hummus!!
Teehee. We all have our moments!
Great idea! I’ve used red curry paste in salad dressings and various other dishes, but I’ve only done curries with green for some reason. I’m gonna try these
Oooh I like the idea of using curry paste in salad dressing. I’ll have to try a rich, creamy one with green curry
Thanks for the inspiration!
I LOVE green curry! I have used other curry with tempeh, so i’m wondering to myself here, why have I never done tempeh and green curry?
I really need a green curry recipe! I’m thinking of trying a more saucy curry based on the ingredients in these patties.
What a great flavor twist on a patty! Love it.
They were pretty darn tasty
I’m definitely going through a ‘turn everything into a patty’ phase!!
I love this! Makes a nice change from a ‘normal’ curry - especially sitting on the pile of greens and quinoa. Yum!
I really enjoyed them. I do want to try a normal green curry though now!
I made some tempeh sausage the other day and it was excellent. We are the tempeh pioneers, making Betsy’s Tempeh in Mich. for 9 1/2 years and now working on a tempeh incubator for restaurants and small shops making artisan tempeh for the local market. Gunter has been using various beans in mini experiments everything from black chana (chickpeas)-black beans, etc. If you feel like a challenge, use our website for our easy method for making tempeh at home.
betsy shipley