Quick Nutrition Boost - Vegetable Stew Using Instant Thai Style Red Curry Paste

You know you don't always have to follow the cooking instruction on the back of the instant sauce mix. Instead of using fruits and meat as suggested by my Thai red curry paste, I've decided use it as the base for simple vegetable red curry stew.

Ingredients?

• 1 packet of Thai red curry paste
• 1 small bag of oyster mushroom
• 1 Chinese eggplant (the long and skinny kind)
• 1 medium broccoli
• 1/2 cabbage
• 1 can of coconut milk
• 1 can of diced tomatoes
• 1 tablespoon of fish sauce
• 1 tablespoon of oyster sauce
• 1/4 teaspoon of salt
• 1/4 teaspoon of black pepper
• Some olive oil
• Some steamed white or brown rice (optional)

How?

Peel and slice the onion. Chop the cabbage into large pieces. Separate the broccoli florets into smaller pieces. Cut off the tough outer section from the broccoli stem and chop the tender center into bite size pieces. Slice the eggplant diagonally.

Drizzle just enough olive oil to the pan to evenly coat the bottom, turn to medium high heat. Add in the onion along with some salt and pepper. Cook till the edge of the onion turns slightly browned.

Add in the red curry paste and heat it up a little. Add in the broccoli, mushroom, and eggplant. Stir and mix well with the curry paste. 

Add in the cabbage. It might pile up like a small mountain but will gradually wilt down once heated up. Carefully give it a quick stir once a while. Pour in one can of diced tomatoes along with its juice. Also pour in the coconut milk, add the fish sauce and oyster sauce. 

Bring to a boil then keep the pot at a gently boiling state. Cook till the broccoli reaches desired texture. Taste and adjust the saltiness level with fish sauce. I prefer my veggies on the softer side so the stew took about 30 minutes for me.  

Serve over steamed rice.

You can definitely add some protein to the stew. Dark chicken meat or pork slices are two suitable options.