Thai red fish curry with green beans
35 min · 35 g protein · 385 cals / serving
Big, tender flakes of white fish poached for five minutes in a fragrant red curry of light coconut milk, ginger and lime, with snappy green beans, sweet red pepper, zucchini and bok choy soaking up the sauce. Fish sauce and lime at the end make it bright and salty, and a fistful of basil goes in just before it hits the table. Spoon it over a little jasmine rice.
Ingredients
- 2 tsp canola oil
- 2 medium shallots, thinly sliced
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 tbsp ginger, grated
- 3 tbsp thai curry paste, red
- 1 can (14 oz) light coconut milk
- 1 cup vegetable broth, or fish stock
- 1 tbsp fish sauce
- 1/2 lb green beans, trimmed, halved
- 1 large red bell pepper, in strips
- 1 medium zucchini, in half-moons
- 3 baby heads bok choy, quartered
- 1 3/4 lb pacific cod, haddock or halibut, in 5 cm (2-inch) chunks
- 2 tbsp lime juice, about 1 lime
- 1 handful fresh basil, Thai basil if you can find it
To serve
- 2 tbsp fresh cilantro, chopped
- 1 small red chili pepper, sliced, optional (optional)
- 1/2 cup jasmine rice, rinsed and cooked
Steps
- Heat the oil in a wide, deep pan over medium heat. Fry the shallots for 3 minutes until soft, then add the garlic, ginger and curry paste and fry, stirring, for 1–2 minutes until the paste darkens and smells toasty.
- Pour in the coconut milk and broth, add the fish sauce and bring to a gentle simmer, stirring until the paste has melted into an orange sauce.
- Add the green beans, pepper, zucchini and bok choy and simmer 5 minutes, until the beans are bright green and just tender.
- Lay the fish in the sauce in one layer, spoon some sauce over it, cover and simmer very gently for 5–6 minutes, until it flakes and reads 145°F in the thickest piece. Do not stir hard, or the fish breaks up.
- Take the pan off the heat, squeeze in the lime juice and tear in the basil. Taste and add more fish sauce or lime. Serve over the rice with cilantro and sliced chili on top.
Good to know
How spicy is it?
Store-bought red curry pastes vary a lot. Three tablespoons of a supermarket brand is medium; with a Thai brand, start with two and add more after tasting the sauce.
Which fish works best?
Any firm white fish: cod, haddock, halibut, hake or pollock. Peeled prawns or shrimp work too, need only 3 minutes and give about the same score. Frozen fillets are fine; thaw them in the fridge and pat them dry.
Can I skip the rice?
Yes. Cauliflower rice or a pile of steamed bok choy soaks up the sauce just as well, and the curry is a full meal on its own in a deep bowl: a score of about 83 instead of 77 without the rice.
Per
- Calories
- 63
- Protein
- (37%)
- 6 g
- Fat
- (28%)
- 2 g
- Carbohydrates
- (35%)
- 6 g
- of which sugar
- 1 g
- Fiber
- 1 g
- Sodium
- 201 mg
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Computed from the ingredients with our published formula, not yet kitchen-tested. General guidance, not medical advice. Talk to your prescriber. How
As written, 1540 kcal goes into the pot and 2596 g of ingredients comes out as about 2450 g of food: 63 kcal per 100 g. Cooking moves water and energy density is the score's biggest lever, so the dish is scored as cooked, not as an average of its parts. Every ingredient links to its food page, with the same data and score. The label's percentages are each macronutrient's share of the calories. The full formula.