How to Make Thai Peanut Curry: A Step-by-Step Guide

This post is part of the Eating on a Budget series, which includes the essential tools, tricks and tips that underpin eating on a budget, and a collection of recipes to put those tools into practice.

If you’re like me, and you’re addicted to peanut butter, then look no further than this simple yet delicious Thai peanut curry.

It’s simple, cheap to make, and insanely delicious.

This bad boy hits the spot every single time.

My girlfriend and I thought this up one day when pondering what to have for dinner, and we expected very little of it. Surprisingly to us, this turned out to be one of our favourite dishes.

Core ingredients

This dish relies on a handful of ingredients, some of which you’d find in a traditional Thai peanut curry, and others which are non-traditional.

While the ingredients are simple, they combine to create a complex and satisfying Thai peanut curry.

Peanut butter

You can’t have a Thai peanut curry without peanuts. Who knew?

Peanut butter is, in my opinion, the easiest and most satisfying way to deliver that peanut hit.

Use a natural peanut butter. By “natural,” I mean a peanut butter whose only ingredients are peanuts and salt. No sugar, no flavourings and absolutely no hydrogenated palm oil.

That means you’re adding nothing more than ground peanuts. Using peanut butter over, say, whole peanuts has the added benefit that it will thicken the sauce and give it body which creates a really satisfying mouthfeel.

Umami bombs (fish sauce, Marmite)

Fish sauce is a common ingredient in Thai cooking, and is a perfect fit here. It adds a strong aroma and umami hit.

Marmite is absolutely not a common ingredient in Thai cooking. I’ve not seen a Thai peanut curry that uses it, but it is a great addition (albeit a rouge one) to any savoury dish. The Marmite adds a strong umami (or savoury) backbone to the dish.

I promise, you won’t be able to tell the dish contains Marmite — that’s coming from someone who hates Marmite.

If you don’t have any Marmite on hand, you can leave it out and it won’t impact the dish too heavily.

Other umami ingredients you can add include MSG, anchovies, oyster sauce, Worcestershire sauce, etc.

Red curry paste

A red Thai curry paste can be considered the “basic” Thai curry paste.

In the words of Thai Serious Eats author Pailin Chonchitnant, Thai red curry paste generally contains the “basic ten” ingredients:

• dried chiles
• garlic
• shallots
• lemongrass
• galangal
• coriander (or cilantro) roots
• makrut lime zest
• white peppercorns
• shrimp paste
• salt

It isn’t particularly difficult to make curry paste at home, provided you have the tools at hand. But it is particularly difficult to make if, like me, you live somewhere where makrut limes and lemongrass isn’t something you can easily find at the supermarket. (Spoiler: the UK isn’t that exotic).

If you’re living somewhere like the UK, and your local Asian supermarket doesn’t stock these ingredients (or you just don’t have the time), it’s much easier to purchase a pre-made curry paste.

Check the ingredients and make sure you’re buying a brand that has at least most of the ingredients listed above.

Coconut milk

Coconut milk is another traditional Thai ingredient. This provides the fat-rich and creamy body of the curry.

For a creamier texture and better value, opt for full-fat coconut milk.

Beans

You sometimes see chicken or other meats being added to Thai curries, but in the spirit of my budget-friendly recipes series (of which this recipe is an instalment), I’ve opted for a more cost-effective protein: chickpeas.

I use tinned chickpeas, but you could also use dried if you have them and have the time to cook them.

You can use any beans you have on hand, in fact, but I find the beans will a smaller surface area take on more of the flavour of the curry. Larger beans, such as butter beans, are too large and taste flat in this dish.

Veggies

I’ve used four vegetables in this: onion and garlic as the base, and then I’ve added red pepper and broccoli.

I’m obsessed with broccoli at the moment. It’s cheap and delicious, and if you use the stems, extra delicious.

While I strongly suggest keeping the onion and garlic as they form the base of the dish, you can use pretty much any vegetables you like.

Thai peanut curry recipe

Serves: 3-4

Ingredients

• 1 small onion, diced
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 head of broccoli — florets and stem separated, florets cut into bite-size pieces and stem diced
• 1 red pepper, diced
• 2 tbsp smooth natural peanut butter
• 0.5 tbsp tomato puree
• 1.5 tbsp red Thai curry paste
• 1 tbsp Marmite
• 400g tin full-fat coconut milk
• 400g tin chickpeas (or other beans), drained¹
• 1 tsp fish sauce
• Vegetable oil
• Salt and black pepper to taste
• Rice to serve

Directions

1. Prepare the broccoli: remove the base of stem and discard, remove the florets from the stem and chop into bite-size pieces. Dice the stem into bite-size pieces.
   
2. Heat 1 tbsp of oil in a large high-lipped frying pan and sauté the broccoli stems with a pinch of salt on high heat for approx 5-8 minutes until they are nicely browned. Stir regularly.
   
3. Remove stems, set aside. Lower the heat to medium and then add the diced onion. Cook for approx 5 minutes until the onions are lightly caramelised. Add more oil if needed. Continue to stir regularly.
   
4. Next, add the broccoli florets and red pepper. Cook for approx 3 minutes until they are both slightly softened. Add stems back to pan.
   
5. Add the peanut butter and cook for approx 2 mins to coat everything.
   
6. Add the garlic, tomato puree, Marmite and Thai curry paste and cook for approx 1 minute. This will bring out the flavour of the ingredients, especially the garlic and tomato puree. You can add more Thai curry paste if you want a more intense flavour.
   
7. Next, we’ll add the liquid components. Add the coconut milk and fish sauce, and then cook for approx 2-3 mins so that the sauce is heated and thick.
   
8. Add the drained chickpeas.
   
9. Add black pepper, taste for seasoning, and adjust with salt as needed. You likely won’t need to season the dish as there are a lot of salty ingredients in this dish, such as the Marmite, Thai paste and fish sauce. Leave the sauce to simmer for a 2-3 minutes.
   
10. Meanwhile, cook rice as per packet instructions to serve alongside the curry.
    

Notes

1. The liquid that the chickpeas come preserved in is called aquafaba and is useful for many things in the kitchen, including making mayo.