With crispy tofu, hibiscus-pickled onions + whatever’s in the crisper
This is one of those recipes that looks like you planned it, when really it’s an excellent excuse to clear out the vegetable drawer.
Creamy coconut broth, red Thai curry, noodles, crispy tofu (or chicken), loads of vegetables and a tangle of sharp, pink pickled onions on top. The secret weapon is red onion quick-pickled with Floaty Goat Hibiscus Salt ~ it cuts straight through the richness of the coconut broth.
And please don’t get hung up on the vegetables listed here. Half a pepper? Use it. Slightly sad cabbage? Absolutely. Three mushrooms rolling around the bottom of the crisper? In they go.
Serves 4 | About 30 minutes
Ingredients
For the curry ramen
- 1 tbsp neutral oil
- 2–3 tbsp Thai red or green curry paste
- 1 x 400ml tin full-fat coconut milk
- 500–600ml chicken or vegetable stock
- 1 tbsp soy sauce
- 1 tsp brown sugar or honey
- Juice of ½ lime
- 250–300g ramen noodles, rice noodles, or any noodles of choice (I love pho noodles)
- 1 block firm tofu, pressed and cubed and/or 2 chicken breasts or thighs, thinly sliced
- 3–4 generous handfuls of whatever vegetables need using
- optional fish sauce & chillies to taste
Vegetables that work particularly well: peppers, mushrooms, cabbage, pak choi, broccoli, carrots, mangetout, baby corn, courgette, spring onions, spinach, green beans or bean sprouts.
For the hibiscus-pickled onions
- ½ red onion, very thinly sliced
- 3 tbsp rice vinegar or apple cider vinegar
- 1 tsp sugar
- ½–1 tsp Floaty Goat Hibiscus Salt
- Splash of hot water
To finish
- Fresh coriander or Thai basil, if you have it
- Lime wedges
- Chilli oil or fresh chilli
- Spring onions
- Hibiscus-pickled red onions
Method
- First, make your onions. Toss the sliced red onion with the vinegar, sugar and Hibiscus Salt. Add just enough hot water to help dissolve the sugar and salt, give everything a good scrunch or stir, and leave it to pickle while you make the ramen. Even 20 minutes makes a difference.
- Get a large pan or wok nice and hot. Add the oil and cook your tofu until golden around the edges, then remove it from the pan. If you’re using chicken, cook it until nicely coloured and cooked through, then set aside.
- Add your sturdier vegetables to the same pan and stir-fry for a couple of minutes. Think carrots, broccoli, peppers and mushrooms first; delicate greens can wait.
- Add the curry paste and fry for about a minute until fragrant. Pour in the coconut milk and stock, scraping up anything delicious stuck to the bottom of the pan. Stir in the soy sauce and sugar.
- Bring everything to a gentle simmer, then add the remaining vegetables and your cooked tofu or chicken. Simmer until the vegetables are just tender — you want them to retain a little bite rather than disappear into the broth.
- Cook the noodles according to the packet instructions. You can cook them separately and divide them between bowls, which helps stop them becoming too soft, then ladle the curry broth over the top.
- Finish with lime juice and taste. Add more soy for saltiness, lime for acidity or curry paste/chilli oil if you want more heat.
- Pile those pink hibiscus-pickled onions over the top and finish with whatever herbs, chilli or spring onions you have around.
The crisper rule
The recipe is deliberately loose. Don’t buy six new vegetables to make it. The whole point is to use what you already have.
The only things I wouldn’t skip are coconut milk, curry paste, noodles and something acidic at the end. Everything else can move around depending on what’s in the fridge.