Vegan Tomatillo Curry with Coconut and Vegetables
I was passing through the grocery store to quickly, checking off my short grocery list, when these plump, gift-wrapped tomatillos just happened to fall into my basket. As a child I remember tomatillos being exciting to peel, their tissue paper-like skins were like unwrapping a present. As an adult I think I might have been even more amused than I was as a child (sometimes you have to stop and enjoy the little things). It had been a long time since I had eaten tomatillos, and I couldn’t remember eating them in anything other than a salsa verde. Determined to do something less obvious, I set to work cooking up a vegan tomatillo curry.
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What are Tomatillos?
Tomatillos are a plant native to the Americas, and most commonly eaten and grown in Mexico. They look a lot like small, green tomatoes, but with a paper husk exterior, resembling a Chinese lantern. While tomatillos are actually named after tomatoes, they aren’t closely related to their larger, redder, and sweeter friends. Instead, tomatillos are more closely related to the cape gooseberry, or ground cherry. Tomatillos can be eaten raw or cooked. When raw, tomatillos are sour and zesty. When cooked, they become a bit more mellow and savory. To cook tomatillos, remove the husk (you can do that easily with your fingers, and sometimes grocery stores sell them with the husks already removed). They can have a bit of a sticky substance on the exterior, but that will go away if quickly rinsed under water.
Like Curry? Try one of these other vegan curry dishes!
Making Vegan Tomatillo Curry
Start your tomatillo curry by chopping your vegetables, so you’ll be ready to go once you start cooking. There’s nothing worse than watching your onions burn as you desperately try to chop carrots in time! Once you do start cooking, start with the tomatillos (the most important part of any tomatillo vegetable curry). I cooked them down in oil until they started to fall apart, similar to how you would make a tomato sauce. After that I brought in the spices to start getting them all worked into that oil. I used dried basil because it was all I had on hand, but I imagine that fresh basil would be even better- just throw it in when you only have a minute or so left cooking.
After that you add the liquid and vegetables, and from then on its just a waiting game. This curry is a fun fusion of flavors- sour, spicy and a little sweet. Try out this recipe and leave me feedback on how it turns out- Bon Appetite!
Green Vegan Tomatillo Curry with Coconut and Vegetables
Ingredients
- 1-2 tbsp. vegetable oil
- 1½-2 cups of tomatillos, chopped into ½ inch cubes
- 1 ½ tbsp. grated ginger
- 2 cloves of garlic, minced
- 1 jalapeño, seeds removed and minced
- 2 tsp. curry powder
- 1 tsp. turmeric
- 1 tbsp. dried basil
- ½ tsp. chili powder
- Salt and pepper, to taste
- 2 carrots, cut into medium thick discs
- 1 large onion, chopped into thick half-moons
- 1 large russet potato, chopped into small cubes
- 1 bell pepper, chopped into half-moons
- 1 can full fat coconut milk
- 1 tbsp. soy sauce
Instructions
- Heat the oil in a medium to large sized pot. After a minute or two on medium, add the tomatillos, ginger, garlic, and jalapeño. Cook on medium-high for a few minutes, stirring to allow the tomatillos to start to fall apart in the pan. Next add the spices toss well. Add your carrots, onions, potatoes and pepper, and stir so that they’re coated in the spiced oil.
- Empty the can of coconut milk, soy sauce, and a cup of water into the pot and whisk to combine. Allow the curry to reach a boil before reducing the heat and allowing it to simmer.
- Stir occasionally, and check one of the potatoes after 10 or so minutes to test for readiness. Adjust the salt to your taste and serve over rice or your favorite grain.
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Looks good, can’t wait for o try it!
If you’re looking for a southwest adventure, there are a lot of New Mexican dishes with tomatillos- they also call them ground cherries and they are a native, free-growing plant here :). $
When we head down there you’ll have to show us the plants! In the meantime I’ll add “ground cherries” to my search terms!
This look delicious! definately going to try it!
Thank you! Let me know how it turns out!
Looks too tasty 🙂
This recipe combines two of my favorite foods, tomatillos and curry, and it seems worthy of both. Really excellent.
Awesome! They’re some of our favorites as well!
Where are the rating stars, I’d like to give this 5 stars, incredibly tasty recipe, we totally loved it!!! Super cool thing is that all of the vegetables are in season where we are – we had them on hand from our local organic CSA and regeneratively grown local farms. Great combo of veggies and spices and coconut milk. Takes longer than 10 mins to simmer the carrots and potatoes though – be sure to leave enough time to cook so they aren’t hard. We served it over organic brown jasmine rice, so good, thanks for the creative recipe, a keeper!
Thanks Leola, I’m so glad you liked it! My current website settings don’t have a place for star reviews, but I’ve been thinking I should look into changing that.
Love that you’re part of a CSA and into regenerative farming!