Home cooked:
How to make Soi38’s green curry

It’s been an interesting month for Soi 38 owners Terry Intarakhamhaeng and Daisy Miller. As the first wave of COVID-19 restrictions began to be introduced, they were among the first wave of Adelaide restaurants to swiftly transition to a form of social distance dining, with a reduced capacity, overhauled seating plan and a temporary end to their popular sharing menu. 

Just a few days later, another government order sent them back to the drawing board as restaurants, pubs and bars were forced to shut their doors entirely and move to zero-contact, takeaway-only models.

It certainly hasn’t been easy rolling with each new challenge; as anyone with a passing knowledge of Adelaide’s dining sector knows, the business model of a restaurant is a finely tuned balancing act, and losing one’s entire dining room poses an enormous challenge. But restaurants owners like Intarakhamhaeng and Miller are no strangers to adaptation, and they’ve since embarked on a suite of solutions to keep moving.

In recent weeks they’ve teamed up with Botanic Gardens Restaurant chef Paul Baker for his Chefs on Wheels initiative. Now, with a range of take-home recipe boxes, the pair are helping their loyal flock of Thai food lovers to recreate their favourite Soi38 dishes at home. Here Intarakhamhaeng shares a home kitchen-friendly guide to recreating Soi38’s green vegan curry. 

Soi38 vegan green curry

Ingredients: 

• 100g firm tofu
• 100g brined jackfruit
• 100g mixed veg (cauliflower
  and broccoli)
• 400ml coconut milk
• 10 Thai basil leaves
• 6 Thai apple eggplant
  (quartered)
• 2 long red chilli
• 2 kaffir lime leaves
• 400ml Thai vegetable stock
• 180g Soi38 green curry paste 

Steps:

1. Remove the tops of the Thai eggplants and cut into four pieces (half and half again).
   
2. Pour the oil from the top of the curry paste – it should have settled into layers – gently into a saucepan on a low heat.
   
3. Chop eggplant, tofu, jackfruit, broccoli and cauliflower into small pieces. Turn the heat up to medium, before adding to the pot. Stir to coat with oil.
   
4. Add the half the curry paste and stir to coat the tofu and vegetables. For medium to hot curry, add progressively more paste. 
   
5. Once the vegetables have begun to soften, add the coconut milk and the stock and bring to the boil. Once the curry reaches a rapid boil, turn down to simmer and stir regularly. Note: if you prefer your curry to be mild, save a quarter of the coconut milk to add at the end (add half a cup of instead alongside the rest of the coconut milk).
   
6. After 20 minutes of simmering the sauce should have thickened up and begun to appear darker in colour. Check that the vegetables are soft, and add Kaffir lime leaves and long red child (remove the seeds if too spicy). Turn the heat to very low. 
   
7. If you prefer your curry mild, add the remainder of coconut milk and stir through, then turn off the heat. For a hotter curry, add a small amount of water and return to the boil to concentrate the sauce further (keep stirring to avoid burning!). 

Soi38 recipe boxes and curry pastes for this and other dishes can be ordered from soi38.com.au