Sunshine In a Bowl: Yellow Coconut Lemongrass Curry

February 24, 2021

Two bowls of yellow coconut curry sauce layered with string beans, zucchini, purple sweet potatoes and broccoli.

There may be snow on the ground and the skies may be gray, but I’m bringing to you some bring yellow sunshine in a bowl. This healthy yellow coconut lemongrass curry dish is filled with vegetables and anti-inflammatory spices. It makes a healthy, fiber-filled dinner or a lunch that won’t weigh you down. Skip the takeout and try to make this delicious curry sauce at home!

Why You Will Love this Sunshine Curry Bowl (and Why Its Good for You!)

This yellow coconut lemongrass curry dish is vegan, gluten-free and sugar free. In the next section, I also give you tips on how to reduce the fat in the dish.

The sunshine yellow curry bowl is infused with powerful spices such as:

Ginger – Ginger has powerful anti-inflammatory properties and anti-cancer properties.
Yellow curry powder – Curry is made up of many spices but most importantly it includes turmeric, another powerful anti-inflammatory.
Lemongrass – Lemongrass is rich source of flavonoids and phenolic compounds, which contain antioxidants. Lemongrass contains quercetin, a flavonoid known for having antioxidant and anti-inflammatory benefits.

This dish is also all about the vegetables. I use string beans, broccoli, zucchini, and purple sweet potato, but you can use whichever are your favorite. You can sub carrots, regular sweet potato or peas. I also like to serve over steamed baby spinach.

The yellow coconut lemongrass curry recipe is written without a protein but you can easily add either tofu or garbanzo beans / chickpeas to this dish.

Bowl of yellow coconut curry layered with purple sweet potato, broccoli, zucchini, string beans and cilantro

How to Make this Sunshine Lemongrass Coconut Curry Bowl (Tips!)

The recipe below provides two methods for making this dish:

Sauce on the side – If I am preparing a dish that has a heavier sauce with a higher fat content, I like to prepare my sauce separately from my vegetables and proteins. For a healthier meal, prepare your sauce, steam your vegetables, prepare your protein and spoon the sauce over the dish.
Vegetables cooked in the sauce – Some of you may not care about the fat content, so from a culinary standpoint, the dish will be tastier if you cook the vegetables in the sauce. If you are going to simmer the vegetables in the sauce, you will use a larger pot than what is pictured below.

To make the coconut curry sauce you can use two methods:

Full fat coconut milk – This recipe calls for full fat coconut milk. I’ve used light coconut milk in recipes in the past and unfortunately, I typically end up with a watery sauce with little flavor. If you want a sauce with a lot of flavor, I highly recommend using full fat coconut milk
The half coconut milk/half oat milk method – I actually discovered this by accident when I didn’t have enough coconut milk and subbed the only milk I had in my fridge. To my delight, the sauce came out flavorful and wasn’t as watery as when I used light coconut milk. This method also CUTS THE FAT IN HALF. So if you are watching your fat grams, I recommend you try this method. Use plain oatmilk. Here I used Oat-ly brand.

About Lemongrass

This recipe calls for lemongrass. Here I link to a tutorial on how to cut lemongrass. Only the inside is edible! Don’t make the same mistake I did the first time I used lemongrass and cut up the whole stalk… If you can find lemongrass paste at your grocer, you can use that as a shortcut.

Don’t Skip the Lime Juice and Tamari!

You may think that you don’t need it, but the tamari adds an umami flavor and the lime adds a slight bit of acid which balances the salt.

Another reason to cook the curry sauce separately, is that you can jar the sauce and use throughout the week. The sauce will last for about 5 days.

If you tried this Coconut Lemongrass Curry recipe let me know how you liked it! I hope you feel “healthspired!”.

Bowl of warming yellow coconut curry sauce with zucchini, broccoli, string beans, sweet potatoes.

Sunshine In a Bowl: Yellow Coconut Lemongrass Curry

Print Recipe

This sunshine coconut lemongrass curry is as beautiful as it is healthy. The sauce is infused with curry powder, lemongrass, garlic and ginger which are anti-inflammatory. This recipe gives you the option to cut the fat of the coconut milk by using half oat milk.

Author: Jeannine
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 25 minutes
Total Time: 40 minutes
Yield: 4 servings
Diet: Vegan

Ingredients

Scale

Two small purple potatoes, peeled and cut into thin slices or half moons (about 2 cups)
1 1/2 cups string beans or haricot verts (6 ounces)
1 1/2 cups broccoli florets
1 small or 1/2 large zucchini, sliced into half moons (about 1 1/2 cups)
1/2 large red or yellow onion, diced (about 1 cup)
2 teaspoons coconut oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tablespoon of lemongrass paste OR 1 stalk of lemongrass, outer hard layers peeled, core discarded
1-inch knob fresh ginger, peeled, grated
1 tablespoon yellow curry powder
1/2 cup water
OPTIONAL: 1 jalapeño, thinly sliced
2 cups full fat coconut milk OR replace 1 cup with oat milk (see notes)
2 teaspoons tamari
2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
sea salt, to taste
Optional: A protein. Mix in garbanzo beans, shrimp or grilled chicken.

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Instructions

Sauce on the side method:

In a medium saucepan, combine the oil, onion, garlic, lemongrass paste or lemongrass, ginger and curry powder over medium heat. (If you like a spicy curry, add the sliced jalapeños). Sauté for 5 minutes, stirring frequently.
Add the coconut milk (and oat milk if using) and 1/2 cup water. Bring mixture to a boil and let simmer for 10 minutes. Remove from heat. Fold in lime juice and tamari. Add additional salt if desired.
While the curry mixture is cooking, steam vegetables. Steam potatoes separately. Potatoes will take about 10 minutes and broccoli, zucchini and strignbeans will take 3-5 minutes depending on desired level of tenderness.
When vegetables are done, divide into four bowls, add desired amount of sauce and add preferred protein.

Vegetables cooked in sauce method:

In a large pot,
In a medium saucepan, combine the oil, onion, garlic, lemongrass paste or lemongrass, ginger and curry powder over medium heat. (If you like a spicy curry, add the sliced jalapeños). Sauté for 5 minutes stirring frequently.
Add sweet potatoes and sauté for another 5 minutes.
Add broccoli, string beans, and zucchini and sauté for 3 minutes.
Stir in the milk (either the full fat coconut milk or the half coconut milk/half oat milk mixture) and 1/2 cup of water. Bring to a boil and then lower heat to medium low and let simmer for 10 to 15 minutes.
Fold in tamari and lime juice.
Mix in cooked protein (garbanzo beans, tofu, chicken or shrimp).
Divide mixture evenly between four bowls.
Serve over brown or black rice if desired.

Notes

If you want to bring down the fat content, I recommend replacing half the milk with oat milk instead of using light coconut milk. Using oat milk will maintain the sauce mixture’s thickness.
This recipe would taste great with garbanzo beans, tofu or shrimp.
Serve over black forbidden rice or brown rice.
The calorie information is for the coconut/oat sauce mixture and does not include the addition of the rice or a protein. Calorie information is for 1/2 cup of sauce plus vegetable mixture.