Quick Summer Vegetable Curry

4.5 6 Published Aug 05, 2019, Updated May 24, 2024

Vegetable Curry with Curry Powder

I’m not sure if you’ve noticed, but I am a huge curry fan. I’m always making different curry variations and customizing the ingredients depending on what is in season. Since I already have a shrimp curry recipe that uses red curry paste, I thought I would switch things up for this recipe. We’re using traditional yellow curry powder and keeping the recipe vegetarian/vegan. Of course, you can absolutely add in a protein of your choice if you want to add more protein to this curry. It would be delicious with chickpeas or even chicken or shrimp. Feel free to swap out veggies for what you have on hand or what is in season as well – curries are the perfect meal for cleaning out your fridge because you can pretty much add any veggies into the pan.

Curry in a Hurry

Curries are awesome for weeknight meals because they cook up quickly, but still have a ton of flavor, almost like they’ve been simmering all day. This particular curry only takes about 10 minutes of prep and about 15 minutes of cooking time so you can easily have a healthy dinner on the table in less than 30 minutes. Woo-hoo!

What is the Difference in Curry Colors?

If you’ve been shopping for curry recently, you know there are a variety of color options! Green, red and yellow curries are all available. So what’s the difference? I’m certainly not a curry guru, but here’s what I do know:

Yellow Curry – The main spice in yellow curry is turmeric! It is the mildest of the curries because there is less chili and more turmeric. Yellow curry is usually found on the spice aisle at the grocery store and often just called curry powder. You can certainly find yellow curry paste or make your own, but I tend to think of ground curry powder when I think of yellow curry. Red Curry – Although you might have expected red curry to be the spiciest, it usually sits right between yellow and green when it comes to heat! Red chilis give this curry its color but the heat is toned down thanks to the coconut milk. Red curry is usually found in paste form with other Thai items in the grocery store. Green Curry – Green chilis pack the heat in this dish! Green curry is typically the spiciest curry but don’t let that scare you if you can handle heat because, in my opinion, it’s not that spicy unless you’re also adding fresh chilis. Green curry can be found in paste form with other Thai items, similar to red curry.

Want to learn more about all the different curries and where they originated? Check out this article.

Ingredients in Summer Vegetable Curry

flavor boosters: ginger, garlic, curry powder coconut milk and vegetable broth summer veggies: onion, bell pepper, eggplant, mushrooms, and zucchini additional flavors: lime and fresh cilantro rice (white jasmine rice, brown rice or cauliflower rice)

How to Make Summer Vegetable Curry

To start, you’ll cook up the powerhouse veggies and spices of the dish. Just add your onion, ginger, and garlic in a large skillet over medium-high heat. You’ll cook these up, stirring occasionally for 4-5 minutes, and then add in the curry powder and cook for another minute. At this point, add in the broth, coconut milk, and veggies. Bring to a simmer, cover and cook for 5 minutes. You’ll continue cooking this mixture until the vegetables are tender. Season with salt and pepper to taste and stir in lime zest and lime juice just before serving. To serve, add rice to your serving plate and top with the curried vegetable mixture. You can use jasmine rice, brown rice or cauliflower rice – all are delicious in their own way! Top with fresh basil or cilantro – and enjoy!