Step 1

In a mortar and pestle, grind the leafy greens into a fine paste. Add the miso paste, then use a microplane zester to grate the shiitake mushroom (don’t worry about the stem. You can throw the stem into the curry to extract more umami if you want, but don’t eat it as it’ll be chewy.) Add the curry paste and pound just to mix. You can make this paste in bulk and freeze for later use.Without a mortar and pestle, you can blend the leafy greens with some of the coconut milk that you'll add to the curry. Then simply mix the curry paste, miso and grated mushroom together.

Step 2

In a heavy-bottomed, large pot, add about ¾ cup of coconut milk and reduce it over medium-high heat until thick; about 5 minutes.

Step 3

Reduce the heat to medium and add the curry paste; stir until very thick and coconut oil separates from the curry paste; 3-5 minutes. (If you’ve been at it for a while, and the paste is very thick, but no oil has separated, you can move on; some coconut milk has been processed to prevent separation.)

Step 4

Add the rest of the coconut milk and water; bring to a boil. Add the fried tofu, bamboo shoots, winter melon, palm sugar, and about half of the soy sauce. Grab the makrut lime leaves and twist them to bruise and tear before adding them into the pot. Simmer the curry until the winter melon is fork tender; about 10 minutes. When you’re about 1 minute out, add the red bell pepper so it will finish cooking with the winter melon. (If using different vegetables, adjust the cooking time accordingly, but if your vegetables take only a few minutes to cook, let the curry simmer without it for at least 10 minutes before adding, as you want the total simmering time to be a minimum of 10 minutes to allow flavours to mingle.)

Step 5

Taste and adjust the seasoning with more soy sauce as needed; you can also add more salt. If it needs more sugar, add granulated or brown sugar at this point to ensure it dissolves quickly. (It should not taste sweet, but the sweetness is added to balance the salt.)

Step 6

Turn off the heat and stir in fresh basil, letting it wilt in the residual heat.

Step 7

Serve with jasmine rice - and as with most Thai curries, it will taste even better the next day!