Sweet plantains are simmered in a rich and creamy peanut butter curry sauce, then served with smoky tofu cubes for a cozy, flavor-packed dinner. This hearty plantain curry is loaded with sweet, savory, smoky, and spicy flavors in every bite.
An impulse buy of plantains at the grocery store led me to this recipe. I LOVE plantains and will take any excuse to grab them when I see them. My plantain stew, plantain chili, and plantain tacos are some of my personal favorite comfort foods, but this batch was destined for something new. I'd been itching to try plantains in a curry, so I created this rich plantain curry inspired by the flavors of African peanut stew. If you're a fan of that dish, you're going to love this one too.
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Think about it: plantains totally belong in a curry, and peanut butter is a must. Their sweet, mellow flavor melds perfectly with warm spices and creamy coconut milk. And you know how peanut butter and bananas are amazing together? Think of this curry as the ultimate savory version of that combination. Pan-fried smoky tofu rounds out the dish, adding protein and making it extra satisfying.
It's a pretty easy meal to throw together, and oh my is it comforting!
Ingredients You'll Need
Below you'll find a list of ingredients in this recipe, with notes and substitutions. Scroll all the way to the bottom of the post to see the full recipe, including the amount of each ingredient.
- Vegetable oil. Go with whatever neutral high-heat oil you normally like to cook with, such as corn, avocado, or even olive oil.
- Onion.
- Red bell pepper. An orange or yellow pepper also works.
- Peanut butter. Stick with natural (runny) peanut butter of the creamy variety. Conventional peanut butter will be too thick and too sweet.
- Tomato paste.
- Garlic.
- Ginger.
- Spices. You'll need curry powder and ground cumin. Cayenne pepper is optional.
- Vegetable broth.
- Coconut milk. Full-fat coconut milk will give you the richest, creamiest curry. Light coconut milk should do in a pinch.
- Salt.
- Plantains. You want ripe plantains, meaning they should be yellow with black spots, like the ones shown in the photo above.
- Tofu. Super-firm tofu works best in this recipe. Extra-firm tofu will do, but needs to be pressed first.
- Soy sauce. Tamari or liquid aminos can be substituted if needed.
- Brown sugar. Use organic brown sugar, since conventional brown sugar is often processed with animal bone char.
How It's Made
Below is a detailed photo tutorial on how to make this dish. Scroll all the way down if you'd like to skip right to the recipe!
Step 1: Cook the vegetables. Heat your oil in a large pot, then add diced onion and red bell pepper. Cook the veggies for about 5 minutes, until they start to soften.
Step 2: Cook peanut butter and tomato paste. Add both to the pot, stir it up, and cook the mixture for about 2 minutes, stirring constantly.
Step 3: Cook spices and aromatics. Push everything to the side. Add minced garlic, grated ginger, curry powder, cumin, and cayenne pepper, if you're using it. Cook the mixture for about a minute, stirring constantly to prevent burning.
Step 4: Simmer. Start by adding a bit of broth to deglaze the pot. Bring it to a simmer and scrape any bits stuck to the bottom of the pot. Add the rest of the broth and coconut milk. Heat it to a boil, then reduce the heat and let it simmer.
Step 5: Cook the plantains. Heat your oil in a skillet, then add plantain slices. Cook them for a few minutes on each side, until browned and soft, transferring them to a plate when done. Cook them in batches if needed.
Step 6: Cook the tofu. Using the same skillet, heat some more oil, then add tofu cubes. While they're cooking, mix some soy sauce, brown sugar, cumin, and a bit of the curry sauce from the simmering pot. Pour it over the tofu cubes once they brown, then let them cook a minute or two more.
Step 7: Simmer the plantains. Add your cooked plantains to the pot. Be careful — they'll be very soft! Stir them in and let the curry simmer for a couple more minutes.
Step 8: Simmer the tofu. Tofu goes into the curry last. Stir it in and let it simmer for another minute or two.
Step 9: Finish the curry. Take the pot off of heat and add some salt to taste.
Step 10: Serve. Your plantain curry is ready! Serve it over rice, give it a sprinkle of fresh cilantro and chopped peanuts, and enjoy!
Frequently Asked Questions
Yes! Simply replace the soy sauce with gluten-free tamari.
Most of the fat and calorie content comes from the oil, peanut butter, and coconut milk. You can reduce the oil slightly, but make sure you have a good nonstick cooking surface. The peanut butter can also be reduced to about ¼ cup, and you can use light coconut milk instead of full-fat.
Leftover plantain curry will keep in an airtight container in the fridge for about 3 days.
More Curry Recipes
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📖 Recipe
Plantain Peanut Curry with Smoky Tofu
Ingredients
For the Curry
- 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
- 1 medium onion, diced
- 1 red bell pepper, diced
- â…“ cup creamy natural peanut butter
- ¼ cup tomato paste
- 4 garlic cloves, minced
- 2 teaspoons freshly grated ginger
- 2 teaspoons curry powder
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- Pinch cayenne pepper, or to taste
- 1 ½ cups vegetable broth
- 1 cup full-fat coconut milk
- Salt, to taste
For the Plantains
- 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
- 3 ripe plantains (yellow with black spots) sliced (½ inch thick)
For the Smoky Tofu
- 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
- 1 (15 ounce/454 gram) package super-firm tofu, cut into ½-inch cubes
- 1 tablespoon soy sauce
- 1 teaspoon brown sugar
- ½ teaspoon ground cumin
For Serving
- Cooked rice
- ¼ cup chopped peanuts
- ¼ cup chopped fresh cilantro
Instructions
- Begin by making the curry. Coat the bottom of a large pot with oil and place it over medium heat. Give the oil a minute to heat up, then add the onion and bell pepper. Sweat the vegetables for about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally, until they start to soften.
- Stir in the peanut butter and tomato paste. Cook the mixture for about 2 minutes, stirring constantly, until the peanut butter and tomato begin to darken and caramelize.
- Push everything in the pot to the side, then stir in the garlic, ginger, curry powder, cumin, and cayenne pepper. Cook while stirring constantly for about 1 minute, until the aromatics and spices become very fragrant.
- Stir in a bit of the broth and bring it to a simmer. Use a wooden spoon to scrape any burned bits from the bottom of the pot, then add the remaining broth and coconut milk. Raise the heat to high and bring the liquid to a boil, then reduce the heat and let it simmer for about 15 minutes, until slightly thickened. You can take the pot off of heat if the plantains and tofu aren't ready when the curry has finished simmering.
- Cook the plantains while the curry simmers. Coat the bottom of a medium nonstick skillet with the oil and place it over medium heat. Give the oil a minute to heat up, then add the plantain slices in an even layer. Cook the slices in batches if needed for 4 to 5 minutes on each side, until softened and browned. Move them to a plate when done.
- Cook the tofu next. Keep the skillet that you used for the plantains over medium heat and add the oil. Once the oil is hot, add the tofu cubes in a single layer. Cook the tofu for about 10 minutes, flipping the pieces once or twice, until golden brown.
- While the tofu cooks, stir the soy sauce, brown sugar, and cumin together in a small bowl. Ladle 2 tablespoons of sauce from the simmering pot of curry, then add it to the soy sauce mixture. Carefully pour the sauce mixture over the tofu, flip the tofu a few times to coat the cubes in sauce, then cook them for a minute or two, until the sauce thickens and caramelizes on the tofu cubes.
- Stir the plantain slices into the curry, being careful not to break them. Let the curry simmer for 1 to 2 more minutes, then stir in the tofu and let it simmer another 1 to 2 minutes.
- Remove the pot from heat and season the curry with salt to taste.
- Serve over rice and top with peanuts and cilantro.
Notes
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Made this dish last night, it was so delicious!!! Another great recipe and very easy to make! The sweetness of the plantains paired with the peanuts + curry really complement each other well, making it a great belly warming dish. Also, I added some chickpeas and kale to mine. This was the first time I've made tofu with liquid smoke- SO good! Looking forward to eating some left overs!
Hi, I am wondering if the leftover curry can be frozen?
Thanks so much.
I haven't tried with this dish, but I don't see why not!
The liquid smoke was strange. I got a strong smoky smell while cooking, but after I added the "smoked" tofu to the curry, the smell was gone and the flavor was masked by the other flavors. I just made it again tonight and left it out. Liquid smoke doesn't add anything to the dish. Also, this time, I pureed the tomatoes and onions before adding the plantains and tofu because I like a smoother curry.
Yummy
So delicious 😋. I was searching for a savory recipe using plantains and I think this will be my go to recipe. :-)
Glad you enjoyed it!!
Do you need to drain and press the tofu before freezing? Thanks!
Nope! It becomes more porous when you freeze it, so the water should squeeze right out of it after you thaw it. :)
This looks delicious! I've been cooking a lot with plantains this year (most recently stew that also included taro and yuca roots); I love mine when they're almost black and quite sweet. Your curry is now on the list for next week!
I love them when they're super sweet too - got a little impatient waiting for these ones to ripen though! That stew sounds delicious. I hope you enjoy this one as well!
Loved this! Full flavored and easy to make. Made it exactly as written, although I was tempted to bake the tofu so as not to use oil because some of the die-hards on some WFPB groups act like any oil guarantees illness---but my husband got to it first and sauteed them with a little bit of algae oil (his new favorite---don't know if you know about it---no oceany taste, but high smoke point and less saturated fat). Served it with quinoa instead of rice and sauteed spinach. Yum! Looking forward to the leftovers. It may be the type of dish that actually gets better as it sits. The sauce was quite thick but to me that's a good thing and I wasn't tempted to water it down. Thanks!
Yay! I'm so glad you enjoyed it! And I think the tofu would bake up just fine - I was tempted to do that myself, but since I was already using the stove I decided to pan-fry instead. Thanks so much Ellen!
This sounds wonderful---I'd like to make it, along with some sauteed greens on the side. But when do the plaintains go in? They aren't listed under ingredients and the first mention of them is step 5, just "when the plaintains get soft."
Oops! Sorry about that! I just corrected the recipe. Thank for catching that! I think this would go perfectly with some sauteed greens. :)
Hi Alissa!
Could you add the amount of plantains in the ingredients list and when to add them in the instructions.
Thank you!
Sorry about that! I just fixed it! :)