Thai Mixed Vegetables in Curry Sauce

I went by my favorite Thai restaurant in Vancouver - Take Thai Home - for my usual vegetarian curry, and noticed that they had a leaflet-style recipe for it:

• 3 cups assorted vegetables
• 1 1/2 tbsp vegie oil
• 1 tbsp fresh ginger
• 1 tbsp white soy sauce
• 1/4 tsp cornstarch (optional)
• 1/8 tsp knorr chicken flavor (optional)
• 4 oz yellow, green, or red curry paste

The veggies usually consist of broccoli and cauliflower florets, large carrots cut into slices on an angle, a bit of green cabbage, and some onions.

"Peel and slice ginger into long thin pieces. Pour oil into pan and pre-heat. When oil is hot, add ginger and vegetables and toss. Add a bit of water and cook lightly. Add 4 oz of curry sauce and stir. If you want to thicken the sauce slightly add cornstarch mixed with water. Stir until it thickens. Serves 2 people" Conveniently, they sell the curry sauce, which is probably just a mix of Thai curry paste with coconut milk.

They also had a cookbook called 'Easy Thai cookbook' in which I found a recipe for making Thai curry paste:

• 10 red chilies, seeded and sliced
• 4 garlic cloves
• 3 lemongrass stems, lower stems only, sliced and bruised
• 1/2 piece of kha, peeled and sliced
• 4 cilantro stems, stalks and roots only
• 1 to 2 Tbsp sunflower oil
• 1 tsp grated magrut (kaffir lime zest, from what I can tell)
  
• 1/2 inch cube of prepared kapi (Thai shrimp paste)
  
• 1 Tbsp coriander seeds
• 2 tsp cumin seeds
• 8 to 10 black peppercorns
• 1 teaspoon salt

"Blend the chilies, onions, garlic, lemongrass, kha, and cilantro into a fine paste with the oil. Add the magrut and kapi. Dry fry the seeds for a few minutes then grind to a powder with the peppercorns using a mortar and pestle. Add to the paste with the salt. Blend well. Refrigerate if not using immediately."

I noticed that the recipe for green curry paste was identical, except that the red chilies are replaced with green chilies.

The 'Easy Thai Cookbook' also had an alternative recipe for making the mixed vegetables in curry sauce:

• 1 2/3 cups canned coconut milk
• 2 Tbsp red or green curry paste
• 3/4 inch piece of turmeric root or 2 tsp of ground turmeric
• 1 3/4 cups veg stock
• 1 1/3 lb vegetables
• 2 tablespoons fish sauce
• 3 lime leaves
• 1 basil sprig and 1 cilantro stem, leaves only