Today I made something that's been kicking around my head for a bit... a Thai inspired curry. How did I come by this? Well, not too long ago, I bought some mini chicken wontons from the frozen foods section of a warehouse store. When reading on how to prepare them, I saw that one of the recommendations was to have them in a soup. Hmmmm..... A couple of months back, I had made a chicken & noodles dish from a Thai street food cookbook. The ingredients for that broth were in my head still, so....
Now, here's what I did. I'll give it recipe style, but this is more of an idea of what you can do to liven up frozen foods and/or leftovers. This is meant for one person, but you can easily double, triple, etc...
10 frozen wontons, pan fried according to package directions
4 or 5 baby carrots, quartered
1 stalk of bok choy, chopped
1/2 cup chicken broth
1/4 coconut milk
1/4 teaspoon fish sauce
1 teaspoon soy sauce
1/4 teaspoon red curry paste
yellow curry powder to taste
Pan fry the wontons, according to the package. When done, remove to a paper towel or plate.
Turn the heat down to medium and add your veggies to the pan. (I chopped them while the wontons fried.) Add the curry paste. Stir fry for about 3 minutes.
In a measuring cup, have your broth, milk, and sauces ready to go. Pour into the pan, and let simmer for 3 or 4 minutes. Season with curry powder. You can season with salt & pepper if you want, to taste. Add wontons back in during the simmer.
Serve in a bowl and enjoy!
Now, on to the variations...
Don't have any wontons? Why not frozen meatballs? Shrimp? Leftover roasted chicken or a pork chop? Leftover stir-fry? Possibilities are endless. Use what you have and what you think will go with the flavors of the broth.
As to the broth, you can use vegetable broth, seafood broth, etc... Whatever you want. Don't have fish sauce? Try something else. Want to add some heat? Add a little hot sauce. Again, it's up to you and what you want.
Veggies - I do recommend adding some fresh veggies to this, but if you only have frozen, use some of that. Don't like carrots or bok choy? Choose other veggies. Look at what you have in your fridge, especially items that might be leftover from another recipe.
Are you vegan or vegetarian? I hope you already know how to make this vegan.... And a vegan version of this would be tasty. I plan to try it, maybe adding some rice noodles to it, though rice would be good too.
There are many variations, and I hope this inspires you to try this and give your leftovers and/or frozen items some new life. I could have made longer lists because, as I ate this (it was YUMMY!), I had so many ideas of what to do pop into my head.
If you make this, especially a variation on what I presented, I encourage you to share a photo of it in the comments and talk about what you did with it.
Have fun and enjoy the results!
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