Leftover green curry

In my never-ending quest for the meal for one, I've encountered several challenges, including how to use up an ingredient (herbs are usually the main culprit), and how to make a single portion out of a larger recipe (clearly never going to happen with roast chicken, although - maybe a cornish game hen?).

A new spin on this last one is, how can I make manageable leftovers? As I've said before, leftovers are my frenemy - sometimes they are totally awesome, and sometimes they are the bane of my existence.



Enter Thai curry. I love, in particular, red curry - although here I made green curry. Leftovers are ok with one key exception - the veggies always tend to get mushy.


So, my solution is to make a full batch (meaning one can of coconut milk), adding only a protein (here, firm tofu) and bamboo shoots because both of these do not get soggy. The tofu tends to break apart, but I don't mind that. I also add some dried basil to the curry because it's one of those ingredients that I'm trying to use up. It's not Thai basil but my palate doesn't know the difference.


Then, when I heat up the leftovers, I can add some fresh veggies such as red bell peppers and green beans (I used snow peas for this batch).


Perfection!

***

I used the Fine Cooking website's "Create Your Own" feature to make this Thai curry - it is so much fun! I wish this was possible for everything, but I guess it can only work on certain things. The basic recipe is really simple:

• heat up 1/2 cup of the coconut milk (shake can well) until it is reduced down (I am not totally sure about why this step is necessary, although my theory is so that the curry paste incorporates better, so I usually just wait a few minutes until the milk has heated up)
• when it has reduced down, add 1/4 cup of curry paste (I've been getting the Thai Kitchen curry pastes that come in tiny little jars and I use nearly half the jar)
• add 1 cup of stock, 2 tbsp of brown sugar, 1 tsp of fish sauce, and the rest of the coconut milk and let simmer
• add protein, simmer, add veggies, simmer, season to taste