I had a craving for panang curry, and I also had the ill-fated Trader Joe's Beefless Beef Strips left from my lunch the other day. True to my word, I decided to give them another whirl. I knew that Jeff would never eat those on his own, and there were some leftover black beans he would have no issue eating while I was gone.
So, I decided to make panang curry with the beefless beef strips. I ran to the corner store across the street and grabbed an onion. I wanted to grab some thai chile paste, but unfortunately they didn't have any. Jeff goes through about a jar a week, so of course, we were out. I grabbed a can of tomato paste and hoped for the best. When I got home, I first set my baby bok choy on a cookie sheet, put a few liberal tablespoons of Trader Joe's Gyoza Dipping Sauce on top, set the over for 325, and popped those in the oven on a cookie sheet.
Then, I took the beef-less beef strips, coated them in yellow curry powder and some montreal steak seasoning. I put them in a skillet on the stove with a tiny bit of olive oil and cooked them on high until the got a little crisp on the outside. I tenatively tried one, it was just yesterday that their taste make me feel ill, remember. Suprisingly, it was not nearly as bad! I thought it could pass in the curry.
I took the beef out of the skillet, and added in 1/2 of a chopped onion, two tbs. of yellow curry powder, and about 12 ounces of vegetable broth. I then opened the 6 ounce can of tomato paste I bought and mixed in some vegetable broth, yellow curry spice and thai seasoning mix. It tasted okay, but not spicy enough, so I added in some chili powder till I was satisfied.
I then added that to the onions and vegetable broth that had been cooking. I let it meld together, and then I opened up a can of trader joe's light coconut and added that to the skillet. After I mixed everything together, I let it cook. While it was simmering, I added two tsps. of peanut butter, a couple of tsps. of cumin, and a couple of tsps. of garlic powder. I also added a sprinkle of brown sugar. I do everything to taste, and I think the moreso the reason why I share my cooking madeness is to demonstrate that you can make decent veggie or vegan meals through things you have in your pantry, as well as by experimenting. I just start with a small amount of whatever I am adding at a time, and add until I get to a desired taste. I am extra careful when I am simmering something for awhile - if you let something cook, the flavors can sometimes become more powerful, or less powerful, through the cooking process. I have also made some really bad things this way, but that's how I have grown as a home cook, I think.
I had 1/2 of a 32 ounce container of vegetable broth left that I didn't want to go to waste, so I added it to medium sauce pan and brought it to a boil. Considering I had about two cups left, I added one cup long grain rice to the broth, brought it down to a simmer, covered it, and let the rice cook. The rice took about 15 minutes to cook and I let the curry simmer while the rice finished. When there was about 10 minutes left, I added frozen green beans to the curry to get some additional vegetables in, as well as to add more substance to the curry. I thought I had frozen broccoli, but I didn't. I would have added that, too, or even some frozen peas, if we had them in the freezer. Next time.
Overall, it was a good meal, but I think in the future I would prefer to make it with the thai chile paste to give it more dimension. I also think it was comparable to Trader Joe's curry simmer sauce, so if you're looking for an even quicker option, I highly recommend that. You can toss in a can of the coconut milk to that for a similar style curry. I also think that the light coconut milk might not give it as rich of a flavor, but full flavored coconut milk has so much fat in it, it isn't worth it to me to use it. Overall, I think if you only have a few things in your pantry, this is definately a suitable meal.
Next up, traveling. I'm really nervous to see how this goes!
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