Panang Curry if you’re in a Hurry (and have lots of leftovers to work with)

Remember the curry I said I was gonna make last week, but then I ended up making broccori? Well, even if you don’t remember, I ended up making some panang curry last night with leftover can of coconut milk (I used 1/2 cup of it a coupla weeks ago) and an old bag of mixed veggies from my freezer. And some sliced Seitan Cutlets (yes, from VCON and they’re awesome!). It was pretty tasty and had some nice heat to it (I think I will use less curry next time, cause I used 1 1/2-2 teaspoons, which might have been too much).

Here’s the panang I used:

It’s a paste in a small jar in the indian food section of Harris Teeter. I don’t remember how much I paid for it, but you don’t need a lot of it. This is what it all looked like in the pan:

Here’s the recipe, even though I really just threw this together all willy-nilly (and I’m sorry I like it when things rhyme):

Panang Curry in a Hurry

1 Tbs peanut oil

1 or 2 gloves garlic, sliced or minced or pressed (however you like it)

2 Seitan Cutlets, sliced (to make it bite sizey)

1/2 bag frozen veggies (I used the peas, corn, carrots, string beans, lima beans mix)

1 can coconut milk (15 oz or so)

1 tsp panang curry paste (or more depending on your heat tolerance/preference)

Directions:

1. If you want your curry with rice, you might want to start that before you begin the curry. I had some leftover rice, so I was able to skip this step.
2. Heat oil in a frying pan over medium heat. Add garlic as you slice/mince/press it. In the meantime, slice your seitan cutlets. When the garlic makes noises at you, put in the seitan. Depending on how vigilant you can be, you may want to lower the heat because the seitain may stick.
3. While the seitan’s warming up and getting all nice and browned-er, you may want to throw the veggies into a colander in the sink to rinse off any ice (there was a lot of ice on my veggies because they were in the freezer a while). Let them drain and prepare the curry sauce.
4. Stir up the coconut milk really well, then add the curry paste and stir til well blended. Set this aside, and check on the seitan. You want it to be browned on all sides before you put the veggies in.
5. After the veggies have a chance to warm up (ie, when the pan is able to warm back up), pour in the coconut milk/curry and stir it all in. Let it simmer for a while (til it incorporates and is heated through, at least). At this point the rice should be ready. If it’s not ready yet, it won’t hurt to let the curry sit a while to really incorporate.
6. Serve over rice (whatever kind you would prefer; I usually have brown rice, though that’s probably not authentic). Uh, then.. enjoy!

Serves… 4-6?

Lots of the amounts are guesses here, since I threw this together with lots of leftovers. All told, I think I only used 1/3 a bag of mixed veggies and about a cup of frozen peas (the last of my peas!). If you don’t have any Seitan Cutlets on hand and don’t feel like making any, perhaps some tofu would be good here. But only if it is cooked to firm. I can’t think that mushy tofu would be good in this. I also don’t think Tempeh would work, either. That’s just my opinion. Seitan’s my favorite. I haven’t tried any of the “chicken tenders” or strips that are available out there, so I won’t recommend them–but they sound like they would be good in theory, too. (It just occurred to me that maybe the Chickpea Cutlets–from vcon–might be good here, too. I’ll have to try that in the future!)

Since today is thursday, tonight is Spaghetti Night at Sean’s (the boyfriend). So I can have a yummylicious dinner without having to work for it. And Sean’s very accommodating to my vegan demands. He makes sure to set aside a bowl of sauce for me before he puts the meat in the pot. He also uses my vegan butter for things (I use Smart Balance Organic, which is luckily stocked at my local Harris Teeter ). I didn’t think about it til just now, but I bet I can put some seitan in my sauce if I really wanted. Maybe I’ll figure out a good way to make seitan taste italian so I can just throw some in there. Maybe I can put a recipe up when I figure that out? I’m sure Sean won’t mind if I share. Or maybe he would. We’ll see!

As for future cooking in my little laurinverse.. I am planning on cooking something with mushrooms, spinach and polenta (yes, a vcon recipe, whatchagonnadoaboutit?!) . I also really want to try this recipe I found online for homemade Tagalongs. I’m gonna have to veganize it, but it’ll be easy. I’ll post the recipe here once I’ve done so, and I’ll include lots of pictures Or one good one. Either way!