The other night, I had a real jonesing for some curry stir fry. I broke out the lite coconut milk to mix with my green curry paste (my favorite). The problem is that even lite is not terribly healthy, so I want to keep my portions reasonable...but the cans are so big!! I hate that because I can't use it all up before it goes bad so I end up wasting a bunch.
But I dutifully put the remaining portion in Tupperware and put it in the fridge. My intention was to look up other recipes that use it so see what I could do. You can't eat curry too many times in a row... Given that it's the end of the semester, though, and some other madness this week (long story), I just haven't taken the time to do that.
But this morning I was going to make more Cream of Wheat (seriously, it's now an obsession). It occurred to me that a little of that coconut milk might be really good in it. I can't replace water for it, but I decided I could use a little milk along with the water. The recipe calls for 1.25 cups water plus 3T of the dry cereal, so I did one cup water and 1/4 cup milk. The results: the cereal was creamier and had a mild extra sweetness. Not overwhelming, but noticeable. It also seemed thicker, but I might be imagining that. I added some pumpkin and cinnamon, too, which was great. Next time, I'll try it with my blueberries to see how that goes. Might also try it with just a little real coconut, too. Lots of possibilities!
So there's a new idea to make something different. Hope you're enjoying a happy and healthy holiday season!!
This sounds delicious! Thanks for the idea :)
ReplyDeleteDoes curry freeze well? I wonder if that might be an option. And I agree that I wish they came in smaller cans. I feel the same way about tomato paste though, you know? I usually only want maybe a 1/2 tiny can at a time, but it doesn't stay good very long.
For what it's worth, I like to use coconut milk to cook brown rice (replace 1/2 the water with coconut milk) and add tumeric, tomatos, a little red pepper and onions and garlic. I also sometimes mix it with corn and bake it in squash.
Can you freeze the coconut milk? Might be worth trying ~ I freeze just about everything. For Rachel ~ you can sometimes find tomato paste in a squeeze tube. Then you can just use the amount you need without wasting a whole can!
ReplyDeleteOhhh. I wonder if you can. I'll try it and if it doesn't work, I won't be out too much. Maybe do it in an ice cube tray so I can have easy portions to deal with...then put in baggies.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the cooking tips, Rachel. I'll post about those soon. I guess I use tomato paste fast enough. When I open a can, I just commit to having homemade pizza several times in short order. This is not a challenge for me. :) :) But I like the idea of the tube thing, so long as it's not the kind of tomato paste that's loaded up with sugars and high fructose corn syrup.