Making Leftovers New Again
With a few notable exceptions (turkey after Thanksgiving, cold roast chicken which sometimes tastes better than hot chicken, leftover macaroni and cheese) I really don't like leftovers! However if you can figure out how to make one dish into a new dish, technically the resulting creation is no longer left over.
I had a lot of leftover roast goat (See "Mary Had a Little Goat" for that recipe). It has been living in my freezer for over a month. I was thinking about making "pulled goat sandwiches" by reheating the goat in bbq sauce and serving it on rolls with homemade coleslaw. I still think that would have been good, but instead I decided to make goat curry.
There is a curry plant, but what most of us think of curry is a mixture of spices, usually with coriander, cumin, and turmeric as a base. I also added fresh ginger, Chinese five spice powder (cinnamon, cloves, star anise, ginger, and something else, but I forget what spice). The curry blend I used was kind of mild, so I also added garam masala, another pungent blend of spices. I always cook my spices before adding the liquid. I find it reduces any bitterness in the spice and enhances the flavor. I love coconut milk in curry--it adds some sweetness to this savory dish--so I used light coconut milk as a basis for the broth. To offset the sweetness and the spice, I added the fresh grated peel of one lemon and about a cup of low fat plain yogurt. The yogurt increased the viscosity of the sauce and the depth of flavor of the curry. I served the curry over homemade pasta, but rice of course would have been delicious.
Now what to do with all of this leftover curry...