Leftovers Re-Imagined

Ever since my girlfriend's favorite Thai restaurant, Lek Thai, closed months ago, she has been busy searching for Crab Rangoon that may possibly replace theirs. We have tried a myriad of places, and it always seems that they leave her wanting. 

This has had some serious side effects. I now get to eat Thai food a lot more frequently, something I have been quite enjoying. I also often find myself with boxes of leftovers sitting cold and neglected. Not being one to let any food go to waste, I have been finding ways to integrate these leftovers into a fresh new dish that makes eating them seem like less of a chore.

Our most recent outing took us to Belmont Pearl, where my girlfriend of course ordered Crab Rangoon and I enjoyed some delicious General Tao's Tofu. She quite enjoyed her dishes, and my tofu dish was pretty good as well. It was advertised as a spicy entree, but I found the spice to be quite mild, and the heavy garlic in the sauce added a nice bit of sweetness. The only problem I really had was that it was a tremendous amount of food for just one lonely vegan. There would be leftovers.

What to do? My mind immediately went to some sort of wrap or pita sandwich. After a stop at store, I decided on some tasty looking pitas, brown rice, a small red bell pepper, broccoli, and red onion. 

I cut one of the pitas in half, and opened up each half to fill it with the tofu and veggies. I cut up a single crown of broccoli, and then julienned both half an onion and the bell pepper, and cooked off 1 cup of brown rice. 

Using a non-stick pan, I then heated about 2 tablespoons of canola oil on medium low heat. All of the vegetables were added to the pan and then mixed with a little Bragg's Liquid Aminos, making sure to integrate thoroughly. The veggies and Bragg's cooked for about 9 or 10 minutes, until a little soft, and then I added the leftover tofu, taking care to add all of the sauce sitting at the bottom. 

A little stir every once and a while, and 6 or so minutes later, I was ready to stuff my pitas.

I lined the bottom third of the pita with rice, then used tongs to add in broccoli, onion, peppers and tofu. I had plenty of the mixture left, which I used for extra pitas for lunch the next day.

It was a fun way to spice up the leftovers from a few days prior, and add a little more veggies into my diet.