One of my favorite late night snack meals is nachos. I am constantly craving them when I just don't have the time or the energy to cook! A lot of the time I will refrain. Because tortilla chips and copious amounts of cheese and sour cream aren't necessarily the most nutritious of meals! But that doesn't mean that they can't be a delectable meal every now and then. These curry nachos combine Calabaza Squash Curry with bean sprouts, fresh avocado, sour cream, and a dollop of hot sauce.
They were kind of an amalgam of everything that I had on hand at the time on a plate with tortilla chips. Which, while usually a really easy meal to throw together, was rather problematic for me today! This is because I'm almost completely out of cheese. When I set out to make curry nachos, I hadn't quite realized that yet, though...
I thought that I had some white cheddar or maybe even queso fresco lying around somewhere. It turns out that I did not! Well, technically I did have queso fresco, but it was frozen. I also had parmesan, another really hard cheese that I think might have been goat cheese..., Swiss, and fresh mozzarella! None of which exactly pair well with nachos.
I almost gave up on the whole endeavor. After all, is it really nachos without cheese? Yes, yes it is. Even it is not quite the same! I ended up breaking off pieces of the frozen queso fresco and softening the rest of the nachos with Greek yogurt and fresh avocado. Topped with just a tad of parmesan!
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Variations of Curry Nachos
I don't tend to make nachos all that often. However, there's something about curry that tastes almost like pinto beans and pairs incredibly well with Mexican-inspired food!
This curry nacho recipe combines calabaza squash with bean sprouts, fresh avocado, Greek yogurt, and hot sauce. It's not exactly the most gourmet meal in the world, but incredibly delicious and quick and easy to throw together after a long day! I'm particularly fond of turning leftovers into absolutely everything. And today I saw curry and thought... Why not? And curry with rice noodles does similarly mimic beans and rice, just with a slightly different seasoning and flavor profile. But it's absolutely delicious! And I highly recommend finding any way to make pre-existing meals new and fun.
Cook Curry w/ Calabaza, Tofu, & Habaneros. This takes several hours to make and should be done at least the day before. That might sound daunting, but it's far simpler than it seems and is more time consuming than anything else! It also only requires a large pot and a skillet.
Cook Nachos
Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
Meanwhile, lay out tortilla chips across a baking sheet.Cover until you can't see the baking sheet any longer. They should be touching, but not overlapping too much. You really just want to be able to add toppings to every chip without it getting too much on the baking sheet!
Sprinkle squash curry and sprouts evenly across the tortilla chips.
Sprinkle with queso fresco and parmesan.
Bake for 10 minutes, or until the cheese melts and the chips begin to toast.
Serve
Once the nachos are done cooking, remove from the oven and top with avocados, sour cream, and hot sauce of choice.
Serve immediately. Once the nachos begin to cool down, the tortilla chips will absorb too much moisture and soften. Once this happens, there isn't a lot that you can do to crisp them up again!
Tips, Tricks, & Notes
You can add sour cream, or Greek yogurt, either before or after cooking. I oscillate between the two. A high quality sour cream that melts into the nachos as they cook is incredibly delicious. However, sometimes it's nice to have a cold sour cream to dip the chips into. Particularly when they're both spicy and hot out of the oven.
For a more in-depth article on nachos, check out my article on The Fundamentals of Making Nachos. I make suggestions on settling the microwave vs. oven debate and give suggestions on serving size, topping order, and potential reheating tips and tricks.
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