Nachos w/ Calabaza Squash Curry
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.
Equipment
- Oven
- Baking Sheet
Ingredients
Curry w/ Calabaza, Tofu, & Habaneros
- 2 c. calabaza roasted & puréed
- 6 cloves roasted garlic (or 3 cloves unroasted garlic)
- 1/2 shallot minced
- 3 habaneros minced
- 1 lime juiced
- 1 tsp. coriander
- dash salt
- dash pepper
- 2 cans coconut cream
- ~4 cans water
- 16 oz. tofu
- 1-2 tbsp. high heat oil
- 4 oz. brown rice noodles (~1/2 package)
Nachos
- 1/2 c. calabaza curry
- 2 handfulls corn tortilla chips
- 1/4 c. bean sprouts
- 1/4 c. queso fresco shredded or crumbled
- 1/8 c. parmesan shredded
- 2 tbsp. avocado diced
- hefty dollop Greek yogurt (or sour cream, optional)
- dollop hot sauce (optional)
Instructions
Prepare Ingredients
- 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.