If you're somebody who cooks as often and as broadly as I do, you might find yourself in a position where you have lots of inter-cuisinal leftovers in your fridge. The leftovers may appear...incongruous, at first. After all, in what weird and wonderful world can you introduce beer-battered cauliflower and spicy Korean quick pickles to each other and hope for a beautiful, blossoming friendship?
Why, in this world, of course! Here's the great thing about wraps. You can put just about anything in them and, as long as you've got a good balance of flavour and texture, you are good to go, my friend. Fridge leftover wraps are a delicious and excellent way to minimise food wastage in your home.
Your wrap needs the following elements to be a success:
A source of protein
A sauce of some kind
Something salty
Something acidic
Something creamy
Something fresh and crunchy!
This is what I had leftover in my fridge (for your inspiration):
Half a lime
Some limp mint and Italian parsley
Korean quick pickled matchstick carrots
Some leftover (and slightly soggy) beer-battered cauliflower
Some leftover mint and yoghurt dip from my cauliflower
Half a pineapple
Some plant-based chicken from local guys The Green Side in my freezer
Here's how I made my wraps:
Step One: Prep your kak
You know the drill. Blend your sauces, chop your fresh herbs, slice up your pickles, halve your limes. Do whatever you need to do so that assembling your wraps takes seconds.
Step Two: Cook your hot ingredients
Well, first I cooked my plant-based chicken from frozen in a pan with some garlic, which it didn't need. I bought the Original flavour, and it was delicious. I was pleasantly surprised! I'm all for a plant-based meat alternative, but they tend to taste a bit like a sponge that has been left to die at the bottom of the sink.
Those of you who made my beer-battered cauliflower will be thrilled to learn that the crispiness can be somewhat revived if you just pan-fry your deep-fried cauli for a few minutes. You don't have to add any oil to the pan to do that. Unless you are trying to kill your husband very, very slowly by raising his cholesterol levels.
(Optional) Step Three: Do the salsa! Not that kind of salsa. Stop dancing. I'm about to teach you how to make the most delicious pineapple salsa known to mankind.
I made a pineapple salsa out of my leftover pineapple, which I'm about to share with you right now. This salsa is inspired by the pineapple you can buy on the Durban beachfront from promenade vendors. I made it for myself as a snack on a nostalgic whim over a week ago and I have - I kid you not - eaten it every day since.
You will need:
Pineapple
About two teaspoons of brown sugar
A good four or so shakes of paprika
A touch of powdered cayenne
Fat pinch of salt (I used this absolutely divine, smoky chilli salt from Funky Ouma, but flaky salt will also do)
The process is very straightforward. You cube your pineapple and chuck it into a bowl with your dry ingredients. It is ten out of ten delicious. Just writing about it is making my mouth water.
Step Four: Assemble your wraps!
The last thing I do on the stove before I assemble is warm my wrap on each side on a dry pan. I like to think that my lovingly-prepared ingredients deserve a warm flour blanket.
Anyway, after you're done anthropomorphizing your tortilla, slap on your sauces. For me, that was hummus and leftover yoghurt dip. This was closely followed by a generous squeeze of lime. Then came my protein (plant-based chicken), my cauliflower, my pickles, my chopped-up fridge herbs, and, finally - the pièce de résistance - my pineapple salsa.
There she is, folks. What a beaut. If you look carefully at the bottom right bit of the wrap, you'll see where my parrot Robot sampled the wrap for herself. Fridge leftover wraps are sous-chef approved, everyone!
That's a wrap
Anyway, that's a wrap on leftovers for the week. Literally. This was delicious. I can only hope that yours are just as good. Thank you, wraps, for saving dinner leftovers and creating school launches anew. You're doing the lord's work, truly.
See you soon for another recipe soon, folks!
Love,
Mia & Robot