The Law of Creativity in the works: there are only pakbet ingredients in the ref, leftover ulang (freshwater prawns) na sinigang, a Japanese curry mix bought some weeks ago, an extra can of coconut milk, and a chef in the house—Chef Joey, who was hungry for something newly cooked to eat...but not pakbet again!

WHEN Chef Joey (our son) was a budding foodie, I was deep into a food-styling career. Most of the time, I’d cook whatever extra ingredients were not used in a project. This, however, gave Joey the impression that the meats had been treated with coloring, and that the veggies had been subjected to light and dust from the busy studios...in other words, food from food styling was not food.  In those situations, Joey learned to fend for his own meals and learned to cook out of necessity. But, hey, don’t regard it like I was a witch mom who didn’t feed her son: through these situations, I watched from the sidelines as he took on the chance to own the kitchen till his culinary interests and skills had been sharpened well enough. That’s his first baby steps into chefdom.

And now, voilà! Another new ulam made out of the usual ingredients and some good leftovers made only the way Chef Joey’s hungry mind would execute. So here goes:

How to make curry prawn ‘pakbet’

It’s not exactly going to be a recipe but rather a set of procedures. Ready?

1. Cook your personal pakbet, except do not add the bagoong.

2. Make it a soupy pakbet. You can probably add chicken stock.

3. After you put the veggies to the boil (simmer only/low heat) with chicken stock, stir in the curry.

4. If using curry paste, stir curry paste with some coconut milk then add to the boiling veggies. If using curry powder, do the same; heat some coconut milk and then stir in the curry paste. Use as much coconut milk as you want. It sweetens the dish.

5. Note: I can’t tell you how much curry to use, because there are so many kinds. For an easy time, buy the Japanese curry paste that’s ready to use.

6. Combine everything: soupy veggies,  curry-coconut milk blend and season with first-class patis. If you have real good bagoong that is not oily or tastes like the can (metallic) or the bottle (stale and flat), go ahead and season with bagoong. That’s for a super-rich umami taste!

7. But be sure to taste as you go along...

8. Next, fish the ulang or whatever seafoods you have from yesterday’s sinigang, and add it last—just to heat through and not overcook whatever goodness is left of it!

9. At this point you already have a delicious makeover of the pakbet. But you can still add some more touches:

10. If you have a hold of makrut lime leaves, add a leaf or two. If   not, make do with fresh wansoy leaves or grate over lime or lemon peel for aroma.

There you have it—a new dish...courtesy of creativity...borne out of  hunger and necessity...by a chef who knew better than to rush out of the house and go to the nearest fast food for chicken and fries!

Nancy’s notes

1. You can do this recipe for fish head—get the real maya-maya fish head (not the carpa maya-maya).

2. For the kick you need, drop some green finger chilies into the pot.

3. To up the dish one more level—stir in some peanut butter or sâté and you’ll have something like a kare-kare-pakbet-curry-tasting dish.

4. Ulang is a freshwater prawn also known as pitu in the gastroworld.