Archive for the ‘#1 Go-To Recipes’ Category
Cheesy Fried Potatoes
I love fried potatoes, and cheese and egg mixed in, sounds even better. I made this on 1 Jun 2019, and wow, are these good!
Ingredients
- 4 medium potatoes, cubed, peeling is optional
- bacon fat, as needed
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 1 small onion, diced
- 2 eggs
- 1/2 cup Cheddar cheese, shredded, or more to taste
- salt and pepper, as desired
Instructions
- Prep the potatoes, then add to a pot and cover with water. Bring to a boil and cook until the potatoes are not quite fork tender, we are going to fry them soon. Drain potatoes.
- Heat 1-2 tablespoons of bacon fat and the butter in a large non stick pan, when hot, add the onion and drained potatoes.
- Cover and cook, turning occasionally, season with salt and pepper as desired, until tender and starting to brown.
- Crack in the eggs and sprinkle on the cheese, mix together, cover.
- Cook until the egg is set and the cheese is melted in.
- Serve and enjoy with sides of your choice.
Notes
Low cost per serving.
Variants: 1. Fry up some bacon, crumble, and add that. 2. Use a 4 cheese blend in place of Cheddar.
Adapted from an internet recipe.
Thai Fried Potatoes
I just thought this was kind of unique so I am adding it as a recipe. Thais love french fries, you can see this is any grocery store, there will be 2-3 refer units with nothing but different brands of french fries, shoe string cut, crinkle cut, wedges, American fries, etc, really odd since most Thais normally eat regular potatoes just boiled, unless there is fries. This recipe is what my wife made, basically fried potatoes that taste like french fries. She made these on a whim to use up some potatoes I had on hand before they spoiled, and here is her creation.
Ingredients
- 5 medium potatoes, whole, skin on
- cooking oil, as needed
- sea salt, as desired
Instructions
- Wash and scrub the potatoes, place potatoes in a large pot and cover with about 2 inches of water. Turn on the heat to high. When the water is boiling, let boil for about 5 minutes, then turn off the heat, cover the pot and allow to cool to room temp, about 2 hours or so.
- Once the pot has cooled to room temp, remove the potatoes from the water, discard the water. Cut the potatoes into large dice, nice bite size pieces.
- In a large non stick pan (we use a wok pan) add about 1/2 to 3/4 inch of cooking oil and heat until hot but not smoking, you are going to shallow fry the potatoes. When the oil is hot, add all the potatoes, stir them around a bit and fry, stirring often, goal is golden brown without burning or charring the potatoes.
- When all the potatoes are golden brown, remove to a strainer to drain oil.
- Place on paper towels to absorb oil as well. Season with sea salt, serve as a snack or side dish as you would french fries. And there you go, fried potatoes that taste very much like french fries. Enjoy.
Notes
Low cost.
My wife's creation for the method. Rrayada Thayer.
Thailand.
Thailand.
Fried Crab Sticks aka Fish Fingers
In my never ending quest to find recipes that use crab sticks (imitation crab, which is just fish), I came across this one, and it is very good! Easy to prepare, these can be shallow fried in a pan or deep fried. I made these on 31 Jan 2022 and the family loved them! Serve as an appetizer or main dish.
Equipment
- Deep Fryer
Ingredients
- imitation crab sticks
- 3 eggs
- 2 tablespoons milk
- 1½ cups panko breadcrumbs
- 1 cup all purpose flour
- cooking oil, as needed
- dipping sauce, of your choice
Instructions
- For the crab sticks, estimate 1-2 sticks per serving as appetizers, or 6-8 sticks per serving as a main dish.
- Whisk together the eggs and milk in a shallow bowl. Place the flour in a bowl, and the panko in another bowl. Place a sheet of foil or parchment paper on the counter then unwrap the crab sticks and place on the foil. (And you can see I already had 4 sticks coated already when I took the photo.)
- For pan frying: Heat about ½ inch of oil in a pan, you want it hot but not smoking. For deep frying, set the dial to 180° C (350°).
- Roll a crab stick in flour to evenly coat, then coat evenly with egg mixture, then coat with panko, and place the crab stick back on the foil. (The coating is not thick, but the panko and egg give a nice texture and flavor.)
- When you have 4-6 sticks completed, and the oil is hot, add the sticks to the oil and fry until browned, turn to brown other side, this only takes 2 minutes or so and do not overcook or the crab sticks will fall apart. When using a deep fryer, place sticks in the basket so they are not touching, then deep fry for 1-2 minutes.
- Remove and drain on paper towels.
- Repeat for remaining crab sticks.
- Enjoy with a dipping sauce of your choice, such as sweet chili sauce, ketchup, or Japanese mayo (Kewpie). Figure 1-2 sticks per serving as an appetizer and 6-8 sticks per serving as a main dish.
Notes
Low cost per serving.
Chicken Liver & Heart Adobo
This is a modified Filipino dish made with common ingredients. The use of flour is the out of place ingredient from the authentic recipe.
Ingredients
- 500 grams chicken liver, (1 lb)
- 500 grams chicken hearts, (1 lb)
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- ½ cup all purpose flour
- 4 tablespoons cooking oil, divided
- 4-5 cloves garlic, smashed and minced
- ½ cup light soy sauce
- ¾ cup water
- 4-6 bay leaves
- 1 teaspoon whole black peppercorns
- ¼ cup white vinegar
- 2 spring onions, sliced, for garnish
Instructions
- Rinse the liver and hearts, cut the livers in half and trim the hearts, prep the garlic, spring onions, and measure out the liquids. For the liver, I used 700 grams and 300 grams of hearts, if you don't like hearts, just use more liver. If you want to use gizzards, parboil those for about 30-60 minutes before continuing with the recipe.
- Add the flour to a shallow dish and mix in the salt and garlic powder.
- Heat a large non stick pan with 2 tablespoons of the cooking oil. When hot, coat the liver and hearts in flour and add to the pan, cooking the liver for 2 minutes per side, for the hearts, just kind of scoot them around the pan and remove those when you remove the liver to a plate, work in batches until all the hearts and liver are browned. They are cooked more in another step. I did this in three batches as I use a wok pan, simply grabbing a handful of liver and hearts, coating with flour, then coating more while the first batch was cooking.
- Just cook until browned a bit, not looking to cook through or you will have dry liver, remove from the pan, add a bit more oil if needed, and cook another batch, until all is browned.
- Same pan, add the other 2 tablespoons of oil and the garlic, stir, cooking the garlic until it is just brown and fragrant.
- Add the liver and hearts back to the pan, and add the soy sauce and water, stir to mix, let this come to a boil then add the bay leaves and peppercorns.
- Reduce heat to a simmer and cover for 15-20 minutes, this will cook the liver and hearts through, and the flour will make for a thicker sauce.
- Now add the vinegar, stir and bring back to a boil. Stirring often and cook for 5 more minutes. Remove from heat, remove the bay leaves.
- Serve with hot cooked rice of your choice.
Notes
The liver will cost about 66 Baht/500 grams, the hearts will be about 30 Baht/500 grams. For 6 servings, this is about 52 cents per serving.
Creamy Lemon Chicken Piccata Meatballs
This recipe comes from a friend, and it is delicious. If making the sauce only to use with another meatball recipe, start at Step 4. I made the sauce for chicken meatballs that were baked but I still browned them up a bit before making the sauce. Links to the Shortcuts are listed in the Recipe Notes section.
Ingredients
For the Meatballs
- 500 grams ground chicken, (1 lb)
- 1 egg
- 3/4 cup bread crumbs, (Shortcut)
- 2 cloves garlic, smashed and minced
- 1/4 cup fresh parsley, chopped
- 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese, grated
- salt and pepper, as desired
For the Sauce
- 1 tablespoon olive oil, (to brown the meatballs only)
- 3 tablespoons butter
- 1 tablespoon all purpose flour
- 1 cup chicken broth, (Shortcut)
- 1 cup whipping cream
- 1/4-1/3 cup lemon or lime juice, adjust to taste
- 1/4 cup capers, drained
- salt and pepper, as desired, to taste
For Serving
- cooked pasta, of your choice
- Parmesan cheese, as desired
Instructions
- Place all the Meatball ingredients in a mixing bowl and get int there with your hands and mix everything together. If the mixture is too wet to form into a meatball, add some bread crumbs a little at a time.
- With wet hands, roll a heaping tablespoon of meat mixture into a meatball, place on a plate or sheet of foil, continue until all the meatballs are rolled.
- Now let's get the pasta going, I used spaghetti for this dish. Heat a pot of salted water to a boil, when boiling, add the spaghetti and cook until tender. Drain. While the water is heating you can proceed on with the rest of the steps.
- Heat the 1 tablespoon of oil in a large non stick pan on medium high heat, when hot, add some meatballs but don't overcrowd the pan, you will need to work in batches, brown on all sides, intention is to brown, not cooked through, we'll take care of that later. As the meatballs are browned, remove them to a plate.
- Reduce the heat to medium and wipe out the pan, add the butter. If just making the sauce for your own meatball recipe, add the butter to a non stick pan and place on medium heat.
- When the butter is melted, add the flour and mix into the butter, whisk constantly and cook for about 1 minute, now add the broth, lemon or lime juice, and the whipping cream, and whisk together.
- When the sauce is at a simmer, add the meatballs. Simmer for 5-8 minutes or until the sauce is starting to thicken, and check a meatball and make sure it is cooked through. Taste the sauce and season with salt and pepper as desired.
- When the sauce is thickened as desired, stir in the drained capers, let cook 1 more minute, remove from heat.
- Serve over cooked pasta of your choice and garnish with Parmesan cheese. Enjoy.
- I used a different meatball recipe and the meatballs were baked but I did brown them before making the sauce.
Notes
The cheese used and capers are the costly items for this, when I work out the cheese and capers, I will state a price per serving, for now I will say Fair cost per serving.
Shortcuts: Bread Crumbs, Chicken Broth (Pressure Cooker).
Variants: 1. To use milk in place of whipping cream, add an extra tablespoon of flour into the butter, and add 2 tablespoons of Parmesan, grated, into the sauce and it will thicken and taste very good as well, and it is healthier. 2. Add fresh mushrooms to the sauce.
Inspired by Spend With Pennies and the link to this recipe is here.
United States.
United States.
Dorito Taco Salad
Excellent salad and the family loved it, and oddly enough, I prefer a taco salad over tacos, any day. I did use a variant by using chickpeas in place of pinto beans. Links to the Shortcuts are listed in the Recipe Notes section.
Ingredients
- 500 grams ground beef, or ground pork, (1 lb)
- 1 packet taco seasoning mix, (Shortcut)
- 1/2 cup water
- 1 head lettuce, chopped into bite size pieces
- 1 red bell pepper, diced
- 1 green bell pepper, diced
- 1/2 cup black olives, sliced
- 1 can Pinto beans, rinsed, drained, or 1 1/2 cups cooked, (Shortcut)
- 1 cup tomatoes, diced
- 1/4 cup spring onion, sliced, reserve some for garnish
- 1 cup Cheddar cheese, shredded
- 1 bag Nacho Cheese Doritos, slightly crushed, (200 grams / 10 oz for US)
- 2 cups catalina dressing, (Shortcut)
- sour cream, optional, as desired for garnish
Instructions
- Heat a non stick pan and add the ground meat and onion. I used mince pork. Cook until no pink is visible then drain off the fat, return the pan to the burner.
- Add the taco seasoning mix and the water, stir to mix together.
- Simmer until the water is evaporated, stirring occasionally. After it is cooked, set the pan aside to cool while you prep the rest of the ingredients.
- Prep the lettuce, bell peppers, olives, spring onions, tomatoes, and beans as stated in the ingredients list. Place each item as prepped into a large mixing bowl and mix together.
- Add the cooled seasoned meat and cheese and mix together. Then mix in the partially crushed Doritos, then finally, pour on the dressing and mix that it.
- Garnish with sour cream as desired and the reserved spring onion. Serve immediately and enjoy.
Notes
Low cost per serving for 8 servings.
Shortcuts: Taco Seasoning Mix, Pinto Beans (Pressure Cooker), Catalina Dressing, Chickpeas (Pressure Cooker).
Variants: 1. Use chickpeas in place of pinto beans. 2. Add fresh chopped cilantro. 3. Do not mix in the Doritos, just have them on the side and people can sprinkle them on as they like.
Inspired by Spend With Pennies and the link to this recipe is here.
United States.
United States.
Catalina Dressing
Great tasting dressing and easy to put together with common ingredients. Link to the Shortcut is listed in the Recipe Notes section.
Ingredients
- ½ cup red wine vinegar
- ¼ cup sugar
- ½ cup extra virgin olive oil
- ¼ cup ketchup
- 1 teaspoon paprika
- ½ teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
- ½ teaspoon onion powder
- ½ teaspoon dried celery flakes
- ½ teaspoon Italian seasoning, Shortcut
- 1 tablespoon mayo
Instructions
- Place all ingredients in a mixing bowl and grab a whisk. Whisk until the dressing comes together as a smooth sauce, the mayo is what does this for you.
- Use immediately or store covered in the fridge.
Notes
Shortcut: Italian Seasoning.
Used in Recipes Listed on this Site:
- Catalina Chicken.
- Dorito Taco Salad, made it, GO-TO recipe.
Sweet Ginger Soy Fried Cabbage
I love fried cabbage and this recipe is a great option from plain fried cabbage, and tasty.
Ingredients
- 1/2 head green cabbage
- 1 onion, brown or red
- 2 cloves garlic, smashed and chopped
- piece fresh garlic, 3/4 inch piece, grated, or 1 teaspoon ground
- 1 1/2 teaspoons butter
- 1 1/2 teaspoons cooking oil
For the Sauce
- 3 tablespoons light soy sauce
- 2 tablespoons honey
- 1 teaspoon dashi powder, optional
- 1 teaspoon warm water, if using dashi powder
Instructions
- Cut the head of cabbage in half, store one half in the fridge. Take the half you are going to use and lat flat on your cutting board, and cut in half again. remove the core by simply holding each piece up cutting downwards to remove the core section.
- Now slice the cabbage into 1/2 inch slices. and break it up a bit with your hands.
- Peel the onion, cut in half and slice each half. Grate the ginger. Peel and mince the garlic. (I ran out of fresh ginger so opted to use powdered, it works but fresh would have been much better.)
- Make the sauce by combining the soy sauce and honey in a small bowl. If using the dashing powder, first dissolve that in the warm water, then mix in the soy sauce and honey.
- Add the butter and oil to a large non stick pan and place on medium high heat, when hot, add the ginger and garlic and basically stir fry for 1 minute, just lightly browning it and not burning.
- Follow these steps closely as you are going to lightly char the cabbage. Add the cabbage to the pan and using a spatula, turn the cabbage to put most of the garlic and ginger on the top of the cabbage, then add the onion on top of the cabbage. Let the cabbage cook, do not turn or stir it, for 1-2 minutes, to let the cabbage lightly char.
- Now flip and stir the cabbage to mix the onions into the cabbage. When it is mixed well, once again, let it cook for 1-2 minutes with touching it, again to lightly char the cabbage.
- Now drizzle in the sauce and mix into the cabbage and continue to cook the cabbage, stirring often for another 1 minute or until the cabbage is tender.
- Serve as a side with any dish, enjoy.
Notes
Low cost per serving.
Crab & Cheese Spring Rolls
These are delicious and easy to prepare. Keep in mind, this is in no way Chinese. The number of spring rolls you make from this will depend on the size of the wrappers you use, either 8.5 x 8.5 inch or 5.5 x 5.5 inch, either size will work. I used 5.5 x 5.5 inch wrappers and made 15 spring rolls, so using the larger ones, you will make less.
Ingredients
- 15 spring roll wrappers
- 250 grams imitation crab sticks, (8 oz)
- 250 grams Cream cheese, room temp, (8 oz)
- ¾ cup Mozzarella Cheese, shredded
- 2-3 tabelspoons mayo
- 3 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
- 1 teaspoon rice vinegar
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- 2-3 spring onions, sliced, white and green parts
- 2 cloves garlic, smashed, finely minced
- 1 tablespoon corn starch
- 1-2 tablespoons water
- sweet chili sauce, for serving, or dipping sauces of your choice
Instructions
- If your spring roll wrappers are frozen, take them out and place on the counter for 1-2 hours before you start. Take out the cream cheese, unwrap that and place in a mixing bowl for about an hour, to come up to room temperature and soften, or use a spreadable cream cheese.
- Unwrap the crab sticks and chop them, then shred or break them apart with your fingers. Here they are just chopped, not shredded yet.
- Prep the spring onion and garlic.
- Mash up the cream cheese up with a heavy spoon to get it mixable.
- To the bowl, add the mayo, Mozzarella cheese, Worcestershire sauce, rice vinegar, and sugar. Mix to combine.
- Add the crab, garlic, and spring onion.
- Mix to combine, now your filling is ready. Go ahead and mix together the corn starch and water in a small bowl, this is your glue to seal the edges of the spring rolls.
- Rolling, for this step, it is best to have two people, one to pull the wrappers, one to roll. Lay a spring roll wrapper, smooth side down on the counter with one corner pointed towards you. Place about 1-1 1/2 tablespoons of filling near the corner closest to you. Fold the corner nearest you up and over the filling and roll away until you are at the widest point of the wrapper. Use your fingers and dip into the glue and rub that on the two side that are away from you, be generous. Now fold one side, left or right, towards the middle, the repeat with the other side, now it should look like an open envelope. Now continue rolling away from you to complete the roll. If the point flap does not stay glued down, just dab a bit more glue on it. Repeat until the filling is all used. Once you have done this a few times this actually goes pretty fast. The reason for the two people is you do not want the wrappers drying or they will tear when pulling them apart. If only you are making these, cover the wrappers with a damp towel while you roll each one.
- Completed spring rolls.
- When you are ready to fry them, heat about ½ inch of oil in a pan, you want it hot but not smoking. When the oil is hot, fry 4 to 5 rolls at a time until golden brown then turn over until the other side is golden brown. Drain on paper towels and continue frying in batches until all are cooked. Keep in mind, the filling in these is soft and some rolls may ooze a bit of cheese and filling into oil, that accounts for the dark specks you see on the rolls, just cosmetic, no harm.
- Serve with sweet chili sauce for dipping, or other sauces of your choice. Enjoy as an appetizer or even as a main dish. These are excellent even without a dipping sauce.
Notes
The crab sticks are 52 Baht, the cream cheese is 108 Baht for Caroline brand (Thai), and figure about 60 Baht for the Mozzarella. For 15 spring rolls, this is about 48 cents per spring roll. If using and import brand of cream cheese, figure about 60 cents per spring roll. Figure 1-2 rolls as a serving as an appetizer (Low cost), and 3-4 rolls as a main dish with a nice side. (High cost).
Chicken with Noodles & Gravy
Just as you guessed it, it is that simple, chicken, egg noodles, and chicken gravy. This is a base recipe, tailor it to your liking and call it your own. I made this on 5 May 2019, perfect! Link to the Shortcut is listed in the Recipe Notes section.
Ingredients
- 340 grams dry egg noodles, (12 oz)
- 700 grams chicken breasts, boneless, skinless, cut into bite size pieces, (1 1/2 lbs, I used 3 breasts)
- extra light olive oil, as needed
- 3 packets chicken gravy, (yield is 1 cup gravy per packet), (Shortcut)
- 3 cups frozen peas, thawed, (don't use canned peas!)
- salt and pepper, black pepper or white pepper, as desired
Instructions
- This is the gravy packet I use, Thai brand, Thai made, and it is quite good. And is low cost.
- First thing we need to do is get the noodles cooking, so heat a pot of salted water to boiling, then add the egg noodles and boil until just tender. Drain.
- I used a variant which adds a step here. I sauteed about 1 cup of sliced (Japanese Sogigiri or angle sliced) Shiitake mushrooms, and reduced the peas to 2 cups. After the mushrooms were sauteed, I just wiped out the pan and that is ready for the chicken now.
- While the water is heating for the egg noodles, heat a non stick pan on medium heat with the oil, when hot add the chicken, season with salt and pepper as desired (I used white pepper), saute, turning them often.
- When no pink is visible and they have released their water, as seen in the photo, remove and drain off the water, and set the pan aside. Don't over cook the chicken or you will have tough chicken. The will still cook when the pan is off the heat and you will have perfect tender chicken.
- In a large sauce pan, prepare the gravy per the packet instructions, normally 1 cup water per packet, so 3 cups water and whisk in the 3 packets. When the gravy has thickened to your liking, reduce heat to a simmer and stir in the peas, and mushrooms if you prepared those.
- Whens the peas are warmed through, takes just a few minutes, add the chicken and drained noodles, stir and let this simmer for a few minutes to heat everything through.
- Serve and enjoy.
Notes
Low cost per serving.
Shortcuts: Gravy Mix. Although I do list the shortcut here, for those in Thailand, Lobo has excellent gravy packets, which is what I primarily use.
Variants: 1. Use a combination of peas and carrots. 2. Use mixed vegetables in place of peas. 3. Reduce the amount of peas and add some sauteed mushrooms. (Highly recommended!)
Adapted from an internet recipe.