Archive for the ‘#1 Go-To Recipes’ Category
Homemade Beef Barley Soup
I was in Tesco in the town near us, and I seen barley stocked, that was a first! So of course I bought a 500 gram (1 lb) bag for 30 Baht (just a bit less than $1). This recipe comes from a good friend, and it is delicious! Very well liked by the family. Link to the Shortcut is listed in the Recipe Notes section.
Ingredients
- 500 grams beef, see Step 1
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 onion, diced
- 2 carrots, sliced or Rangiri (see Recipe Notes)
- 1 stalk celery, chopped
- 6 cups beef broth, fresh or from powder
- 1 can diced tomatoes, with juice
- 1/2 green bell pepper, diced
- 2/3 cup dry barley
- 1 tablespoon Worcerstershire sauce
- 1/4 teaspoon dried thyme
- 1 packet beef gravy, (Shortcut)
- 1 bay leaf
- 2 teaspoons dried parsley
- salt and pepper, as desired
- 1 clove garlic, smashed and minced
Instructions
- For the beef, you have several options. 1. Use ground beef (my preference). 2. Use leftover roast beef or steak that is diced. 3. Use raw beef that is diced.
Using Ground Beef or Raw Beef
- Heat the oil in a large non stick pan on medium heat, when hot, add the onion, garlic, and either ground beef or raw diced beef. Cook until browned. Drain, and add to a large pot. Now continue with Continuing On... below.
Using Cooked Beef
- In large pot, heat the oil on medium heat, when hot, add the onion and garlic and cook until the onion is tender and soft, then stir in the cooked diced beef. Now continue with Continuing On... below.
Continuing On...
- Now that we have the beef sorted out, and in the pot, let's continue, and this is easy, add all the remaining ingredients to the pot.
- Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to a simmer, and cover. Cook, stirring occasionally, for about 40 minutes or until the barley is plumped and tender.
- Here it is fully cooked. If you would like a thinner soup, add some beef broth or water to thin it out, and if you would like a thicker soup, more like a stew, just simmer for a few more minutes with the cover removed to reduce the liquid.
- When the consistency of the soup is right for you, ladle into bowls and serve.
Notes
I bought the beef from a local vendor and ground myself, 500 grams (1 lb) was about $1.95. The barley was $1. For 8 servings (easy), this is about 37 cents per serving.
For the carrots: I used a Japanese style of chopping carrots, called Rangiri, which is basically, cut a piece of the carrot off at an angle, then rotate the carrot 1/4 turn, cut another piece off at an angle, repeat the turning and cutting. This makes for bite size pieces, and a larger surface area giving two uses, first, it absorbs more of the stock flavor, and second, it cooks faster with a larger surface area.
Shortcut: Beef Gravy.
Variants: 1. Use vegetables you have on hand, like green beans, corn, different color bell peppers. 2. In place of the canned tomatoes, use a pint of fresh cherry tomatoes quartered. 3. No celery? Not a problem, add a pinch of celery seed if you have on hand, or just omit.
Inspired by Spend With Pennies and the link to this recipe is here.
United States.
United States.
Meatball & Egg Tofu Soup
This is a basic, non spicy Thai soup, made more for children than anything, but when I made this on 11 Aug 2018, the entire Thai family loved it. Not only did they enjoy it for dinner, they enjoyed it again (as did I) for breakfast the next morning. The ingredients are simple, flavorful, and nutritious. For readers in the US and Canada, you can find the various meatballs and egg tofu in most Asian markets. Read the Variants in the Recipe Notes section as there is many ways you can prepare this.
Ingredients
- 800 grams fish balls, (28 oz)
- 2 cubes mushroom stock
- 2 bunches spring onions, chopped, white and green parts
- 1-2 bunches cilantro, chopped
- 1-2 handfuls fresh oyster mushrooms, torn into bite size pieces
- 420 gram egg tofu, (15 oz)
- oyster sauce, to taste
- soy sauce, to taste
Instructions
- Fill a large pot about 1/3 full of water, add the stock cubes and bring to boil. The pot I am using here is my pressure cooker pot, this is NOT a pressure cooker recipe, I use the pot because it is a heavy thick walled pot.
- The brand of fish balls I used, each bag, vacuum sealed, is 400 grams (14 oz) and I used bags. These are the large fish ball. For readers in the US and Canada, these will be in the frozen or fridge section of an Asian market.
- Empty the fish balls onto a cutting board, use a knife and cut an X on opposite sides of each ball.
- Add the fish balls to the pot, and reduce heat to a simmer and let the fish balls cook through. They will swell as they cook.
- Chop the spring onion and cilantro and add to the pot and stir in. Here you can see the X's on the fish balls, the reason for doing this is more surface area to absorb the stock flavor.
- After about 15 more minutes of simmering, add the mushrooms and stir in.
- Continue to simmer for 10-15 minutes to cook the mushrooms and get them nice and tender.
- This is the egg tofu I used, it comes in a tube. Cut the end of each tube off and the tofu will slide right out. Slice into 1/4 inch thick slices.
- Add the egg tofu to the pot and stir in, simmer for about 15 minutes to heat the tofu through. Season to taste with soy sauce and oyster sauce, a splash or two of each works well.
- Ladle into bowls and enjoy.
Notes
This makes a large amount of soup. The fish balls were 104 Baht for both packages, egg tofu was 40 Baht, and the oyster mushrooms were free (I use a really good vendor). For 8 servings, this is about 55 cents per serving.
Variants: 1. Use any meatballs you like, such as fish, pork, chicken & pork, seafood, and shrimp. 2. Use any stock you like, such as chicken, pork, shrimp, vegetable, and mushroom. 3. Use any mushrooms such as Straw, Shiitake, Shimeji, Oyster, or button. 4. Add any any of the following, glass noodles, egg noodles, carrot, daikon, or even hard boiled quail or chicken eggs. 5. Serve with rice if desired.
Common Thai soup.
Chocolate Chip Cookie Cake
This, sounds incredibly good! I used my shortcut for the cake mix as boxed mixes are outrageously priced where I live. This is like a giant sheet cookie, and very tasty as well. Link to the Shortcut is listed in the Recipe Notes section.
Ingredients
- 1 box yellow cake mix, (Shortcut)
- 2 eggs, beaten
- 5 tablespoons butter, melted
- 2 cups chocolate chips
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 180 C (350 F), get out a 9x13 baking dish.
- In a mixing bowl, mix together the first 3 ingredients. The mixture is quite thick.
- Mix in the chocolate chips.
- Place the mixture into a 9x13 baking dish and spread out evenly. I wetted my hands to spread the dough out evenly.
- Bake for 20-25 minutes. Remove from oven and place dish on a wire rack to cool a bit.
- Slice while still slightly warm, as it will firm up a lot when totally cooled off. Enjoy.
Notes
Low cost.
Shortcut: Homemade Yellow Cake Mix.
Variants: 1. Use M&M's in place of the chocolate chips. 2. Lightly sprinkle sugar sprinkles on the top once the cake is cooled. 3. Pipe chocolate frosting in the center of each cut piece.
Recipe provided by Conni Layton.
United States.
United States.
Mushroom Barley Soup
I made this on 1 Nov 2018 and used three types of mushrooms; White Crab, King Oyster, and Shiitake. This soup is absolutely delicious.
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 cup onion, diced
- 3/4 cup carrot, diced
- 1/2 cup celery, diced
- 2 cloves garlic, smashed and minced
- 500 grams fresh mushrooms, Straw, Shiitake, or Button, sliced, (1 lb)
- 6 cups chicken broth, fresh or from powder
- 3/4 cup dry barley
- salt and pepper, to taste
Instructions
- Prep the veggies. (I used Thai celery for this, and even chopped the leaves to go in at the end.)
- Heat the oil in a large pot on medium heat, when hot, add the onion, carrot, celery, and garlic. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the onion is transparent and tender.
- Add the mushrooms and cook for a few more minutes. A note if using straw mushrooms, only slice in half lengthwise.
- Mushrooms are cooked down and stirred to coat with any oil in the pot.
- Add the broth and barley and stir together. I used 4 cups bean broth from chickpeas and 2 cups of water.
- Bring to a boil then reduce to a simmer. Cover and simmer until barley is tender, about 50 minutes, stir occasionally, and add broth as needed. Taste and season with salt and pepper as desired. About 10 minutes before serving, add some chopped celery tops if using those, and if using Shiitakes for a nice garnish, add those and allow them to soften.
- Serve. If using the Shiitakes as garnish, spoon those out and place on top of the soup.
Notes
Low cost.
Variants: 1. Add chopped celery tops towards the end of cooking. 2. Use bean broth in place of vegetable broth. 3. Add whole Shiitake mushrooms with a decorative cut as a garnish, add near the end of cooking and allow them to soften.
Adapted from an internet recipe.
Quick Soaking Beans (Pressure Cooker)
I tested this method today and it is good. If you forgot to soak your beans for at least 6 hours (like I did today) I went to a trusted site for how to quick soak in the pressure cooker. I used my 9 liter (9½ quart) 80 kPa (12 psi) stove top pressure cooker. Follow the safety instructions for your model of pressure cooker.
Equipment
- Pressure Cooker
Ingredients
- dry beans
- water
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 tablespoon cooking oil
Instructions
- Rinse the beans and remove any debris, place the beans in your pressure cooker.
- Add 4 cups of water for every 1 cup of dry beans.
- Regardless if quick soaking 1 cup or many cups of beans, add just 1 teaspoon of salt and 1 tablespoon of oil. (The salt normally keeps the skins from splitting, and the oil to prevent foaming.)
- Place the lid on the pressure cooker and add the weight (jiggler). Turn on high heat and bring to full pressure. When the jiggler indicates full pressure, start timing for 2 minutes and reduce the heat to low or medium low to maintain pressure release.
- When 2 minutes have passed, turn off the heat and move the cooker to an unused burner.
- Now we are going to do what is called a Normal pressure release, meaning you are going to tilt the weight (jiggler) to let off pressure. Put on an oven mitt, and gently tilt the weight to allow pressure to gently release (NEVER PULL THE WEIGHT OFF!!!), just tilt it slightly for about 10 seconds then let go. About 10 seconds later, repeat with tilting the weight. Do this until the lid lock releases (drops). (When you release the pressure in this manner, you are causing violent boiling inside the pot, which is speeding up the 'quick soaking.')
- When the lid lock drops, remove the weight, remove the lid. Drain and rinse the beans, they may look wrinkly, that is fine.
- Now your beans are ready to be cooked for a recipe that calls for 'soaked beans.'
Teriyaki Salmon, Chicken, or Tofu
This is a 'make the amount you want' guide and is a basic way to use real Japanese teriyaki sauce. As the title states, use either salmon, chicken, or tofu, and each item will have separate instructions. Link to the Shortcut is listed in the Recipe Notes section.
Ingredients
- salmon steaks, or chicken thighs, or firm tofu
- cornstarch, as needed
- Teriyaki sauce, Shortcut
- salt and pepper, as needed
- sake, as needed
Instructions
Teriyaki Salmon
- Heat a non stick pan with 2-3 tablespoons of cooking oil, season the salmon steaks on both sides with salt and pepper as desired then coat with flour. When the oil is hot, add the salmon and cook for 3 minutes or until nicely browned.
- Turn salmon over and add 1 tablespoon of sake, cover the pan and cook for 3 minutes more.
- Spoon some teriyaki sauce over the salmon and turn to coat.
- Serve, optionally spoon some teriyaki sauce over the top of the salmon when serving.
Teriyaki Chicken
- Heat a non stick pan with 2-3 tablespoons of cooking oil, season the skin on chicken thighs on both sides with salt and pepper as desired then coat with flour. When the oil is hot, add the chicken and cook until nicely browned.
- Turn the chicken over and cook until the chicken is cooked through.
- Remove chicken, pour out oil and wipe with a paper towel, return the chicken to the pan, spoon some teriyaki sauce over the chicken and turn to coat.
- Serve, optionally spoon some teriyaki sauce over the top of the chicken when serving.
Teriyaki Tofu
- Firm tofu comes in a brine, first thing you have to do is drain off the liquid, and gently press it to remove any excess moisture. You can also microwave the tofu for 1 minute.
- Cut the tofu into slabs or cubes, Add some cornstarch to a mixing bowl, add the cubed or slabbed tofu and shake and toss to lightly coat.
- Heat a non stick pan with 2-3 tablespoons of cooking oil on medium high heat, when hot, add the tofu cooking on both sides for slabs or all sides for cubes until golden brown.
- Spoon teriyaki sauce over the tofu and turn to coat. Place tofu in a serving bowl.
- Serve, optionally spoon some teriyaki sauce over the top of the tofu when serving. Enjoy.
Notes
Low cost.
Shortcut: Teriyaki Sauce (照り焼きのたれ).
Teriyaki Sauce (照り焼きのたれ)
This is so easy to make, four ingredients is all you need, and like people's secret BBQ sauce or secret burger sauce, the Japanese too have their ways to make their own signature homemade teriyaki sauce. American teriyaki sauce normally includes grated or powdered ginger and or garlic, Japanese does not.
Ingredients
- ½ cup soy sauce
- ½ cup mirin, Aji is fine, Hon is preferred
- ½ cup sake
- ¼ cup sugar
Instructions
- The three liquid ingredients, Soy Sauce, Mirin (8% alcohol), and Japanese Sake (15-25% alcohol). The sugar is just out of view.
- Add all ingredients to a sauce pan, stir continuously and bring to a boil then reduce heat to medium low and simmer for 10 to 15 minutes or until the sauce slightly thickens.
- Pour the sauce into a sterilized jar and let sit, uncovered, until cooled. The sauce thickens just a bit more as it cools as well, and just to note, Japanese teriyaki sauce not really thick. Store in the fridge for up to 2 to 3 weeks.
Notes
Used in Recipes Listed on this Site:
- Teriyaki Chicken (Slow Cooker), made it, GO-TO recipe.
- Teriyaki Straw Mushrooms, made it, GO-TO recipe.
- Sauteed Shiitake Mushrooms, made it, GO-TO recipe.
- Teriyaki Chicken Wings, made it, GO-TO recipe.
- Teriyaki King Oyster Mushrooms, made it, GO-TO recipe.
- Teriyaki Salmon, Chicken, or Tofu.
Chicken & Rice (Pressure Cooker)
For clarification, this is not a one pot meal, two steps are involved in this so both the chicken, and the rice, come out perfect. You will need a 6 liter (6 quart) or larger pressure cooker for this, I will be using my 9 liter (9½ quart) stove top pressure cooker. This recipe comes from a very respected source on pressure cooking. I made this on 2 Aug 2018 and it is excellent! Follow the safety instructions for your model of pressure cooker at all times.
Equipment
- Pressure Cooker
- Oven
- Baking Sheet
Ingredients
For the Chicken
- 4 chicken quarters, separated into 8 pieces
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 onion, chopped, yellow or red is perfect
- 3 teaspoons tomato paste
- 1 clove garlic, smashed and minced
- 1 cup water
Spices Used
- 1 teaspoon ginger powder
- 1 teaspoon ground cardamom
- ½ teaspoon black pepper
- 2 teaspoons ground cumin
- 2 teaspoons ground coriander
- ¼ teaspoon ground turmeric
- 2 bay leaves
- 2 teaspoons salt
For the Rice
- 2 cups dry Jasmine rice, rinsed
- 2 cups cooking liquid, from the chicken
For Garnish
- cherry tomatoes, halved
- spring onion, sliced
Instructions
- Place your pressure cooker, lid off, on medium heat and add the oil, when hot, add the onion and saute until soft.
- Add the garlic and all of the Spices Used that are listed, and saute and mix for about 30 seconds, then add the water, tomato paste, and salt, and mix.
- Add the chicken and turn them to coat with the liquid.
- Place the lid on and lock, add the weight (jiggler), turn heat up to high. When the jigller is moving and venting pressure, start timing for 12 minutes.
- When 12 minutes have passed, turn off the heat, and move the pressure cooker to an unused burner. Let the pressure release naturally, about 10 minutes.
- When indications show no pressure in the pot, open the pot. Use a slotted spoon and remove the chicken to a plate and cover chicken with foil.
- Pour the liquid from the cooker into a heat proof container. Measure out 2 cups of liquid and place back into the pressure cooker. Add the rinsed rice to the pressure cooker, and mix together.
- A note about the liquid you are measuring, from the original author of this recipe: "the fat floats to the top, when measuring the 2 cups needed, measure to the liquid level, the fat level will be higher than the liquid, rice will not absorb the fat, only the water."
- Place the lid and weight, jiggler, on the pressure cooker. Bring to high heat, when you have movement and pressure release indicating full pressure, turn heat to low or medium low, but maintain the movement and pressure release. Start timing for 1 minute.
- When 1 minute has passed, turn off heat and move the pressure cooker to an unused burner and allow a natural release, about 10 minutes.
- While the rice is coming down in pressure, heat your broiler or for a counter top oven, the top coil to about 180° C (350° F). Place the chicken on a baking sheet lined with foil and place in oven, close to the broiler or top coil, until the chicken skin is nicely browned. Remove from broiler or oven.
- When the pressure is released from the cooker, open, place the rice on a serving tray, top with the chicken and garnish as desired with the tomatoes and spring onion.
- Serve.
Notes
Low cost per serving.
White Beans & Sausage
Sounds like a good thick soup, sausage used can be breakfast sausage or Italian. I will base this on using homemade sausage. I made this on 4 Aug 2018, excellent soup! Link to the shortcuts are listed in the Recipe Notes section.
Ingredients
- 500 grams dry Great Northern beans, OR make from a shortcut
- 500 grams bulk Italian sausage, or breakfast sausage, OR make from a shortcut
- 1 small onion, diced
- 4 stalks import celery, sliced
- 2 cups chicken broth, fresh or from powder
- 1 can condensed cream of celery soup, OR make from a shortcut
- salt and pepper, as desired
- dried basil, as desired
Instructions
- First thing is to prepare the beans, use your preferred method or use the shortcut for my pressure cooker method. If you want to use CANNED beans, you need 4 regular size cans.
- For pressure cooked beans, place half in a bowl and add liquid from the pressure cooker to just cover those beans, drain the rest of the beans. (Just eye ball the amount with the liquid and drain the rest but reserve the liquid in case it is needed for the soup.) If using CANNED beans, drain two cans, and leave the liquid in the other two cans.
- Now we can start. In a large pot on medium heat, add the sausage and break it up as it cooks. Season with salt and pepper as desired.
- As it is just starting to brown, add the onion and celery. Add dried basil as desired. When the sausage is just cooked through, pour off most, not all of the fat. (I did not have celery on hand so diced a carrot and a teaspoon of celery seed, which worked out very well.)
- Add the chicken broth, when the broth comes to a boil, add the condensed soup and stir in.
- Add the beans. Season with salt and pepper as desired, and bring to a boil. (I added some chopped cilantro for color and it gave the soup a nice flavor.)
- Reduce heat to low, cover, and simmer for at least 30 minutes or up to 2 hours, stirring occasionally.
- The soup is ready at this point, if you want a thinner soup, stir in 1-2 cups broth or liquid from the beans.
- Serve. Cornbread on the side would make this a perfect Southern meal.
- I went with a nice salad instead.
Notes
Pork costs 100 Baht/kilo, for 500 grams of homemade sausage, either Italian or Breakfast, this is low cost. For 6 servings (that is a lot of beans used), this is about 25 cents per serving.
Shortcuts: Great Northern Beans (Pressure Cooker), Italian Sausage, Breakfast Sausage, Chicken Broth, Condensed Cream of Celery Soup.
Variants: 1. No celery? Not a problem, dice up a carrot. 2. Add a teaspoon or so to taste, of celery seed (this may actually become my preferred way now since celery is hard to come by here). 3. Add some chopped cilantro or parsley for some color and flavor.
Adapted from an internet recipe.
Great Northern Beans (Pressure Cooker)
I use a lot of dry beans as canned is just expensive compared to what you get. 500 grams of dry beans cooked, makes a lot of canned beans for sure. And dry beans are so cheap. I use my 9 liter (9½ quart) 80 kPa (12 psi) stove top pressure cooker. Follow your pressure cooker safety instructions at all times. This is for using soaked beans.
Equipment
- Pressure Cooker
Ingredients
- 500 grams dry Great Northern beans, (1 lb)
- salt, as needed
- water, as needed
- 2 tablespoons cooking oil, very important
Instructions
- Rinse the beans and remove any bad ones and any debris, place in a large bowl and cover with 2 inches of water. Add 2 tablespoons of salt and stir that in. Cover the bowl and let that sit for at least 6 hours.
- After 6 hours, drain and rinse the beans. You can see how much the beans swelled.
- Place the beans in your pressure cooker. Add 8 cups of water, 1 teaspoon of salt, and the 2 tablespoons of cooking oil, the oil keeps the beans from foaming so do not skip the oil.
- Place the lid on the pot, add the weight (jiggler), and bring the heat up to high. When the jiggler starts moving and releasing pressure, start timing this for 8 minutes, and turn the heat down to low or medium low to maintain the jiggler moving and releasing pressure.
- At 8 minutes, turn off the heat and move the pressure cooker to an unused burner and allow a natural release of pressure. When the pressure is released, open the lid, use beans as needed in other recipes.
Notes
Used in Recipes Listed on this Site:
- Slow Cooker Baked Beans, made it, GO-TO recipe.
- Chicken Alphabet Soup, made it, GO-TO recipe.
- Beef Alphabet Soup.
- White Chicken Chili II, made it, GO-TO recipe.
- Best-Ever Beans & Sausage, made it, GO-TO recipe.
- Quick & Easy White Bean Salad.
- White Bean & Tuna Salad, made it, GO-TO recipe.
- One Pot Chickpeas & Pasta (Pasta e Ceci).
- Chicken & White Bean Stuffed Peppers.
- White Bean Hash.
- White Beans & Sausage, made it, GO-TO recipe.