Archive for the ‘#1 Go-To Recipes’ Category
Cheesy Chicken Fritters
This sounds not only tasty and easy to prepare, they are! I made these on 3 Sep 2017, exactly as written, perfect.
Ingredients
For the Fritters
- 750 grams chicken breasts, cut into 1/3 inch cubes, or coarse ground
- 2 eggs, lightly beaten
- 1/3 cup mayo
- 1/3 cup all purpose flour
- 1 1/3 cup Mozzarella Cheese
- 1 1/2 tablespoons fresh dill, chopped
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/8 teaspoon black pepper
- cooking oil, any high heat oil is fine
For the Garlic Aioli Dip
- 1/3 cup mayo
- 1 clove garlic, pressed
- 1 1/2 teaspoons lemon juice
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/8 teaspoon black pepper
Instructions
- Place the cubed (or coarse ground) chicken in a large bowl, add the rest of the Fritter ingredients except the oil.
- Mix well, cover and refrigerate for at least 2 hours or even overnight.
- When you are ready to cook, heat the cooking oil in a large non stick pan over medium heat. Add heaping tablespoons of the meat to the hot pan, use the back of the spoon to slightly flatten each fritter. Cook for 3-4 minutes or until the bottom and edges are golden brown, flip and cook the other side until golden brown and chicken is cooked through.
- To make the Garlic Aioli dipping sauce, just add all of the aioli ingredients to a small bowl and mix together. Feel free to use any dipping sauce you prefer, toum would be a good choice, and for a Thai flair, use chili garlic sauce for dipping.
- Serve with the dipping sauce.
Notes
The chicken would cost about 60 Baht 750 grams. I will estimate about 4 servings, that works out to about 44 cents per serving.
Variants: Change the dill to parsley or rosemary. Add minced spring onion, shallots, or garlic. For dipping sauces, try just mayo, sour cream, toum, chili garlic sauce, etc. You could make this a different fritter each time you prepare this dish.
This recipe for Cheesy Chicken Fritters is from Natasha's Kitchen.
Cilantro Lime Rice (Rice Cooker)
I am always looking for ways to change up rice. This is a great side dish with chicken or fish. I made this on 5 Dec 2017, and it is perfect, very well liked by the family as well. I use a simple Cook and Warm rice cooker for this.
Equipment
- Rice Cooker
Ingredients
- 1 cup dry rice, white or brown is fine
- 2 cups water
- 1 clove garlic, minced
- 1 juice from 1 lime, about 2 tablespoons
- ½ teaspoon olive oil
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¼ bunch cilantro, finely chopped
Instructions
- Add the garlic, rinsed rice, and water to your rice cooker, then set to Cook. After it has finished cooking and switches to Warm, fluff with a fork.
- In a small bowl, mix together the lime juice, oil, and salt. Drizzle over the fluffed rice and add the cilantro, mix together until the cilantro and dressing is evenly distributed.
- Serve as a side with chicken or fish, a topping in a taco, in a burrito, many options.
Pan Fried Pork Chops
When I lived in the US, pork chops were very common, and even better was pork steaks with milk gravy, but for where I live now, pork chops are not common outside of touristy areas, and I do not live near those. So an alternative, just buy a pork loin and cut into 1 inch thick chops, problem solved. I will adjust the cook times when I make these. For bone in thick cut chops, the cook time is perfect. Link to the shortcut is listed in the Recipe Notes section.
Ingredients
- 6-8 pork loin chops, about 1 inch thick
- 1 cup all purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon Lawry's Seasoned Salt, OR make from a shortcut
- 1 teaspoon black pepper
- 1/2 cup cooking oil, rice bran oil would be good
- 1 tablespoon butter
- salt and pepper, to taste
Instructions
- Rinse pork chops. Salt and pepper both sides of the pork chops.
- Combine all dry ingredients. Dredge each side of the pork chops in the flour mixture, then set aside on a plate.
- Heat oil over medium heat. Add butter. When butter is melted and butter/oil mixture is hot, cook 3 pork chops at a time, 2 to 3 minutes on the first side; 1 to 2 minutes on the other side. Chops should be browned and no pink juices remain. Remove to a plate and repeat with remaining chops.
- Serve with your favorite sides, like mashed potatoes, rice, long beans, etc.
Notes
Pork loin at Tesco would run about 115 Baht/kilo, slice yourself into chops. I cannot price this until I try to see how many thick chops from a kilo of loin. I also found thick cut bone in chops in Tesco recently, 100 Baht/250 gram chops. This is $2.95 per serving.
Shortcut: Lawry's Seasoned Salt.
Provided courtesy of good friend, Stephen Connell.
United States.
United States.
Sardine & Sliced Egg Sandwich
Another tasty sardine sandwich recipe. I made these on 11 May 2019, and these are delicious. Links to the Shortcuts are listed in the Recipe Notes section.
Equipment
- Toaster
Ingredients
- 4 slices bread, toasted, wheat would be good
- mayo, as desired
- 1 tin sardines in olive oil, (120 g / 4¼ oz, Ayam or any brand), Shortcut
- 2 hard boiled eggs, sliced, Shortcut
- lettuce leaves, as needed
- red onion, thinly sliced, as needed, think mandolin
- ½ teaspoon lemon juice, or lime juice
Instructions
- Spread some mayo on the toast and add lettuce leaves to two slices of toast.
- Divide the sardines between the two sandwiches and split them, the tin I used had 5 sardines. The bones are are tender, don't worry about those, it's calcium.
- Sprinkle some lemon juice on the sardines, top with some onion slices (which I skipped as had no onion) and top that with the egg slices.
- Top each sandwich with the other slices of toast, cut each sandwich in half. Enjoy.
Notes
Low cost if using homemade sardines. I make sardines using small mackerel which is sold per fish anywhere from 10 to 25 Baht each, so about 29 to 74 cents per sandwich. (I cut each fish into 3 pieces when making sardines.)
If using tinned sardines, figure 1 tin at 59 Baht for 2 sandwiches, this is about 87 cents per sandwich.
Shortcut: Sardines in Olive Oil, Perfect Hard Boiled Chicken Eggs.
Variant: 1. In place of mayo, just drizzle olive oil on each slice of toast.
Grilled Cheese & Tomato Sandwich
Delicious, all I can say. This is how I will make grilled cheese sandwiches from now on. Link to the Shortcut is listed in the Recipe Notes section.
Ingredients
- 2 slices bread, of your choice
- 2-3 slices tomato, enough to cover the bread
- 2 slices Provolone cheese, or Swiss cheese
- mayo, as needed
- salt and pepper, to taste
- pinch Italian seasoning, (Shortcut)
- garlic powder, to taste
- butter, as needed
Instructions
- Spread both slices of bread with a light layer of mayo. This is for the inside of the sandwich.
- Put slice of cheese on one piece of bread, add tomato slices, sprinkle with salt, pepper, and Italian seasoning. Cover tomato slices with other slice of cheese, then cover with other piece of bread mayo side down. (I use block cheese so I slice myself, hence the slices are smaller.)
- Heat a skillet on medium heat with butter and garlic powder. Spread butter on the top slice of bread. Place sandwich in the skillet, buttered bread facing up.
- Cook until golden brown, flip and cook the other side, serve.
Notes
Diner Grilled Cheese
This used to be the common practice in the US, not sure if diners still do this.
Ingredients
- 2 slices sandwich bread, of your choice
- 1 slice Cheddar cheese, or slices from a block to cover the bread
- mayo, as needed
Instructions
- Heat a small skillet to medium heat.
- Use mayo on the bread like you would butter. Spread mayo on two slices of sandwich bread, place first slice mayo side down in the pan, place the cheese on top of that, place other slice of bread on top, mayo side up.
- Cook for just a few minutes until gold brown, flip, cook the other side until golden brown, enjoy.
Notes
Low cost. Keep in mind, this calls for mayo, not Miracle Whip or fat free mayo, just mayo.
Variants:Â 1. Add some grated Parmesan cheese to a small amount of mayo and use that. 2. Use Gouda (my preference) or any sliced cheese of your choice. 3. Add a slice of ham or smoked ham. 4. Use two slices of cheese and one slice of ham, with the ham in the middle.
Adapted from an internet recipe.
Super Cheesy Polenta (Rice Cooker)
I made this on 15 Feb 2018 and was very liked my wife and I, great flavor and a perfect side dish. This will be a regular now. I used my small rice cooker for this, a simple cook and warm model which is perfect for this.
Equipment
- Rice Cooker
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons butter, plus more for serving
- ½ onion, diced
- 1 clove garlic, minced
- 1 cup chicken broth, fresh or from powder
- 1 cup milk
- ½ cup yellow cornmeal
- ¼ teaspoon salt, or more to taste
- ½ cup Cheddar cheese, shredded
- ½ cup Parmesan cheese, grated
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper
Instructions
- Place butter, onion, and garlic in your rice cooker pot, set the cooker to Cook setting. Cook until onion is soft and translucent, stirring occasionally, about 10 minutes or so.
- Add chicken broth, milk, cornmeal, and salt, stir.
- Cover and cook one full cycle, stirring occasionally, until the cornmeal has absorbed the liquid, about 20 minutes.
- When the cooker switches to Warm, add cheeses and black pepper, stir until cheese is melted.
- Serve with a pat of butter on the top as a delicious side dish.
Blue Rice (Rice Cooker)
This is a unique dish and is Malaysian in origin. The blue is from very specific flowers, the Butterfly-pea flower. This flower grows on a vine in Thailand, and is common throughout Thailand, Asia and even in Australia, a very edible flower that is made into tea and even deep fried. The seasoning for the rice comes from lemongrass, just a subtle taste but is perfect. Normally a dish made during festive periods or celebrations. The basic Cook and Warm rice cooker is ideal for this. I made this on 13 Sep 2017 and was a hit with the Thai family, recipe adjusted to 6 flowers instead of the previously stated 3-4. for a better blue version. Outstanding.
Equipment
- Rice Cooker
Ingredients
- 1 cup dry Jasmine rice, rinsed
- 1½ cups water, 1 or 2 tablespoons less would be ok as well
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 6 Butterfly-pea flowers
- ½ stalk lemongrass, beaten, knotted, or ½ teaspoon of lemongrass powder
Instructions
- Put rinsed rice in your rice cooker along with the lemongrass and flowers.
- Add the water, press cook on the rice cooker and let it cook until it switches to Warm. For this trial I used powdered lemongrass, that was spot on.
- Once the rice cooker switches to Warm, just let it sit for about 10-20 minutes covered on the Warm setting. Mix with a spoon, you can just mix the flowers in, or you can remove them. We left the flowers in.
- Spoon some rice into a small bowl, place a plate on the top and tip the plate and bowl over, perfect serving portion. I served this with fish.
Yellow Rice I (Rice Cooker)
Bright color and a taste of turmeric and a hint of cumin, I made this on 8 July 2017, big hit with the family. Quantities are based on my small rice cooker.
Equipment
- Rice Cooker
Ingredients
- 1 cup dry Jasmine rice, rinsed
- 1½ cups water
- 1½ teaspoons vegetable oil
- ¼ teaspoon ground turmeric
- ¼ teaspoon gound cumin
- ¼ teaspoon salt
Instructions
- Put rinsed rice in your rice cooker. Pour the oil over it and sprinkle with turmeric, cumin, and salt. Stir with a plastic spoon until all the rice is yellow and coated with oil.
- Add the water, press cook on the rice cooker and let it cook until it switches to Warm, serve as a side dish.
Bacon Cheddar Ranch Pinwheels
Common ingredients, easy to make, and are delicious! I made these on 7 Mar 2022 as a light dinner with another pinwheel version I wanted to test out and a nice fruit salad as well. These can be appetizers or a light main dish.
Ingredients
- 250 grams Cream cheese, softened, (8 oz)
- ¼ cup Ranch dressing
- ½ cup Cheddar cheese, finely shredded
- 6-8 slices bacon, cooked crisp and chopped
- 1 tablespoon chives, minced, or spring onion tops
- flour tortillas, (I used three 8 inch tortillas, which was perfect)
Instructions
- Fry bacon until crisp, then drain on paper towels, then chop. I prepped the cheese and spring onion tops, then chopped the bacon.
- In a small mixing bowl, combine cream cheese and ranch dressing. Mix until smooth.
- Stir in the Cheddar cheese, bacon, and chives.
- Spread a generous layer of filling over a tortilla. (I used 8 inch tortillas.)
- Roll tortilla tightly and stick a toothpick in it.
- Repeat rolling more tortillas to use all the filling. I used three 8 inch, which was perfect. Cover with foil or plastic wrap and place in the fridge to chill for 1-2 hours.
- When ready to serve, remove the toothpicks and slice ¾ to 1 inch thick. Serve and enjoy as appetizers or as a light main dish.
Notes
Low cost.
