Archive for the ‘#1 Go-To Recipes’ Category
Tomato Salad I
I learned this from a good friend of mine, who is Italian. A tomato salad in an Italian restaurant in Thailand can run 60 to 150 Baht per person, this is so easy, and certainly much less!
Ingredients
- 2-3 plum tomatoes, chopped
- 3-4 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
- olive oil, to taste
- pinch fresh basil
- ground black pepper, to taste
Instructions
- Combine the tomatoes, garlic, and basil in a bowl, splash with olive oil and a pinch of black pepper. Done.
- This makes 1 serving, great for a light lunch or appetizer before dinner.
Notes
Well less than $1 per serving.
Variant: 1. Add a few pieces of homemade sardines into it with a spoon of the olive oil. Great lunch and nutritious.
Adapted from a friend's recipe.
Sardines in Olive Oil (Slow Cooker)
Sardines are any type of small oily fish like sardines, mackerel, herring, or even milkfish, that have been preserved in oil or packed in sauce. I like sardines, I love sardines in olive oil, but I could only find one store that carried them in olive oil (Thai made as well) and was pricey to say the least. So I set out on an internet search and found this recipe, I have made it twice with excellent results.
Ingredients
- brine, ¼ cup salt in each 2 cups of water
- 3-4 mackeral, cleaned with heads and tail removed
- ¾ cup olive oil
- ¾ cup water
- ¾ cup pickle juice
- 3 bay leaves
- 2 tablespoons black peppercorns
Instructions
- Clean your fish, for both times I made these I used 4 mackerel, remove the head, tail, insides, and clean well on the inside along the backbone. Leave skin on and bones in.
- I took each fish and cut into 3 pieces, place all in a bowl with a lid.
- Prepare your brine with ¼ cup salt for 2 cups of water. I do this separate so I don't make more brine than what is needed. Make a batch and pour over the fish pieces, make more as needed to cover the fish.
- Refrigerate for at least 3 hours, I normally refrigerate overnight.
- Remove the fish from the brine and rinse, place fish pieces in a slow cooker, add the olive oil, water, pickle juice, bay leaves, and peppercorns.
- Put the slow cooker on Low setting for 3-6 hours, depending on size of fish, 3 hours for small fish, like milkfish, and 6 hours for mackerel. Check the fish about an hour before the time, you are looking for soft fish and soft bones, if the bones are not soft, go another hour and check again, repeat until the bones are soft.
- When done and the fish and bones are soft, allow to cool and store in the fridge in olive oil.
- Serve as is with or on a lettuce salad with tomatoes and garlic, or as a sandwich with bread spread with mustard.
Notes
Mackerel will run about 25 baht per fish, if using as a light meal, well under $1 per person. If I use in a sandwich, I use 3 fish pieces, split each in half, lunch for under $1. If I use in a tomato salad, I use 3 pieces and just kind of chop them up, salad for under $1.
Used in Recipes Listed on this Site:
- Sardine & Tomato Sandwich.
- Sardine & Sliced Egg Sandwich, made it, GO-TO recipe.
- Pasta with Sardines II.
- Sardine & Cheese Wontons.
- Tempura Sardines.
- Ginger Steamed Sardines.
- Sardine Salad Sandwich, made it, GO-TO recipe.
- Sardine Dip, made it, GO-TO recipe.
- Crispy Sardines & Garlic Mayo, made it, GO-TO recipe.
- Fisherman's Eggs, made it, GO-TO recipe.
- Pasta with Sardines.
- Sardine Sandwich I, made it, GO-TO recipe.
- Sardine Sandwich II, made it.
- Sardine Club Sandwich.
Macaroni Salad I
Easy recipe that I learned from my parents, I have been making this now for years. I often make this to provide several days of lunches and even an evening meal or two. This can be a side dish or a light main dish. Links to the Shortcuts are listed in the Notes section.
Ingredients
- 500 grams elbow macaroni, (8 oz)
- 1 onion, diced
- 2-3 cans tuna, packed in oil or brine, drained, Shortcut
- 3-4 hard boiled eggs, peeled, chopped, Shortcut
- mayo, as needed
- ground black pepper, to taste
Instructions
- Heat a pot of salted water to boiling, add the macaroni, cook until tender, drain well. Return the macaroni to the same pot, we are going to use the cooking pot as the mixing bowl now.
- To the macaroni, add the onion, tuna, and eggs. If using the Shortcut to prepare the tuna, use ½ cup cooked tuna for each can.
- Gently mix together to minimize tearing apart the eggs.
- Add the mayo, several spoons first and gently mix together. Keep adding mayo a spoon at a time until you get your desired consistency. Add some black pepper and give the salad another mix or two.
- Transfer salad to a serving bowl, cover, and place in the fridge to chill until serving. s a great side dish, lunch, or even as a light main meal.
Notes
Low cost per serving as this makes a lot of salad.
Shortcut: Tuna.
Mom's Potato Salad
This is a very easy recipe, one my Mom has been making for years, and I remember this since I was a child and asked her for the recipe probably 15 years ago. I made one addition to the recipe (bell peppers) thanks to a good friend in the US. This is what I say is a user friendly recipe, amounts are guessed, and you can add or remove items to your liking or what you have on hand.
Ingredients
- 6 potatoes, medium or large is ok
- 6 hard boiled eggs, chicken or duck, peeled
- 3-4 stalks imported celery, diced, or several bunches of Thai celery, chopped
- 1 onion, diced
- 1 red bell pepper, diced
- 1 yellow bell pepper, diced
- 1 jar green olives with pimento, drained and sliced, (354 g / 13 oz)
- 3-4 red radish, optional, sliced thin
- mayo
- prepared yellow mustard
- cracked black pepper
Instructions
- Peel and cube the potatoes, add to a large saucepan and cover with 1 inch of water. Bring to a boil and reduce to a simmer, cook until the potatoes are just fork tender. Drain and allow to cool.
- While the potatoes are cooking, dice the veggies and place in a large mixing bowl.
- Peel the eggs and chop into large pieces. Add to the bowl and mix everything.
- Potatoes should be done now, remove them from the water and allow to cool. Once the potatoes are cooled, add to the bowl and mix again.
- Now add about 3 good sized spoons of mayo and start to mix, add mayo to completely coat everything but not dripping with mayo either, once that is done, add a few tablespoons of mustard and mix that in, color should be a pale yellow, taste, and add more mustard if needed. Once the taste is good, sprinkle in cracked black pepper and mix again, check the taste. If the taste is good, put the salad in 1-2 containers, put on lids, and refrigerate for several hours before serving. This photo shows perfect consistency, after this, it is packed in a large plastic bowl to be refrigerated.
- I normally serve this as a side with Italian sausage or hamburgers.
Notes
Variant: 1. Inspired by my good friend, Stephen Connell, United States. An old Southern US trick is you fry up some bacon crisp, take out the bacon, then the bacon fat, while it is still hot, is drizzled over the boiled cubed potato's then add everything else including the bacon that you have crushed into bits. You do not want the potatoes swimming in the bacon fat, but enough to coat them and soak in.
Beer Braised Pork Knuckles
To start off, this is not a $1 meal by any means. Simple recipe however. The crackling (skin) was perfect, the internal temperature was spot on for pork, bone pulled right out (great treat for our dog), and the meat was fork tender with a delicious flavor.
Equipment
- Oven
- Baking Pan (7x11 inch)
Ingredients
- 2 pork knuckles, these were 800 grams each
- salt and pepper, to taste
- garlic powder, to taste
- 1 onion, sliced
- 2 cans beer, room temperature
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 220° C (425° F). Get out a 7x11 inch baking dish.
- Score the skin of the knuckles.
- Slice an onion and place that on the bottom of the baking dish, place knuckles on top, extra onion, just put that around the knuckles.
- Pour a can of beer over the knuckles then generously add garlic powder and ground black pepper to the knuckles, add salt to your liking.
- Put in the pre-heated oven for 30 minutes, remove and pour another can of beer over the knuckles. Reduce heat on the oven to 180° C (350° F) and put the baking dish back in the oven for 2 hours.
- After 2 hours, increase heat back to 220° C (425° F), remove the pan and baste the knuckles with the liquid in the pan, put back in the oven for another 30 minutes.
- You can either carve these or leave whole, in Germany, I guess it is tradition that one knuckle is one serving to a person and plated like that.
- Sides would be mashed potatoes, potato salad, buttered egg noodles, or sauerkraut, and as green vegetable.
Notes
I found these in Makro, frozen. Each is 800 grams and cost is 200 baht each. If serving one knuckle for 2 people (easily done), the cost would be about $2.95 per person. A bit more expensive than other meals listed here but is a great treat for yourself.
Condensed Cream of Mushroom Soup
Probably the most widely used condensed soup for casseroles and even just for a bowl of soup, is Condensed Cream of Mushroom Soup. Using only a whisk and a microwave, you can make your own version of this soup. Easy to customize to your needs and tastes.
Equipment
- Microwave
Ingredients
- 1 teaspoon onion powder
- 2 tablespoons corn starch
- 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
- â…› teaspoon white pepper powder
- ¼ teaspoon salt, or to taste
- sugar, just a pinch, optional
- 1 can evaporated milk, 368 gram can, Falcon brand is what I use
- handful fresh mushrooms, chopped or sliced, your preference
Instructions
- Chop or slice your mushrooms, mushrooms of choice for me is Shimeji but you can use any mushrooms you like. I chopped about â…“ of a 150 gram package.
- On 4 April 2019, I used 100 grams of fresh Shiitake mushrooms, chopped, perfect! (I like a lot of mushrooms in the soup.)
- Put everything except mushrooms in a microwave safe bowl, Pyrex or ceramic would be perfect, not a plastic bowl, and whisk together, then mix in the mushrooms.
- Microwave on HIGH for 3 minutes, whisking well after 2 minutes and again at the end of cooking time. If not thick enough, add 30 seconds and whisk again. If needed, continue for 30 seconds at a time and whisking after each 30 seconds.
- This makes just a bit more than a standard can of condensed soup.
Notes
Most recipes will just call for a can of condensed soup, some recipes (or if you just want to make the soup by itself) call for 1 can of water, 1¼ cups is a standard soup can. But as a healthier alternative to using water, try using whey if you recently made cottage cheese, or water used to boil potatoes. Milk can also be used in place of water to make a creamier soup.
Used in Recipes Listed on this Site:
- Ham & Potato Scallop, made it, GO-TO recipe.
- Crab Bisque.
- Crab Meat Bisque.
- Sipo Egg II, made it, GO-TO recipe.
- Buffet Layered Salad.
- Best-ever Meat Loaf.
- Veal Ham Foldovers.
- Chopstick Veal & Rice.
- Lobster Supreme.
- Drunk Monkey Garlic & Mushroom Pork Chops, made it.
- Slow Cooker Angel Chicken & Pasta.
- Hamburger Potato Casserole.
- Hash Brown & Pork Chop Casserole.
- King Ranch Chicken Casserole.
- Roast Beef & Gravy.
- Chicken Casserole (Slow Cooker).
- Hamburger Casserole II.
- Mushroom Soup, made it.
- Easy Ground Beef Casserole with Potatoes.Â
- Crock Pot Beef Stroganoff, made it.
- Creamy Beef Stroganoff.
- Mushroom Chicken Thigh Soup, made it.
- Cream of Mushroom Chicken.
- Creamy Burrito Casserole.
- Creamy Chicken with Spring Vegetables, made it, GO-TO recipe.
- Baked Mushroom Thighs, made it, GO-TO recipe.
- Pork Chop Supreme.
- No Peek Chicken, made it.
- Cheesy Brat Stew.
- Tuna Casserole II.
- Tomato Beef Country Casserole.
- Slow Cooker Beef and Gravy III.
- Slow Cooker Beef and Gravy II.
- Kielbasa and Potato Bake.
- Swiss & Ham Casserole.
- Slow Cooker Sausage & Potatoes, made it, GO-TO recipe.
- Slow Cooker Chicken with Dijon Mustard.
- Slow Cooker Beef and Gravy I.
- Crockpot Chicken and Dumplings I.
- Chicken Broccoli Divan.
- Ranch Potatoes.
- Sausage & Green Bean Casserole.
- Tuna Casserole I, made it, GO-TO recipe.
- Easy Beef Pot Roast, made it, GO-TO recipe.
- Chicken & Broccoli.
- Gypsy Stew II, made it, GO-TO recipe.
- Gypsy Stew I, made it, GO-TO recipe.
- 3 Ingredient Crockpot Ranch Pork Chops II, made it, GO-TO recipe.
- Chicken & Rice Casserole.
- Chicken Pot Pie, made it, GO-TO recipe.
- Slow Cooker Tuna Mornay, made it, GO-TO recipe.
- Tuna & Noodles, made it, GO-TO recipe.
- Meatballs & Gravy III, made it, GO-TO recipe.
- Easy Ham Soup.
- Creamy Beef Gravy, made it, GO-TO recipe.
- Baked Pork Chops.
- Beef & Noodles IV, made it, GO-TO recipe.
- Super Supper.
- Tater Tot Casserole, made it, GO-TO recipe.
- Chicken Noodle Casserole II, made it, GO-TO recipe.
- Pork & Noodles, made it, GO-TO recipe.
- Chicken Ritz Casserole, made it, GO-TO recipe.
- Creamy Mushroom & Egg Toast.
- Pasta with Shrimp Sauce.
- Baked Corned Beef Burgers.
- Chipped Beef Chow Mein.
- Vegetable Stuffed Fish Rolls.
Thin Crust Pizza and Sauce
This is my go to thin crust pizza dough recipe and my home made sauce that I have been making for several years. I am not going to break down the prices for this, as a cheese pizza is very reasonable, and when you start adding toppings, the cost per person per meal goes up as well. This is great to make when family is visiting as nearly all Thais enjoy pizza.
Equipment
- Pizza Pans (two 12 inch)
- Oven
Ingredients
Pizza Dough
- 2 cups flour
- ½ teaspoon instant yeast
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ¾ cup water
- 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning, optional, or herbs of your choice
Sauce
- 1 can tomato paste, (170 g / 6 oz can)
- â…” cup water
- ¼ cup olive oil, extra virgin
- salt, to taste
- ½ tablespoon dried oregano
- ½ tablespoon dried basil
- ½ teaspoon dried rosemary, crushed
Basic Cheese and Tomato Pizzas
- 1 dough recipe
- 1 sauce recipe
- thinly sliced tomato, about 6-8 slices per pizza
- fresh basil leaves, coarsly chopped
- 1 package Mozzarella Cheese, 200 gram package, shredded
Instructions
Pizza Dough
- About 30 minutes before baking, preheat your oven to 250° C (480° F).
- Measure out the flour into a large mixing bowl. Add the salt and dried Italian seasoning/herbs of your choice (if using) and yeast, whisk to combine.
- Make a well in the center of the flour and pour in the water. Use your fingers or a wooden spoon to combine everything together. When it comes together into a cohesive ball, turn it out onto the counter along with any extra flour in the bowl that hasn’t yet gotten worked in.
- Knead the dough until all the flour is incorporated and the dough is smooth/elastic to the touch, about five minutes. The dough should still feel moist and just slightly tacky. If it’s sticking to your hands and counter top like bubble gum, work in more flour one tablespoon at a time until it’s smooth and silky. Then divide the dough into two parts.
- I use 12 inch pizza pans, sprinkle some corn meal around on the pan, the place one ball of dough in the center. Use the heels of your hands and working from the middle gently press the dough outward until it’s about ¼ of an inch thick or less, while rotating the pan.
- Spoon ONLY the sauce into the center of each pizza and use the back of a spoon to spread it out to the edges. Put into the preheated over for 5 minutes, then rotate it 180 degrees so it is evenly cooked for another 3 minutes. Remove from oven.
- Now add the toppings of your choice, return to oven for another 3-5 minutes or until the edges are golden brown and crispy. Remove from oven and let cool on a wire rack, repeat with second pizza. Each pizza should cool for about 5 minutes before serving.
Sauce
- Mix together the tomato paste, water, and olive oil. Mix well. Add garlic, salt and pepper to taste, oregano, basil, and rosemary. Mix well and let stand several hours in refrigerator to let flavors blend. No cooking necessary, just spread on dough.
Basic Cheese and Tomato Pizzas
- Shred your Mozzarella Cheese, slice tomatoes thinly, if only using the small plum tomatoes, slice a few more. Chop your fresh basil leaves.
- Using two prepared pizza crusts, top each with tomato slices, basil, and cheese. I like to use one 200 gram package of cheese, shredded per pizza, I like a lot of cheese.
- Bake for 3-5 minutes or until edge is brown and crispy, let cool for 5 minutes, and enjoy. Here is a few examples we have cooked here at the house, these are thicker than what they look like, we use generous toppings and 200 grams of cheese per pizza. All the Italian sausage is made from a shortcut here on this site.
- Italian sausage, ham, mushrooms, pineapple, lot of cheese.
- Italian sausage, mushrooms, chopped ham, onion, lot of cheese.
- Italian sausage, shrimp, imitation crab, bacon, mushrooms, yellow bell pepper, lot of cheese.
- Italian sausage, mushrooms, onion, red and yellow bell peppers, lot of cheese.
- Italian sausage, mushrooms, chopped ham, bacon, black olives, lot of cheese.
- This is the everything pizza; Italian sausage, bacon, ham, imitation crab, jumbo prawn, pineapple, mushrooms, black olives, and a load of cheese, about 1 pound.
- This is the Cheese Burger Pizza, it is Italian sausage, bacon, mushrooms, and shredded Cheddar cheese.
Notes
No need for prices here, the basic pizza is Best Value, when you start adding toppings, then the price goes up, and can go up a lot, but is so good, and is a good treat for Thai relatives and neighbors. We normally make very thick pizzas with loads of toppings, cost increases but the servings also increase.
Used in Recipes Listed on this Site:
Easy Beef Pot Roast
This is cooked in a slow cooker with soup and one onion for a easy meal. The soup makes a great gravy for boiled or mashed potatoes. I make this from local raised beef right here in the village. A slow cooker is great because it can turn any cut of beef tender, it just may take a bit of time. Link to the Shortcut is listed in the Recipe Notes section.
Ingredients
- 1 kilo beef, any large chunk or chunks will work
- 1 can condensed cream of mushroom soup, (Shortcut)
- 3/4 cup water
- 1 onion, quartered
- ground black pepper, to taste
- garlic powder, to taste
- potatoes, boiled or mashed, up to you
- 1 bay leaf
Instructions
- Trim any large pieces of fat from the beef chunks and place in the slow cooker.
- Mix the soup and water in a bowl, add an ample shaking of ground black pepper and garlic powder, mix well. Pour this into the slow cooker. Place the quartered onion and bay leaf into the soup mixture. Put lid on the slow cooker.
- Turn on slow cooker to High for 1 hour then reduce to Low for 8 more hours. Leave the lid on, no need to look at it! At the 8 hour mark, try the tenderness, it should fall apart with a fork, if not, keep it on Low for several more hours until fork tender.
- Serve with a boiled potato or mashed potatoes with the soup mixture spooned on for gravy.
Notes
The beef cost me 150 baht, the soup was 42 baht and has lasted me 4 days, costing $1.42 per serving. Make the soup from the shortcut for more savings.
Shortcut: Condensed Cream of Mushroom Soup.
My own recipe.
Pasta with Alfredo Sauce
Homemade Alfredo sauce with chicken and pasta of your choice.
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 packages Cream cheese, 250 grams per package
- 1/2 cup butter, 1/2 block of 227 gram block of butter
- 1 cup milk
- 3-4 chicken breasts, boneless and skinless, cubed
- 1 red bell pepper, chopped
- 2-3 cloves garlic, crushed and chopped
- salt and pepper, to taste
- olive oil
Instructions
- Cook the pasta of your choice, spaghetti would be good.
- Melt cream cheese and butter in a saucepan, stir in the milk and ground pepper, and salt if you like.
- In another saucepan, heat up 2-3 tablespoons of olive oil, then garlic and cook for a minute or two then add the chicken cubes and cook until just before the chicken is cooked through then add the red bell pepper and cook for a few more minutes, chicken should be tender and bell pepper crunchy. Do not over cook the chicken.
- Pour the sauce over the chicken and mix, simmer for just a few minutes, at this point, add a handful of chopped fresh mushrooms.
- Sauce will thicken, spoon over fresh pasta and top with grated Parmesan Cheese and ground black pepper.
Notes
All the ingredients makes this less than $1 per meal per person.
This is an easily adapted recipe, for the photo which I cooked on 6 Dec 2015, I omitted the chicken, and just added several large handfuls of fresh mushrooms, and then added fried bacon and ham.
Adapted from an internet recipe.
Chicken Salad I
Easy to assemble dish that is healthy and nutritious. Very easy to tailor this recipe to what you have on hand at the time. This recipe will even provide chicken broth you can refrigerate for later use in another recipe.
Ingredients
- 10-12 chicken thighs, skin on, see note
- 3-4 eggs, hard boiled
- 1 onion, chopped
- 2-4 stalks celery, if using Thai celery, use several bunches, chopped
- 4-5 spring onions, chopped, green and white part
- 1 red bell pepper, chopped
- 1 yellow bell pepper, chopped
- mayo
- ground black pepper, to taste
Instructions
- Boil the chicken thighs in a pot along with the eggs, remove the eggs about 2 minutes after the water starts to boil and place in cold water. Boil the chicken until cooked through then remove from the water and allow to cool. Skim any foam off the top of the water and you have chicken stock you can refrigerate.
- While the chicken and eggs are cooling, chop the onion, spring onions, celery including, and leaves, and the bell peppers. Place in a large bowl. This photo only shows onion, yellow bell pepper and eggs, see, make this with what you have on hand.
- When the chicken is cool enough to handle, remove the skin and bone and save for a snack for your dog, and simply shred the meat with your fingers and place into the bowl with the chopped veggies. This photo is the 5 chicken thighs I used for these photos.
- Peel the eggs, and chop and add to the bowl with the chicken and veggies. Thighs shredded, use your fingers, added to the bowl.
- Give the items in the bowl a good mixing, then start adding mayo, start with several large spoonfuls first, keep mixing and adding mayo until everything is coated well but not dripping with mayo. Sprinkle in some ground black pepper, another quick stir, then refrigerate for several hours. Serve as is, on crackers, or even a sandwich.
- Mixed and ready for the fridge.
Notes
Chicken thigh note: buy quarters, separate the thigh from the leg and freeze the legs for another meal.
Chicken runs about 58 Baht per kilo in a grocery store quarters, quarters also have larger thighs, so you may spend 140-160 baht on chicken, only half will be needed as you can freeze the legs for later use, so cost would be about 70-80 Baht. All other items should come in under 100 Baht. So for this meal, 180 baht, 200 Baht max, for 8 meals it is well under $1 per meal.
My own recipe.
