Archive for the ‘5 Ingredients or Less’ Category
Quatre Épices (Four Spices)
November 13, 2018 Lee
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Quatre Épices (Four Spices)

Adapted from an internet recipe.
This is a common French blend of 4 basic spices and used in soups, grilled chicken, salt pork. Since I am not teaching French here, I will stick with the name, Four Spices.
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Prep Time 2 minutes
Cook Time 2 minutes
Total Time 4 minutes
Cuisine French
Servings 5 tablespoons Four Spice

Ingredients
  

  • 2 tablespoons ground white pepper
  • 1 tablespoon ground ginger
  • 1 tablespoon ground nutmeg
  • 1 tablespoon ground cloves

Instructions
 

  • In a small bowl, stir together all the ingredients. Pour into an airtight container and store in a cool dark place.

Notes

Used in Recipes Listed on this Site:
5 Ingredients or Less,: FRENCH,Ingredients - Spice Mixes
Hazan’s Butter Tomato Sauce
October 25, 2018 Lee
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Hazan’s Butter Tomato Sauce

Just a Pinch Recipe Club - Chef Andy Anderson, United States
I got this recipe from a friend on another site, and that man is a Chef, and the recipe comes from the late Italian Chef and author, Marcella Hazan. So needless to say, this recipe comes highly recommended. I made this on 27 May 2022, and I must say, best sauce I have tested, the flavor is excellent! Highly recommended for a easy and very delicious sauce. This is adapted to the size of cans I have here in Thailand, for US size can, that is explained in the Notes section.
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Prep Time 5 minutes
Cook Time 45 minutes
Total Time 50 minutes
Cuisine Italian
Servings 0

Equipment

  • Potato Masher

Ingredients
  

  • 2 cans peeled tomatoes, (20 oz / 565 g each), I use Brook brand.
  • 1 medium onion
  • 6 tablespoons unsalted butter
  • kosher salt, as needed

Instructions
 

  • Pour the tomatoes and the juice, into a saucepan and crush them with a potato masher, or you can do this with your hands.
  • Peel the onion and simple cut in half crosswise. Add the onion and butter to the saucepan.
  • Place saucepan on low heat and bring to a simmer. Simmer only, no one likes a pot of burnt tomatoes!
  • Every 10 minutes or so, give the sauce a stir, taste, and season with a tiny pinch of salt, let the sauce simmer. Continue to simmer, taste, and add a tiny pinch of salt, as needed, for 45 minutes.
  • Remove from heat and remove the onion. You can either discard the onion or enjoy as a snack. Mash the tomatoes with the masher again, now your sauce is ready.
  • Serve over hot cooked spaghetti or pasta of your choice. Enjoy.

Notes

Variant: 1. Replace half the butter with duck fat (this comes highly recommended!). 2. In a separate pan, brown some ground beef or pork (500 g / 1 lb), drain, and stir into the sauce, then serve as a meat sauce.  
This sauce freezes well, so make a larger batch, separate into portion sizes you require and freeze, then you have sauce readily available.
For viewers in the US, for the canned tomatoes, use one 28 oz can, and 5 tablespoons butter. 
#1 Go-To Recipes,5 Ingredients or Less,: ITALIAN,Ingredients - Sauces
Sauteed Chinese Sausage
October 12, 2018 Lee
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Sauteed Chinese Sausage

This is a basic recipe and I want to write this to make it easier, or rather better, for more enjoyable Chinese Sausage. In Thailand there is many brands of this sausage, don't look in the refrigerated or frozen meat section, this is air dried sausage and is shelf stable when it is packaged, so just look on a shelf. I am going to use the most common one, called Lap Cheong, which is the Chinese name and is a sweet sausage. My mother in law received several packages of this a few years back, from Northern Thailand, a very good brand. The family was excited about this but mother in law told everyone, no one cooks it except my wife, her daughter, her other daughters were not allowed to cook it. So I cooked a dish for the family and it was very well liked by mother in law, who stated, ok, now the only ones that may cook this for her is me and my wife. The secret to good Chinese sausage, steaming. Steam whole, then slice, then saute.
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Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 20 minutes
Total Time 30 minutes
Course Main Dish
Cuisine Asian
Servings 2 servings

Ingredients
  

  • 4 links Chinese sausage
  • 2 cloves garlic, smashed and minced
  • 1 onion, diced large
  • 2-3 spring onions, chopped into 1-2 inch pieces, white and green
  • 1 tablespoon soy sauce

Instructions
 

  • First thing we need to do is soften the sausages, we are going to use a steamer of your choice, I will use my rive cooker with a steamer basket it came with. Add a 1-2 cups water to the steamer pot, when boiling, add the sausages to the steamer tray, cover, and steam for 15 minutes.
  • Remove the sausages to a cutting board and slice about 1/4 inch thick (or a bit less) at an angle. This is for appearance as well as making a larger piece of sausage. The sausage is hot so use tongs to hold them while you slice.
  • Heat a large non stick pan on medium heat, when hot, add the sausage and garlic, stir often. Lot of sugar in this sausage so it will burn rather quickly. Cook until the garlic is starting to brown.
  • Then add the onion and spring onion, continue stirring often to crisp up the sausage and soften the onions. Stir in the soy sauce.
  • Serve with sides of your choice.

Notes

Low cost.
My own creation, Lee Thayer.
Thailand.
#1 Go-To Recipes,* Best Value $1 or Less per Serving,5 Ingredients or Less
Pumpkin (Pressure Cooker)
October 12, 2018 Lee
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Pumpkin (Pressure Cooker)

Adapted from an internet recipe.
Pumpkins in Thailand are what I called winter squash growing up in Michigan. A orange pumpkin is a winter squash as well. I have used these to make pumpkin pies and got rave reviews for them. So this is a base recipe if you need pumpkin for a pie or simply as a side dish, which is what these photos will show. I use a 9 liter (9½ quart) stove top pressure cooker, follow your pressure cooker safety instructions at all times.
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Prep Time 5 minutes
Cook Time 5 minutes
Total Time 10 minutes
Course Side
Cuisine American
Servings 6 servings

Equipment

  • Pressure Cooker

Ingredients
  

  • 1 kilo fresh pumpkin, (2 lb)
  • 1½ cups water

Instructions
 

  • Our pumpkins here are a bit larger than large pressure cookers. This one I bought weighed in at about 3 kilos or about 6 lb, so obviously it is not going to fit. A note about that bad spot, think of a potato, if there is a bad spot, simple cut it off, same applies to squash.
  • First thing to do is cut the pumpkin in half, then you have something to work with.
  • I wanted to the keep the pieces in the largest size I could to minimize the cutting through a hard pumpkin. These 3 pieces weighed about 1 kilo (2 lb). Place the pieces on a steamer rack if your pressure cooker has one or on a trivet.
  • Add the water, place the lid on the cooker and lock, add the weight and bring up to high heat. When the weight (jiggler) starts to move and vent pressure (indicating full pressure), turn the heat to low or medium low to just maintain the jiggler moving and venting. Start your timer for 5 minutes.
  • When 5 minutes have passed, turn off the heat and move the pressure cooker to an unused burner. Leave the cooker alone and let it drop pressure naturally on its own, about 10-15 minutes.
  • When you have indications of zero pressure in the vessel, remove the weight then the lid.
  • Use a large flat spatula or large tongs, or both and remove a piece of pumpkin to a plate. Use a knife to simple slice off the skin. Here is the first one done. Plate that in a separate smaller pot. Repeat with the other pieces.
  • Grab your potato masher and mash the pumpkin. I like to add a bit of butter as well when mashing if using as a side dish, no butter if mashing to use in pies.
  • Serve as a side dish, and of course, with butter on top.
  • Or use as an ingredient for pumpkin pies.
5 Ingredients or Less,Ingredients - Pressure Cooker,Sides - Pressure Cooker
Slow Cooker Brats in Beer
October 7, 2018 Lee
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Slow Cooker Brats in Beer

Sounds like a good basic brat recipe, on my to cook list, and I will be using homemade bratwurst as well. Link to the shortcut is listed in the Recipe Notes section.
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Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 4 hours
Total Time 4 hours 10 minutes
Course Main Dish
Cuisine German
Servings 6 servings

Ingredients
  

  • 750 grams Bratwurst, OR make from a shortcut, (1 1/2 lbs)
  • 1 can beer, or bottle, your choice
  • 1 medium onion, thinly sliced
  • 2 tablespoons brown sugar
  • 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar

Instructions
 

  • To the slow cooker, add the beer, brown sugar, vinegar. Stir together.
  • Heat a non stick skillet on medium heat, when hot, add the bratwurst. Brown the brats until lightly browned.
  • Place the brats in the slow cooker, and prick eat sausage 2-3 times with a toothpick to prevent them from bursting.
  • Top with the sliced onions.
  • Cover and cook on Low setting for 4 hours.
  • Serving options could be with sauerkraut on the side along with spicy mustard, another option could be in a bun. Enjoy.

Notes

Low cost per serving as I used my homemade bratwurst. Store bought is about is 270 grams at 129 Baht, gets pricey when you consider 750 grams needed for the recipe.
Shortcut: Bratwurst.
Adapted from an internet recipe.
* Best Value $1 or Less per Serving,5 Ingredients or Less,Pork - Sausage
Red Radish Salad I
October 6, 2018 Lee
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Red Radish Salad I

I love red radishes so this salad sounds really good. I made this on 6 Oct 2018, excellent taste, and my wife loved this. A small amount is perfect as a side as it has a strong flavor.
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Prep Time 15 minutes
Total Time 1 hour 15 minutes
Course Side
Cuisine American
Servings 3 servings

Ingredients
  

  • 5 large red radishes
  • 1 cups white vinegar, or rice vinegar
  • 1/2 cup sugar
  • pinch salt
  • pinch black pepper

Instructions
 

  • Wash the radishes and thinly slice, the use of a mandolin is highly recommend.
  • In a large mixing bowl, add the vinegar, sugar, and salt, whisk until the sugar is dissolved.
  • Add the sliced radish, mix, then season with pepper as desired, a pinch or two. If there is not enough liquid to cover most of the radishes, mix in equal parts water and vinegar, then place in the fridge for at least an hour. This salad will last 2-3 days in the fridge.
  • For serving, think as a salad, or mixed into a lettuce salad, or as a burger or hot dog topping.

Notes

Low cost.
Variants: 1. Add thinly sliced onion to the radishes. 2. Use rice vinegar in place of white.
Recipe adapted from Just A Pinch Recipe Club, Julian Esquivel, and the original recipe is here.
United States.
#1 Go-To Recipes,* Best Value $1 or Less per Serving,5 Ingredients or Less,CONDIMENTS,Sides - Salads
Tomato Sandwich
October 3, 2018 Lee
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Tomato Sandwich

A tomato sandwich can be as simple as bread, mayo, and tomato slices, or you can use toast and add cheese (I guess that is a Kansas thing), add lettuce, avocado, bacon, etc. But if you add lettuce and bacon, then you have a BLT (which is an excellent sandwich), so we won't go there.
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Prep Time 2 minutes
Total Time 2 minutes
Course Lunch
Cuisine American
Servings 1 sandwich

Ingredients
  

The Classic

  • 2 slices white bread, or a hamburger bun (which is my choice)
  • 1 fresh tomato, sliced thick
  • mayo, as needed
  • salt and pepper, as desired

Options

  • 2 slices white bread, toasted
  • 2 slices wheat bread, plain or toasted
  • 1 fresh avocado, sliced
  • 3-4 slices bacon, cooked crisp, but not used with the lettuce
  • 1 slice cheese, your choice
  • 1-2 lettuce leaves, but not used with the bacon
  • fresh parsley leaves
  • fresh sweet basil leaves, which sounds really good!
  • onion, sliced thin, think mandolin sliced thin
  • sardines

Instructions
 

The Classic

  • Place the tomato slices on a paper towel to absorb some of the juice.
  • Spread an ample amount of mayo on the bread slices or hamburger bun. Top a slice of bread with some tomato slices. Season with salt and pepper as desired.
  • Top with the other slice of bread. Enjoy.

with Lettuce

  • Place the tomato slices on a paper towel to absorb some of the juice.
  • Spread an ample amount of mayo on the bread slices or hamburger bun. Top a slice of bread with 1-2 lettuce leaves, top with some tomato slices.
  • Top with the other slice of bread. Enjoy.

Notes

Low cost.
Common sandwich that has been made for many years.
* Best Value $1 or Less per Serving,5 Ingredients or Less,BURGERS & SANDWICHES
Za’atar Quail Eggs
September 28, 2018 Lee
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Za'atar Quail Eggs

Adapted from an internet recipe.
This is a western twist on the Middle Eastern snack called Yogurt Cheese, which is also rolled in za'atar then stored in olive oil. This recipe assumes you have hard boiled quail eggs on hand, fresh cooked or canned will work. Link to the shortcut is listed in the Notes section.
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Prep Time 10 minutes
Total Time 10 minutes
Course Appetizer
Cuisine American
Servings 24 eggs

Ingredients
  

  • 24 hard boiled quail eggs, Shortcut
  • extra virgin olive oil, as needed
  • 3-4 tablespoons za'atar
  • sea salt, as desired

Instructions
 

  • For fresh cooked quail eggs, once peeled, place in the fridge to completely cool. If using canned, drain then place in the fridge to completely cool.
  • Place the za'atar in a shallow bowl and season as desired with sea salt.
  • Place the quail eggs in another bowl and toss with 3-4 tablespoons of olive to lightly coat all the eggs.
  • Roll the eggs in the za'atar to coat each egg. For the eggs with the flat bottoms, stand them up on a serving tray, for the round bottom ones, just place them on their side on the tray.
  • Serve.

Notes

Shortcut: Perfect Hard Boiled Quail Eggs.
5 Ingredients or Less,APPETIZERS / SNACKS,Eggs - Quail
Chicken Corn Egg Soup
September 26, 2018 Lee
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Chicken Corn Egg Soup

Easy, and is exactly what is states, chicken, fresh corn (you can used canned if you like), and eggs. How easy is this? And only 5 ingredients. On my to make list.
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Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 20 minutes
Total Time 30 minutes
Course Main Dish
Cuisine Asian
Servings 0

Ingredients
  

  • 2 chicken breasts, boneless, skin on
  • 1 1/2 cups corn, fresh cooked or canned
  • 2 eggs, whisked
  • salt and pepper, as desired
  • 8 cups water

Instructions
 

  • The corn can be fresh (needing a longer cook time), pressure cooked then cut from the cobs, frozen, or canned and drained. Totally up to you. Fresh corn just needs more cooking time.
  • Add the water to a large pot and add the chicken breasts. Bring to a boil and cook the chicken until done, about 15-20 minutes. Skim off any foam on top of the water.
  • Remove the chicken when cooked, leaving the broth in the pot. Add the corn to the broth, cook for about 10 minutes if using fresh corn, or cook until the corn is heated through.
  • Remove the skin from the chicken and discard, use some forks or your fingers and shred the chicken.
  • Once the corn is cooked or warmed through, add the shredded chicken to the pot.
  • Once the chicken is warmed through, stir the soup then pour in the whisked eggs. If you want smaller egg pieces, stir while pouring the eggs, if you want larger egg pieces stir, then remove the spoon then pour in the egg, wait about 5-15 seconds, then stir the soup to mix in the eggs. Cook for another 2-3 minutes.
  • Remove the pot from heat, season with salt and pepper to your liking.
  • Ladle into bowls and serve.

Notes

Low cost.
Adapted from an internet recipe.
* Best Value $1 or Less per Serving,5 Ingredients or Less,CHICKEN & TURKEY,SOUPS, STEWS, CHILI
Simple Frog Legs II
September 21, 2018 Lee
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Simple Frog Legs II

Rrayada Thayer, Thailand.
This is my wife's way to cook frog legs, very simple method. The frogs we get are locally harvested here in the village, they are not big but they are delicious. We get whole, cleaned, skinned frogs, I use the legs, the rest of the frog goes to the family and they use those to make a spicy Thai dish. This is a low ingredient recipe that makes a great meal. This is a make as much as you want recipe.
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Course Main Dish
Cuisine American
Servings 0

Ingredients
  

  • fresh frog legs
  • chicken stock powder
  • black pepper
  • all purpose flour
  • cooking oil

Instructions
 

  • Rinse the legs and separate them, cut off the feet, and place them in a mixing bowl. We received 15 frogs, so we had 30 legs.
  • Add chicken stock powder, about 1½ teaspoons is perfect, then sprinkle on some black pepper as desired.
  • Stir the legs to cover them with the stock powder and pepper. Place in the fridge for 20-30 minutes.
  • Add some flour to a zip lock bag, ½ cup or so, add the legs, close and shake to coat them with flour.
  • Heat some oil in a non stick pan, when hot, add some legs in a single layer, and fry until golden brown, turning them as needed. Remove to paper towels to drain. Repeat until all the legs are cooked.
  • Serve with sides of your choice. Enjoy.

Notes

I paid 300 Baht for the 15 frogs, and with the legs we cooked and the rest of the frogs cooked by the rest of the family, this provided about 10 servings. Plus I have some legs left over for dinner another day. This works out to about 90 cents per serving overall.
#1 Go-To Recipes,* Best Value $1 or Less per Serving,5 Ingredients or Less,FROG