Archive for the ‘SOUPS, STEWS, CHILI’ Category
Quick Chinese Noodle Soup
September 28, 2018 Lee
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Quick Chinese Noodle Soup

Adapted from an internet recipe.
Simple and easy soup, lots of possibilities with this to make your own signature soup or just to change it up each time you make it.
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Prep Time 5 minutes
Cook Time 5 minutes
Total Time 10 minutes
Course Lunch, Main Dish
Cuisine Chinese
Servings 2 servings

Ingredients
  

  • 4 cups chicken stock, fresh or from powder
  • 3 spring onions, sliced, white and green parts
  • 1 tablespoon oyster sauce
  • 1 tablespoon light soy sauce
  • 1 tablespoon dark soy sauce
  • 110 grams dry Chinese egg noodles, (about 4 oz)
  • 4 leaves bok choi, sliced

Instructions
 

  • Heat the stock to a boil in a large saucepan.
  • When boiling, add the remaining ingredients.
  • Reduce heat and cook the noodles until just tender.
  • Serve.

Notes

Low cost.
* Best Value $1 or Less per Serving,: CHINESE,SOUPS, STEWS, CHILI
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
Quail Egg Potato Carrot Soup
September 26, 2018 Lee
1 Comment

Quail Egg Potato Carrot Soup

Adapted from an internet recipe.
This is a very good soup, and well liked by the family. Link to the Shortcut is listed in the Notes section.
5 from 1 vote
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Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 30 minutes
Total Time 40 minutes
Course Main Dish
Cuisine Asian
Servings 8 servings

Ingredients
  

  • 30-40 hard boiled quail eggs, peeled, or canned, Shortcut
  • 4 medium potatoes, diced
  • 2 carrots, chopped or rangiri (see Notes)
  • 2 quarts vegetable broth, fresh or from powder, (8 cups)
  • 7-10 spring onions, sliced, white and green
  • 6 shallots, sliced, or 1 purple onion
  • 3 cloves garlic, minced
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • ½ teaspoon black pepper
  • 2 tablespoons olive oil
  • fresh parsley, chopped, for garnish

Instructions
 

  • Veggies ready.
  • Veggies prepped.
  • Add the broth, potatoes, and carrots to a medium size pot and bring to a boil.
  • While the pot is heating, heat the oil in a non stick pan on medium high heat, when hot, add the shallots and garlic. Saute for a few minutes until the shallots are translucent and tender.
  • When the pot is boiling, add the shallots and garlic, reduce heat to a low boil and cook until the potatoes and carrots are tender, about 20 minutes.
  • When the potatoes and carrots are tender, add the quail eggs and spring onion and stir.
  • Reduce heat to low and let the eggs warm through. Season with the salt and pepper.
  • Spoon into serving bowls, garnish with chopped parsley, serve and enjoy.

Notes

Low cost per serving.
Option for the carrots: Use 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 ¼ 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: Perfect Hard Boiled Quail Eggs.
Variants: 1. Use mushroom or chicken stock in place of the vegetable broth. 2. Straw mushrooms, halved would be a great addition to this soup.
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Corn Chowder
September 4, 2018 Lee
1 Comment

Corn Chowder

This sounds really good and is a great way to use fresh sweet corn, yummy.
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Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 30 minutes
Total Time 45 minutes
Course Main Dish
Cuisine American
Servings 4 servings

Ingredients
  

  • 8 slices bacon, chopped
  • 1 onion, diced
  • 3 ears fresh corn, cut of the cobs
  • 1 cup long beans, cut into 3/4 inch pieces
  • 500 grams potatoes, cubed, skin on or off your choice, (1 lb)
  • 2 1/4 cups whole milk
  • 1 can evaporated milk, (1 1/4 cups)
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt, or to taste
  • 1/2 teaspoon black pepper, and as desired
  • 2-3 spring onions, chopped, white and green
  • fresh chives, finely sliced for garnish, optional
  • 1-2 cups chicken stock, if needed

Instructions
 

  • In a large heavy walled pot, add the chopped bacon and bring to medium heat. Stir often and when the bacon is about halfway cooked, add the onion. Stir often and cook until the onion is softened.
  • Add the potatoes, corn, long beans, salt and pepper.
  • Pour in the milk, evaporated milk, stir and bring to almost a boil then reduce to a low heat and simmer.
  • During the simmer, if too much water evaporates off, feel free to add chicken stock, or water, 1-2 cups, and continue simmering.
  • Cook, stirring often until the potatoes are tender. Stir in the spring onion. Taste and season with additional salt and pepper as desired.
  • Serve. Garnish with chives if desired.

Notes

Low cost.
Adapted from an internet recipe.
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Pork Rib Soup I (ต้มจับฉ่าย)
August 28, 2018 Lee
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Pork Rib Soup I (ต้มจับฉ่าย)

The Thai writing is simply 'boiled bok choi'. For better terms, I call this Pork Rib Soup. This is a common Thai soup, other than the ribs and bok choi, everything is optional, how easy is that? This is a non spicy soup and it is delicious. The ingredient measurements are approximations, this is not set in stone.
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Prep Time 20 minutes
Cook Time 1 hour
Total Time 1 hour 20 minutes
Course Lunch, Main Dish
Cuisine Thai
Servings 8 servings

Ingredients
  

  • 1 kilo pork ribs, the short ones, (2 lbs)
  • 2 daikon, peeled and sliced about 1/4 inch thick
  • 2 large bunches bok choi, chopped into 1 1/2 to 2 inch pieces
  • 90-180 grams fresh Shiitake mushrooms, (3-6 oz)
  • 1-2 bunches Chinese celery, chopped, this is much thinner than US/import celery
  • 2 teaspoons pork broth powder
  • 5 coriander roots, rinsed clean
  • 5 cloves garlic, peeled
  • 10 black peppercorns
  • dash light soy sauce
  • dash oyster sauce
  • pinch salt

Instructions
 

  • In a large pot, add the ribs and fill about 2/3 to 3/4 full with water. Bring to a boil and reduce to a high simmer. Cook until the ribs are just tender, about 45 minutes to an hour. Skim off and discard any foam that forms on the surface.
  • While the ribs are cooking, prepare the daikon, bok choi, celery. To prepare the mushrooms, remove the stems but leave the caps whole and for a nice touch, cut an X, very gently onto the top of the caps, not very deep, when they cook, the X will show for a nice presentation.
  • To prepare the coriander roots, garlic, and pepper corns, place them in a mortar and pound with a pestle for a minute or two. You are not look for a paste, just crushed up. This is optional but makes the soup more traditional. (Coriander root is a different taste than the green leafy part, there is no green leafy coriander in this soup,)
  • When the ribs are tender, add the bok choi, daikon, Chinese celery, mushrooms, pork broth powder, and contents from the mortar if using those. Season with a dash of soy sauce, oyster sauce, and just a pinch of salt.
  • Let this simmer for 30-40 minutes. Add more water as needed. Taste and adjust seasonings to your liking.
  • Serve with rice on the side. This is a common lunch and dinner soup.

Notes

Pork ribs are about 115 Baht/kilo, even less from a local vendor in a market, for 8 servings, certainly low cost per serving.
Variants: 1. Use pork neck bones in place of ribs. 2. Add sliced carrot but they can turn to mush if simmered too long. 3. Add some chopped cabbage. 4. Can add some chicken feet when you start to cook the pork ribs to make the broth even better.
Recipe provided by my wife, Rrayada Thayer.
Thailand.
#1 Go-To Recipes,* Best Value $1 or Less per Serving,: THAI,SOUPS, STEWS, CHILI
Long Bean Soup
August 22, 2018 Lee
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Long Bean Soup

Adapted from an internet recipe.
Also known as Green Bean Soup, but since long beans are common here in Thailand, let's go with that for the name. Long beans are just very long green beans, 12-24 inches long, taste is the same. I prefer to pressure cook long beans, but for this recipe, I am going to sauté them in butter to cook them as directed.
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Prep Time 5 minutes
Cook Time 20 minutes
Total Time 25 minutes
Course Lunch, Main Dish
Cuisine Vegetarian
Servings 2 servings

Ingredients
  

  • ½ cup long beans, chopped into 3/4 inch pieces
  • 1½ inches carrot, diced
  • 1 potato, peeled and diced
  • ¼ cup green peas
  • ½ inch fresh ginger, or ¾ teaspoon ground ginger
  • 1 teaspoon black pepper, or to taste
  • 1 tablespoon butter, or as needed
  • water, as needed
  • salt, as desired

Instructions
 

  • Cook the diced potato, carrot, and peas in a sauce pan with with water to cover them. Cook until tender.
  • While the other vegetables are simmering, heat a non stick pan with 1 tablespoon of butter and when hot, add the long beans. Saute until tender. When cooked, remove to a bowl and set aside.
  • Once the potatoes and carrots are tender, drain and retain 2½ cups of the cooking water. Mash the potatoes, carrot, and peas.
  • Add the mash to a sauce pan and add the 2½ cups of retained water and bring to a boil. Boil for 5 minutes.
  • Add the long beans to the sauce pan and stir in, boil for another 5 minutes. Season with salt and pepper as desired. Add more water to adjust the thickness of the soup.
  • Ladle into bowls, sprinkle with black pepper, and serve.

Notes

Low cost.
* Best Value $1 or Less per Serving,SOUPS, STEWS, CHILI,VEGETARIAN
Barley, Lentil & Mushroom Soup
August 20, 2018 Lee
2 Comments

Barley, Lentil & Mushroom Soup

Another great recipe using barley, This is very delicious and well liked by the family. Lots of variants listed in the Recipe notes section. Keep in mind, when looking at the photos, the pot is for my pressure cooker, this soup is NOT a pressure cooker dish, I simply use the pot as a good thick walled soup pot when not pressure cooking.
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Prep Time 20 minutes
Cook Time 1 hour 20 minutes
Total Time 1 hour 40 minutes
Course Lunch, Main Dish
Cuisine American
Servings 8 servings

Ingredients
  

  • 1/4 cup olive oil
  • 1 medium onion, diced
  • 1 stalk import celery, chopped
  • 2 carrots, chopped or Rangiri (see Recipe Notes)
  • 3/4 cup dry barley
  • 3/4 cup dry brown lentils
  • 2 quarts beef broth, fresh or from powder, (8 cups)
  • 1/4 teaspoon dried thyme
  • 1 teaspoon dried parsley
  • 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
  • 1 bay leaf
  • 4 cups fresh Shiitake mushrooms, stemmed, sliced, or button or straw

Instructions
 

  • Heat the oil in a large pot on medium heat, when hot, add the onion and cook, stirring often to just soften the onion, not browned. About 5 minutes.
  • Add the carrot and celery and cook another 5 minutes.
  • Now add the barley and lentils and stir to coat them with the oil. Cook, stirring often to lightly toast them.
  • Add the broth, thyme, parsley, pepper, and bay leaf, stir together, and bring to a boil. Stir in the mushrooms, reduce heat to low, cover, and simmer for 25 minutes, stir occasionally.
  • When the lentils and barley are good and tender, remove the bay leaf. Taste and adjust seasonings as desired.
  • Serve and enjoy.

Notes

I will price this when I can source lentils. Barley is cheap. For now, for 8 servings, I will say this is low cost.
For the carrots: I use 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.
Variants: 1. Add a diced potato. 2. Add 1/2 cup broken spaghetti. 3. Add a tablespoon of balsamic vinegar. 4. Replace the beef broth with vegetable stock. 5. Increase the broth or stock to 3 or 4 quarts. 6. Brown 500 grams (1 lb) ground beef and add to the soup.
Adapted from an internet recipe.
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Homemade Beef Barley Soup
August 17, 2018 Lee
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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.
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Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 25 minutes
Total Time 35 minutes
Course Main Dish
Cuisine American
Servings 8 servings

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.
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Meatball & Egg Tofu Soup
August 17, 2018 Lee
1 Comment

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.
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Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 1 hour
Total Time 1 hour 15 minutes
Course Breakfast, Lunch, Main Dish
Cuisine Thai
Servings 8 servings

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.
#1 Go-To Recipes,* Best Value $1 or Less per Serving,: THAI,MEATBALLS,SOUPS, STEWS, CHILI
Mushroom Barley Soup
August 7, 2018 Lee
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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.
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Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 50 minutes
Total Time 1 hour 5 minutes
Course Lunch, Main Dish, Side
Cuisine American
Servings 6 servings

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.
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