Archive for the ‘SOUPS, STEWS, CHILI’ Category
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.
Cinnamon Egg Soup
This is an off the beaten path Thai soup side dish or with rice for a main dish. If you are not a fan of cinnamon, you may want to give this dish a pass. I loved seasoned or flavored hard boiled eggs so this is on my to cook list for sure.
Ingredients
- 4 hard boiled eggs, peeled
- 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
- tofu, I need to clarify amount/type
- 2 cloves garlic, peeled
- 1-2 black peppercorns
- 1 tablespoon fresh coriander leaves, chopped
- 1 teaspoon dark soy sauce
- 1 teaspoon light soy sauce
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 tablespoons sugar
- 1 cube chicken stock
- 1 cup water, + 2 tablespoons
- 1 teaspoon cooking oil
Instructions
- Using a mortar and pestle, pound the garlic, peppercorns, and coriander together.
- In a medium small pot, add the water, the 1 cup and the 2 tablespoons, and the chicken stock cube. Turn on the heat to medium high and let the water and stock come to a boil.
- While the water is heating, heat a non stick pan with the oil, when hot, add the mixture from the mortar and fry until the garlic is softened.
- Add the soy sauces, salt, and sugar and stir into the mixture.
- Add the eggs to the pan, and just stir fry for a minute or two to take on some intense flavor and then remove from heat.
- Use a slotted spoon and transfer the eggs to the pot of boiling chicken stock, and pour in the contents of the pan.
- Cut the tofu into bite size pieces and add to the pot.
- Bring to a gentle boil and hold that for 10 minutes, reduce to a low simmer for 30 minutes. Remove from heat and allow to cool a few minutes.
- Serve as a side of 2 eggs and tofu with any Thai dish or as a main when served with rice as a side.
Notes
Low cost.
This recipe for Cinnamon Soup with Egg is adapted from Appon's Thai Food.
Chicken Chorba
This is Moroccan in origin and popular across North Africa. Simple ingredients and delicious! I made this on 18 July 2018, very well liked by the family. Although the photos show my pressure cooker, this is NOT a pressure cooker dish, I was simply using the cooker as a thick walled, heavy pot.
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 2 onions, halved and finely sliced
- 1 kilo chicken wings, (2 lbs)
- 2 teaspoons ground turmeric
- 1 pinch saffron threads, (6-7 threads)
- 1 teaspoon salt, or to taste
- ½ teaspoon black pepper
- 150 grams dry chickpeas, (5 oz), see Step 1
- 2 medium tomatoes, grated, if using plum tomatoes, use 4-5
- 1½ tablespoons tomato paste
- 2 large potatoes, scrubbed and diced
- 100 grams dry spaghetti, broken into 1½ inch pieces, (3 1/2 oz)
- 3 tablespoons fresh parsley, chopped, and more for serving
- 6â…“ cups water
Instructions
- For the dry chickpeas, 150 grams (5 oz), soak overnight then drain. For canned chickpeas, use a 400 g / 14 oz can, drained.
- Potatoes and onions prepped. For the potatoes, I use a french fry cutter first, then a knife to cut the cubes from the "fry" shapes.
- This was a first for me, grating tomatoes, and I will say, it does a perfect job. Simply cut the end opposite the stem end, off and start with the cut end on the largest holes on a box grater. The tomato is grated and the leftover part is the skin and stem end. I grated 3 plum tomatoes.
- In a large pot, heat the oil on medium high heat, when hot, add the onion, turmeric, saffron, salt, pepper, and chicken, and give the pot a stir. Cook the chicken for 8-10 minutes, stirring the chicken once in a while, this is to just brown the chicken a bit, not trying to cook them through.
- Add the chickpeas, potatoes, and water and bring to a boil then reduce to a low simmer. Cover the pot and let simmer for about 40 minutes, stirring occasionally. (I cheated and cooked the chickpeas first in the pressure cooker and used those, not cooked in the liquid.)
- Add the grated tomatoes and tomato paste to the pot and stir in. Bring to a boil, then reduce to a low simmer for 15 minutes to blend that in.
- Stir in the broken spaghetti and parsley and let simmer until the spaghetti is tender. Here, the pasta is done, I used linguine, and the kitchen was smelling great!
- Ladle into bowls, garnish with parsley if desired, and serve.
Notes
Chicken wing sticks (the drumettes) cost about 66 Baht/kilo. The chickpeas, canned are 69 Baht. When I get dry chickpeas I will do a price comparison between canned and dry. For 6 servings, this is about 71 cents per serving.
Pasta Fagioli Kidney Bean
Another Italian recipe, and I like the use of the kidney beans, and I will prepare those from dry beans in my pressure cooker. I will adjust the prep and cook times after I make this. On my to cook list. Links to the shortcuts are listed in the Recipe Notes section.
Ingredients
- 4 sprigs fresh thyme, or 2 teaspoons dried
- 1 sprig fresh rosemary, or 1 teaspoon dried
- 1 bay leaf
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 tablespoon butter
- 1 cup onion, diced
- 90 grams pancetta, chopped, or bacon, (3 oz)
- 2 teaspoons garlic, minced
- 5¾ cups chicken broth, Shortcut
- 2 cans kidney beans, drained, rinsed, or 4 cups cooked, Shortcut
- 1 cup dry macaroni
- black pepper, as desired and to taste
- pinch red pepper flakes, optional, to taste
- Parmesan cheese, grated, for serving
Instructions
- First, prepare the beans, you can certainly use canned beans or make from dry. I will use my pressure cooker for these.
- Place the fresh thyme, rosemary, and bay leaf in a a herb bag, or just use some cheesecloth tied with some kitchen twine. Set aside.
- In a thick walled pot, heat the oil on medium heat. When hot, add the onion, pancetta, and garlic. Saute until the onion is softened, then add the broth, beans, and herb bag. Cover and bring to a boil then reduce to a simmer. Cook for about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally, then remove and discard the herb bag.
- Remove 1 cup of beans and let cool for about 5 minutes, then mash with a potato masher or place in a blender and puree them. Set aside. These are used to thicken the soup.
- Add the dry pasta to the soup and bring to a boil and place the lid on, cook for about 10 minutes or until the pasta is tender, then reduce heat to a simmer.
- Add the mashed beans back to the pot and stir in, season the soup with black pepper to taste, and red pepper flakes if desired. Simmer for about 5 minutes.
- Serve with grated Parmesan for individuals to sprinkle on their own bowls. Enjoy.
Notes
Low cost.
Shortcuts: Chicken Broth (Pressure Cooker), Red Kidney Beans (Pressure Cooker).
Taco Soup
This recipe comes from a good friend and is highly recommended by her. Feel free to add or remove any of the ingredients. On my to cook list for sure. Links to the shortcuts are listed in the Recipe Notes section.
Ingredients
- 750 grams ground beef, or ground pork, (1 1/2 lbs)
- 1 packet taco seasoning mix, Shortcut
- 2 packets dry ranch dressing mix, Shortcut
- 1 can corn, or 1 1/2 cups fresh cooked
- 1 can diced tomatoes, or 1 1/2 cups fresh diced
- 1 can Pinto beans, drained, Shortcut
- 1 can red Kidney beans, drained or chili beans, Shortcut
- 2 cups tomato sauce, Shortcut
- 1 can Rotel tomatoes and chilies, optional for Thailand
- 1 can hominy, optional for Thailand
Instructions
- In a large pot, cook the ground beef, when browned and just cooked through, drain most of the fat off, not all, that is flavor.
- Add the remaining ingredients, simmer for at least 30 minutes, but for a great soup, simmer about an hour with the lid at a slight angle.
- Serve and enjoy.
Notes
Low cost if making the shortcuts. Spend some time and make the shortcuts, the result is a dish you made, not simply heated from canned items.
Shortcuts: Taco Seasoning, Ranch Dressing Mix, Fried Corn, Pinto Beans (Pressure Cooker), Red Kidney Beans (Pressure Cooker), Chili Beans, Tomato Sauce.
Variants: These can be anything, think about how you make a taco, make it your own. 1. Use fried corn in place of canned corn. 2. Use Chili Beans in place of kidney beans. 3. Use roasted, seeded, and diced chilies in place of Rotel.
Recipe provided by good friend, Patti Stone, and her recipe is here.
United States.
United States.
Oyster Mushroom Soup
This is an excellent soup and is a great use of these delicious mushrooms. This has lots of possibilities and can be tailored to your liking. I look forward to creating some tasty soups with this recipe as a base. I made this on 5 June 2018 with a variant, I added peppered Vietnamese sausage (Cha Hue), diced, to the soup. Perfect.
Ingredients
- 300 grams fresh oyster mushrooms, (11 oz)
- 1 egg, beaten
- 3 cups water
- 3-4 slices fresh ginger, or 1 teaspoon ground ginger
- 3 spring onions, sliced
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- sesame oil, as desired
- white pepper powder, as desired
Instructions
- Trim off the root ends of the mushrooms, rinse and squeeze dry, then tear the larger ones into 2-4 pieces, chop any of the large stems.
- In a medium size pot, add the water, ginger, and mushrooms and bring to a boil. Once at a boil add the salt boil for 2 minutes.
- Reduce heat to a simmer and slowly pour in the beaten egg around the pot, no stirring yet, wait until the egg is starting to set, about 1 minute then sprinkle in the spring onion and give the pot a gentle stir.
- I went with a Variant and added some diced peppered Vietnamese sausage (Cha Hue). Simmered for about 15 minutes to let the sausage heat through.
- Ladle the soup into serving bowls and drizzle with sesame oil as desired, and sprinkle with white pepper, also to taste.
- Serve with additional spring onions if desired.
Notes
Low cost.
Variant: 1. Add 160 to 250 grams diced Vietnamese sausage.
Inspired by the recipe Quick Oyster Mushroom Soup from Spice the Plate.Â
Italian Wedding Soup
This sounds very good! Pasta, chicken, beef meatballs, cheese, spinach, yep, sounds really good! On my to cook list for sure. Links to the shortcuts are listed in the Recipe Notes section.
Ingredients
For the Beef Meatballs
- 500 grams ground beef, (1 lb)
- 1 small onion, grated
- ¼ cup Parmesan cheese, grated
- 2 tablespoons Italian bread crumbs, Shortcut
- 1½ teaspoons dried parsley
- 1 teaspoon dried basil
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 egg whites
For the Chicken
- 500 grams chicken breasts, (1 lb)
For the Soup
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 1 small onion, diced
- 1-2 carrots, thinly sliced
- 2 stalks celery, thinly sliced
- 1 clove garlic, smashed and minced
- 12 cups chicken broth, fresh or from powder, (3 quarts)
- ¾ cup dry spaghetti, broken into ½ inch pieces
- 250 grams frozen spinach, thawed, water squeezed out , chopped, (8 oz)
- salt and pepper, to taste
Instructions
- First thing we need to do is make the meatballs. Add all the Beef Meatball ingredients to a mixing and mix with your hands to combine. Shape into ½ to ¾ inch meatballs, Place meatballs on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper, cover with plastic wrap and place in the fridge for about an hour.
- For the chicken, place in a large pot and cover with water to an inch over the chicken. If you want to make the chicken broth, use skin on chicken breasts, add a sliced carrot, onion, celery, and some peppercorn, these are additional ingredients needed and NOT listed in the ingredients list. Bring the pot to a boil, then reduce to a low boil and cook until the chicken is cooked through, about 15 to 20 minutes. Remove from heat and let cool to room temp, this will provide you juicy chicken and a nice broth.
- When the chicken is cooled to room temp, remove from the pot and shred, then set the chicken aside. Pour the broth through a strainer and set aside, discarding the contents of the strainer.
- Now onto the soup preparation. Melt the butter in a large pot, add the onion, celery, carrot, and garlic and cook for about 10 minutes until the veggies are softened.
- Add the broth you just made and additional broth to make it 12 cups total, or just add 12 cups of broth you made from powder. Bring to a boil and taste, reduce heat to low, taste, and adjust the seasoning with salt and pepper as desired. Simmer for about 30 minutes.
- Carefully add the meatballs and continue simmering for about 7-8 minutes, then add the pasta and cook for another 5 minutes, then add the spinach, then add the shredded chicken.
- Simmer for another 30 minutes to heat the chicken through. If you simmer longer the flavors will blend more. Serve.
Notes
I will price this when I make the beef meatballs. I will say fair cost for now.
Variant: 1. Add a handful or two of mushrooms, halved Straw mushrooms comes to mind, or sliced or chopped mushrooms of your choice.
Shchavel Borscht (Sorrel Soup)
This is a Russian soup and sounds wonderful, and since I have never seen sorrel here, I am going to use spinach. On my to cook list. Link to the Shortcut is listed in the Recipe Notes section.
Ingredients
- 14 cups water, see Step 1
- 500 grams pork loin chops, or chicken breasts, (1 lb)
- 1 tablespoon salt
- 4-5 medium potatoes, diced, skin on or off is fine
- 1 medium onion, finely diced
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 2 eggs, lightly beaten
- 2 bay leaves
- 3 tablespoons fresh dill, chopped
- 4 cups fresh sorrel, or 3 cups frozen sorrel, chopped
- sour cream, or may, to serve, Shortcut
Instructions
- If using pork loin, use the 14 cups of water, if using chicken, use 8 cups of water and 6 cups of chicken broth.
- Add the water (or water and broth if using chicken) to a large pot and bring to a boil. While waiting for the water to boil, dice the pork or chicken into bite size pieces.
- Once the water is boiling, add the pork or chicken and salt, then reduce to a simmer and partially cover and cook the pork for 30 minutes, or the chicken for 10 minutes. Skim off any foam that forms at the top.
- When the meat is done cooking, add the potatoes and bay leaves and bring up to a low boil for about 15 minutes or until you can easily pierce a potato piece with a fork.
- While the potatoes are cooking, heat a non stick pan with the oil and when hot, add the onion and cook that until golden brown then add that to the soup pot.
- After adding the onion, lightly beat the eggs, and while stirring the soup pot, slowly pour in the eggs.
- When the potatoes are fork tender, add the sorrel and dill and bring the soup pot to boil and hold for 3-5 minutes to wilt the sorrel and make them good and soft.
- Ladle into bowls, top with a spoon of sour cream or mayo, enjoy.
Notes
Pork loin is about 55 Baht/500 grams, chicken breasts would be about 30 Baht/500 grams. For 8 servings this is about 22 cents per serving using pork, and about 19 cents per serving using chicken.
Shortcut: Sour Cream.
Variants: 1. Use spinach in place of sorrel. 2. To make this vegetarian, simply not use the meat and use vegetable broth in place of the chicken broth.
Crab & Shrimp Soup
I made this on 26 Feb 2018 on a whim. I used fresh chicken stock I made in my pressure cooker (perfect), added some veggies, imitation crab and some shrimp, easy and delicious!
Ingredients
- 3 cups chicken stock, OR make from a shortcut
- 6-8 cups water
- 3 medium potatoes, diced large
- 1 bay leaf
- 1 medium onion, diced
- 2 stalks imported celery, diced, plus tops chopped and reserved
- 500 grams imitation crab, chopped, (1 lb)
- 500 grams shrimp, peeled, deveined, tails removed, (1 lb)
- pepper, to taste
- olive oil, as needed
- 1/2 cup dry spaghetti, broken into 2 inch pieces
Instructions
- Add the stock and water to a large pot and add the potatoes and bay leaf, bring to a boil then reduce to a simmer for about 15 minutes or so until the potatoes are nearly fork tender.
- While the potatoes are cooking, heat a non stick pan with a splash of olive oil and when hot, add the onion and diced celery. Stir often, you are not trying to brown this, just softening up onion and celery.
- When the onion and celery is softened, add that to the pot with the potatoes.
- When the potatoes are just about fork tender, add the chopped up crab sticks to the pot and just let the soup simmer on low heat. Add the broken spaghetti. Season with pepper to taste.
- While the soup is simmering and the spaghetti cooking, clean the shrimp. When the spaghetti is cooked, add the shrimp and the chopped celery tops.
- Turn off the heat and cover and the hot soup will cook the shrimp in a few minutes.
- When the shrimp are pink, remove the bay leaf, ladle into bowls and enjoy.
Notes
I will price this next time I get the imitation crab, for now, with 6 to 8 servings, this is low cost.
Shortcut: Chicken Stock (Pressure Cooker).
Variants: 1. Add bite size pieces of whitefish. 2. Add diced carrots, daikon, or mushrooms.
Just a soup I threw together, worked out great, Lee Thayer.
Thailand.
Thailand.
Cream of Carrot Soup
This original recipe comes from a good friend, and it sounds delicious. On my to cook list for sure.
Ingredients
- 6 cups chicken stock, fresh or from powder
- 750 grams carrots, sliced, (28 oz)
- 1/2 cup whipping cream, or 1/4 cup cream + 1/4 cup milk
- 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
- 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
- 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese, grated or shredded, plus more for garnish
Instructions
- Add the stock to large pot and add the carrots, bring to a simmer for 20 to 30 minutes.
- When the carrots are good and tender, use an immersion blender to blend up the carrots, or as I will do, use a potato masher for a good work out 😉
- Then stir in the cream, salt, pepper, garlic powder, and the cheese and simmer to melt in the cheese.
- When the cheese is melted in fully, serve and garnish with fresh grated or shredded Parmesan.
Notes
Low cost.
Original recipe, and photo, provided courtesy of good friend, Mary Weinberger. Original recipe is here.
United States.
United States.