Archive for the ‘* Best Value $1 or Less per Serving’ Category
Thai Fish Cakes
This comes from a good friend and sounds delicious. You can prepare the fish two ways, 1. with a food processor, or 2. with a meat grinder and your hands, I will use the second way. On my to cook list.
Ingredients
- 500 grams whitefish, any will do fine, (1 lb)
- 1 tablespoon Thai red curry paste
- 1 egg, beaten
- 1 teaspoon brown sugar, or cane sugar
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 tablespoon cornstarch
- 80 grams fresh long beans, finely chopped, (2 3/4 oz)
- 1 tablespoon fresh cilantro, chopped
- 4 tablespoons vegetable oil
- 1-2 teaspoons kaffir lime leaves, finely chopped, optional but recommended
- lime wedges, for garnish if desired
Instructions
For Food Processor Use
- Put the fish in your food processor and process until coarsely chopped, then add the curry paste, egg, sugar, salt, and corn starch and process until well blended. Stir in the beans, cilantro, and kaffir lime leaves (if using those).
For Meat Grinder & Hands Use
- Run the fish through your meat grinder using the coarse plate (the wagon wheel). With the ground fish in a mixing bowl, add the curry paste, egg, sugar, salt, and corn starch and mix with your hands to completely mix everything together. Stir in the beans, cilantro, and kaffir lime leaves (if using those).
Continuing On...
- Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and place in the fridge for 30 minutes.
- After 30 minutes have passed, get the bowl and shape fish mixture in balls then flatten to make the fish cakes.
- Heat the oil in a non stick pan, when the oil is hot, add the fish cakes (in batches) and cook for about 3 minutes on each side or until golden brown.
- Garnish with lime wedges. Serve as a side with any Thai main dish, such as a curry over rice.
Notes
Low cost.
Recipe and photo provided by good friend, Khanthary Singnhoth, and her recipe isĀ here.
United States.
United States.
Pinwheels
This comes from a friend and is absolutely delicious. This is a base recipe, make with what you have on hand to make a few or many.
Ingredients
- large flour tortillas
- Cream cheese, softened
- Ranch dressing
- spring onion, sliced
- bell pepper, red, yellow, or orange, diced
- cheese, shredded, your choice, Cheddar would be good
- deli ham
- deli turkey
- smoked turkey
Instructions
- Lay out a tortilla, spread on some cream cheese and drizzle on some Ranch dressing, use a spoon and spread out the dressing.
- Sprinkle on some spring onion and bell pepper.
- Add slices of deli ham, turkey, and or smoked turkey as desired.
- Roll the tortilla up and secure with 1 or 2 toothpicks and place covered in the fridge for at least an hour.
- Remove, slice about 3/4 inch thick, enjoy.
Notes
Low cost.
Recipe and photo provided by Kevin Barnett and his original recipe is here.
United States.
United States.
Old Fashioned Onion Rings
Sounds delicious, I made these on 22 Feb 2018 and they are perfect. Link to the shortcut is listed in the Recipe Notes section.
Ingredients
- 1 large white onion
- 1 1/4 cups all purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 egg
- 1 cup milk, or as needed
- 3/4 cup dry bread crumbs, OR make from a shortcut
- cooking oil, for frying
Instructions
- Slice the onion into 1/4 inch slices, then separate into rings and set them aside.
- In a gallon size zip lock bag, add the flour, salt, and baking powder, zip closed and shake to mix. Add some onion rings, zip closed and shake to coat the rings, remove and set the coated rings aside, repeat with the remaining onion rings.
- Once all the rings are coated with flour, add the egg and milk to the zip lock bag, close and squish that up with your fingers. Add some rings, lock the bag and squish around to coat, remove to a wire rack over foil to drip. Repeat for the remaining rings.
- While waiting for the rings to drip, go ahead and heat a large deep pan with oil or a deep fryer with oil, heat to 180 C (350 F), and add the bread crumbs to a shallow bowl.
- While the oil is heating, place a few rings on the breadcrumbs and coat well, tap off excess, and set aside. Repeat with the remaining rings.
- When the oil is hot, add a few rings at a time and fry for 2 to 3 minutes or until golden brown, remove to paper towels to drain and continue with the rest of the rings. Rings just went in during this photo.
- Serve and enjoy.
Notes
Chicken in Sweet Soy Sauce
This is an Indonesian dish from a good friend and sounds delicious, on my to cook list. This recipe uses basic, everyday readily available ingredients.
Ingredients
- 800 grams chicken thighs, or legs, or wings, ( 1Ā¾ lb)
- 6 tablespoons cooking oil
- 2 tablespoons white vinegar
- 1 small red onion, diced
- 1 teaspoon course ground black pepper
- Ā½ teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 tablespoons sweet soy sauce
Instructions
- Rub the chicken pieces well with the pepper and nutmeg.
- Heat a large non stick pan on medium heat and when hot, add the chicken and cook until golden brown on the first side, then flip all the chicken over.
- Add the onion and enough warm water so about ā of the chicken pieces are in the water.
- Add the vinegar and sweet soy sauce. Cover partially with a lid and turn heat to low and let simmer for 25-35 minutes.
- Turn off the heat and fully cover with the lid for 15 minutes.
- Serve with rice, spoon some of the sauce over the rice, and sliced cucumbers.
Notes
Low cost, easily less than $1 per serving.
Poached Eggs (Silicon Poacher)
I really like poached eggs, but I absolutely suck at making them by dropping in hot water so I bought some silicon egg poachers, easy to use.
Ingredients
- 4 chicken eggs
- 4 slices toast, buttered
- 4 silicon egg poachers
Instructions
- Heat a pot (with a lid) of water to simmering. Lightly grease each silicon cup with butter.
- Crack an egg into each cup. Once the water is at a nice simmer, place each silicon cup into the water, they float as well. Cover the pot and set a timer for 6 to 7 minutes depending on how you like your poached eggs.
- When the time is done, remove each cup from the water using a slotted spoon.
- Use a spoon to go around each egg to loosen them and scoop out each one onto a slice of toast.
- Serve with sides of your choice.
Notes
Low cost.
Adapted from an internet site regarding the use of silicon egg poachers.
Beef Taquitos
These sound really good, I have not had taquitos in 30 years. On my to make list for sure. Links to the shortcuts are listed in the Recipe Notes section.
Ingredients
- 350 grams ground beef, (3/4 lb)
- 1/4 cup onion, diced
- 1 clove garlic, smashed and finely minced
- 1/2 cup tomato sauce, OR make from a shortcut
- 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin
- 1/2 cup green chilies, canned or fresh roasted
- cooking oil, for frying
- 12 small corn tortillas
To Serve, as desired
- salsa, OR make from a shortcut
- sour cream, OR make from a shortcut
- guacamole
Instructions
- In a large non stick pan, cook the ground beef and break up with a spatula as you cook, when no longer pink, drain the fat then add the onion and garlic and cook until the onion is soft.
- Add the cumin, chilies, and tomato sauce to the pan and mix in, simmer on low heat for 5 minutes, stirring often. Remove from heat and set aside.
- In a large, flat pan, cast iron would be perfect, heat a little oil and warm each tortilla for a minute or two on each side, this makes them very soft so you can roll them.
- Lay a tortilla on your work surface and add some beef filling at about the point mid way between the edge and the center, make a line of filling across the tortilla.
- Roll the tortilla tightly, goal is a nice cigar sized taquito. Repeat this for each tortilla.
- Heat about 1/3 inch of oil in pan, when the oil is hot, quickly fry the taquitos to brown them, light golden color is the goal, about 1 minute each.
- Serve with dipping sauces as you desire, salsa, sour cream, and guacamole would be great choices.
Notes
Low cost.
Shortcuts: Tomato Sauce, Salsa, Sour Cream.
Provided courtesy of good friend, Jerry Juliana.
United States.
United States.
Grilled Crab Sandwich
Imitation crab (fish), Swiss cheese, and Thousand Island dressing, sounds perfect. On my to cook list.
Ingredients
- 2 slices bread, of your choosing
- Thousand Island dressing, as needed
- Swiss cheese, sliced, as needed
- imitation crab, sliced, as needed
- butter as needed
Instructions
- Heat a non stick pan on low heat.
- Lay out two slices of bread, spread Thousand Island dressing on each slice.
- On one slice, place sliced Swiss cheese, then sliced imitation crab.
- Place the second slice on top of the sandwich, Thousand Island dressing downwards onto the sandwich. Pick up sandwich and spread butter on each side.
- Place the sandwich in the hot pan and cook until the bottom is golden brown, flip and cook the other side.
- Remove from heat, enjoy.
Notes
Low cost.
Variants: 1. Add a slice or two of deli chicken or turkey. 2. Add a slice or two of deli ham.
Adapted from an internet recipe.
Italian Pasta Rockefeller
Not sure about where this got its name, but it certainly sounds good, on my to cook list. Feel free to use jarred Alfredo sauce instead of from scratch, totally up to your preference. Link to the shortcut is listed in the Recipe Notes section.
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons cooking oil
- 1 medium oinion, diced
- 2 cloves garlic, smashed and minced
- 500 grams bulk pork sausage, OR make from a shortcut
- 1/2 cup white wine
- 1/2 cup chicken stock, fresh or from powder
- 1 bag fresh leaf spinach, I will verify quantity
- 500 grams Cavatelli pasta, or Penne pasta
- Parmesan cheese, grated, for serving
For the Alfredo Sauce
- 2 cups heavy cream
- 2 eggs, beaten
- 2 cloves garlic, smashed and minced
- 1 cup Parmesan cheese, shredded
- salt and pepper, to taste
Instructions
- Heat the oil in a large non stick pan (one that has a lid) and add the onion and garlic and saute until the onion is soft. Add the sausage and break that up with the spatula as it cooks.
- When the sausage is cooked through and no longer pink, stir in the wine and stock.
- Turn the heat to low, add the spinach and cover.cover the pan and allow mixture to come to a boil.
- Uncover and stir, allow mixture to reduce.
- While the pan is simmering on very low heat, heat a pot of salted water to boiling then cook the pasta until tender, then drain and rinse.
- While waiting for the pasta to cook, make the Alfredo sauce. Simply add the Alfredo sauce ingredients to a sauce pan on medium or medium low heat, and whisk continuously until the cheese is melted in and the sauce thickens.
- Add the sauce to the sausage mixture and mix together, pour the sauce over the drained and rinsed pasta.
- Serve, have grated Parmesan cheese for individual preference as well as salt and pepper, enjoy.
Notes
If you make the sausage yourself, very easy, the cost is about 50 Baht for the pork (using pork shoulder or butt). The cheese figure about 100 Baht. For 6 servings, this is about 75 cents per serving.
Shortcut: Pork Sausage.
Adapted from an internet recipe.
Whole Duck (Pressure Cooker)
Using the same idea that the pressure cooker produced an outstanding juicy and tender chicken, my wife suggested using it for duck. We sent our brother in law to a local duck farm two days ago and he brought back 2 small ducks, yesterday, 18 Feb 2018, he slaughtered the ducks, plucked them, and sort of cleaned them, and delivered the two ducks to us. I did the final cleaning and prep for the pressure cooker. And oh my, what a tender and juicy duck as well, absolutely delicious! Follow the safety precautions for you type of pressure cooker. I use a 12 psi (80 kPa) 9 liter (9 1/2 quart) stove top pressure cooker.
Ingredients
- 2 small whole ducks
- 8 stalks lemon grass
- 2 handfuls lime leaves
- 1 large onion, chopped
Instructions
- For those in Asia, any fowl will have feet and head still attached.
- Prep the duck by cutting off the feet, head, and neck. Clean the inside and out with running water, clean the inside well. Make sure the heart and liver are removed as well, and clean the gizzard as well if that is not done.
- Beat the lemongrass with a pestle or meat tenderizer, make two bundles and tie each into an overhand knot, place a bundle in each duck, then place a handful of lime leaves in each duck.
- If using the feet, use a cleaver and chop off the toes, and if using the head, chop off bill, yes, I know that sounds weird. Wash the feet, heads, necks, and gizzards. These will go in the pressure cooker. For the hearts and livers, set those aside, those do not go in the pressure cooker. (I boiled the hearts and livers for a snack while cooking the ducks.)
- Place the ducks in the pressure cooker along with the heads, necks, feet, and gizzards. Toss in the chopped onion. Add water as need, it does not need to cover the ducks, but keep the pot 2/3 or less full.
- Add the lid and lock in place, place weight (jiggler) on the top and turn on heat to high. Once the jiggler starts venting pressure and moving, start your time for 30 minutes.
- At 30 minutes, turn off the heat and move the pot to an unused burner and allow to release pressure naturally.
- One duck ready to serve. This was enjoyed with just a simple chili sauce for dipping and rice on the side. Figure 4 servings from one small duck.
Notes
Each small duck cost me 100 Baht, so 200 for both. for 8 servings, this is about 75 cents per serving, outstanding value for a very good meal!
Thai Fish Curry
I seen my wife make this today using imported Italian Mackerel, and local sourced ingredients. Seems like a lot of steps but this actually goes together quite fast overall. The coconut milk is made from fresh grated coconut, use canned if you like. Measurements are very approximate as no actual measurements are made, what is listed is my best guesses.
Ingredients
- 500 grams shredded coconut, fresh, not bagged
- 6 whole Italian Mackerel, gutted, tails removed, 6-8 inches each
- 2 handfuls lime leaves, finely sliced
- 2-3 tablespoons chili paste
- 2-3 tablespoons shrimp paste
- 2-3 tablespoons fresh tamarind
- cooked rice, for serving
Instructions
- With the fresh shredded coconut, you are going to make coconut milk. to do this, place the coconut in a large bowl and cover with water. Squeeze the shred and the water will become milky. Do this for about 5-10 minutes, really squeezing the clumps of shred, then grab some shred and hold it above the bowl and squeeze it dry, discard the clump, now you have a bowl of coconut milk, almost, you are not done yet.
- Place a strainer over a bowl and pour the milk into the strainer, tap the strainer and move the contents a bit with your fingers to get the liquid out, you are now removing any of the remaining shred from the milk. For the remaining shred, pick that up and squeeze dry as well.
- The end result is fresh coconut milk, this is just one bowl, we used two, goal is 3-4 cups of milk total.
- Now get your ingredients together. Here is one of the two bowls of coconut milk, chili paste, shrimp paste, and the lime leaves (before slicing).
- Fish used is Italian Mackerel. We bought these are Tesco, sold by the piece, not weight, 90 Baht for 6 fish.
- Clean the fish by scaling, the scales are very small and this goes quickly, then gut each and cut the tails off. (If you want to remove the heads, feel free to do so.)
- Add about ā of the coconut milk to a pan, and add the chili paste and shrimp paste. Put on medium heat.
- While the milk is heating up, slice up the lime leaves. Grab the handful or so of leaves, the younger bright green ones are preferred, hold in a tight bundle, and slice. Not looking for perfection here, just get most of them thinly sliced. Set this aside.
- With the milk now hot, stir to mix in the chili and shrimp pastes. Let this simmer, low boil, for about 10 minutes. You just made a curry.
- Then add the fish in a single layer.
- Now pour in the remaining coconut milk and sort of mix that in, let this simmer for about 10 minutes.
- This is fresh tamarind, it is like a paste, the stones (seeds), and the string fibrous part is still in this. To this, add a little water, about 1/4 cup and squish this up to soften it.
- Remove the fish to another pan.
- To the pan with the curry, hold a strainer over the pan and pour in the tamarind mush into the strainer, move the mush about with your hand to get the tamarind liquid into the pan, when the all the liquid is strained out from the tamarind mush, discard the strainer contents. Stir the tamarind liquid into the curry then add the sliced lime leaves and stir that in.
- Pour the curry over the fish in the second pan, add a few whole lime leaves, bring this to a simmer for 2-3 minutes.
- Place a few fish in a bowl, spoon some curry over the top and ready to serve.
Notes
The fish cost 90 Baht for 6 fish. For 4 servings, this is about 68 cents per serving.