Archive for the ‘* Best Value $1 or Less per Serving’ Category
Cherry Tomato Pasta
I made this on 28 May 2018, excellent side dish. Link to the shortcut is listed in the Recipe Notes section.
Ingredients
- 500 grams pasta, type is up to you, (1 lb)
- 1/2 cup butter, 1/2 block, (1 stick)
- 5-6 cloves garlic, smashed and peeled
- 1 pack cherry tomatoes, rinsed
- salt, as desired
- red pepper flakes, as desired
- Parmesan cheese, grated, as desired
- handful bread crumbs, optional, OR make from a shortcut
Instructions
- Heat a large pot of salted water to a boil. Once boiling, add the pasta. The type of pasta is your choice, long like spaghetti, or shorter types.
- While the pasta is cooking, heat a large non stick pan with 2 tablespoons of the butter, when melted and hot, add the smashed garlic. Saute until garlic is softened, smash the garlic as it cooks as well.
- Add the cherry tomatoes into the pan, season with a pinch of salt. Saute to soften the tomatoes.
- When the pasta is almost tender, take a cup of pasta water and add to the pan along with the remaining butter. Stir to melt the butter into the water and mixed into the garlic and tomatoes, crushing some of the tomatoes as you stir. This will make a silky butter sauce.
- Transfer the pasta to the pan using tongs or a pasta fork, or just a large slotted spoon.
- Mix the pasta with the sauce, season with salt and red pepper flakes as desired. Mix in some Parmesan cheese to your liking.
- Optionally, you can add a handful or two of bread crumbs to the pasta and mix that in.
- Serve with additional Parmesan cheese for garnish if desired.
Notes
Shrimp Omelet
This is basically a Thai style omelet but without any folding, the filling is just mixed into the beaten eggs.
Ingredients
- 4 eggs, beaten
- 1 cup cooked small shrimp, peeled, deveined, tails removed
- 2-3 spring onions, chopped, white and green parts
- 1-2 tablespoons fresh cilantro, chopped
- white pepper powder, as desired
- cooking oil, as needed
Instructions
- For the shrimp, cook them with any method you prefer, such as steaming, boiling, or sauteing. If the shrimp you are using are sort of big, go ahead and chop them into 3/4 inch pieces. For these, I just dropped them into a small pot of boiling water, when they turn pink, drain and drop into cold water to stop the cooking process.
- Crack the eggs into a bowl and beat well, season with white pepper powder as desired. Get everything else chopped, here, everything ready.
- Heat a large non stick pan with a good splash of oil, hot but not smoking.
- When the oil is hot, add the shrimp, spring onion, and cilantro into the eggs and mix together.
- Pour the egg mixture all at once into the pan, it will puff as well.
- Use a spatula and lift up the sides to let the egg mixture run onto the hot pan. Cook until the bottom is set and golden brown.
- Flip the omelet over and cook until the bottom is now set.
- Flip one more time and serve. This was my dinner last night, can also serve family style and just place the plate in the center of the table and everyone can dig in.
Notes
Low cost.
Common method to make a Thai Omelet.
Easy Pasta Sauce
Very easy for a base sauce but feel free to tailor this at will, like adding meatballs. Only 4 ingredients and 45 minutes of your time. On my to cook list to verify this. Now I am in Thailand, our can sizes are not that of the states for some items, and canned tomatoes fall into the category. I will clarify this in the procedures. If you are in Thailand or Southeast Asia (or the US), please read the step completely. There is a lot of variants to this as you will read in the Recipe Notes section.
Ingredients
- 1 can whole peeled tomatoes, see Step 1, you need to read this if in Thailand
- 1 onion
- 5 tablespoons butter
- 1-2 pinches salt
Instructions
- For the US, use a 28 oz can of whole peeled tomatoes with juice. For Asia, the average can I have seen is 565 grams or about 20 oz, for Asia, use 2 cans, you make more sauce for use in other recipes but keep the onion, butter, and salt measurements the same.
- Open tomatoes and pour the tomatoes and juice, into a medium size pot.
- For the onion, trim both ends, peel, and cut in half, add that to the pot.
- Add the butter to the pot along with a pinch or two of salt as you desire.
- Bring the pot up to a simmer and break up the tomatoes with a spoon as they cook. Stir often just don't let the tomatoes or juice burn.
- Cook the sauce for 45 minutes, add seasoning of your choice (Italian seasoning comes to mind).
- Remove and discard the onion. Add to pasta and enjoy.
Notes
Low cost.
Shortcut: Italian Seasoning.
Variants: 1. Obvious is to use fresh, peeled tomatoes but you will need to add tomato juice as well. 2. Add some crushed garlic cloves while this is simmering. 3. Feel free to add cooked meatballs. Feel free to add ground meat of your choosing, cooked of course, at the end of the cooking. 4. Feel free to use a seasoning during cooking, remember, make this your own sauce, my Italian seasoning is listed as a shortcut.
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Porcupine Meatballs (Slow Cooker)
Feel free to make this with a range of ground meats, such as pork, beef, chicken, or turkey. This sounds really good, and I made this on 17 May 2018, delicious! Link to the shortcut is listed in the Recipe Notes section.
Ingredients
- 500 grams ground meat, pork, beef, chicken, or turkey, (1 lb)
- 1 small brown onion, finely diced, divided
- 1 can condensed tomato soup, OR make from a shortcut
- 1 can water, if using the soup shortcut, 1 1/4 cups
- 1 small carrot, grated
- 2 cloves garlic, smashed and minced
- 1 egg
- 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
- 1/2 cup cooked rice, brown or white
- 2 teaspoons dried oregano, divided
Instructions
- In a large mixing bowl, add the ground meat, 1/2 the onion, 1/2 the oregano, egg, garlic, carrot, and rice. Then get in there with your clean hands and mix this together. (I used 750 grams of pork (1 1/2 lbs) so I used 2 eggs.)
- Shape the mixture into 10 balls and place each in your slow cooker. (I used 750 grams of pork (1 1/2 lbs) so I made 12 good sized meatballs.)
- Wipe out the mixing bowl, then add the soup, Worcestershire sauce, remaining oregano, remaining onion, and the can of water or 1 1/4 cups of water if you made the shortcut. Mix well. (Big change here I used 3 cups of condensed soup.)
- Pour the sauce over the meatballs. Set the slow cooker to High setting and cook for 4 hours then switch to Low setting for 1 more hour.
- When ready, use a large spoon to scoop out the meatballs, this photo is with 3 meatballs and 2 scoops of gravy removed already.
- Serve with mashed potatoes, pasta, or rice. Enjoy.
Notes
Thinking just ground pork or chicken, this is low cost per serving.
Shortcut: Condensed Tomato Soup.
Variant: 1. If you go heavy on the meat, say, 750 grams (1 1/2 lbs) like I did, add another egg, touch more seasoning, and 3 cups of soup.
Adapted from an internet recipe.
Curry Fish Balls
This sounds very good, and uses a packaged curry from Japan that is exceptional in flavor, Japanese curry tastes neither like Thai or Indian curries. Fish balls (think of small meatballs but made from fish) are very common and for folks in the US, these are readily available at most Asian markets. Curried fish balls are very common in China (and I did receive this recipe from a friend in China). This can be a snack or side dish. If I was a betting man, you could increase the number of balls and make a main dish over rice for two people. On my to prepare list.
Ingredients
- 25 fish balls, thawed if frozen, rinsed
- 1 tablespoon cooking oil
- 1 cup red onion, finely diced
- 100 grams Golden Curry, 1 small box or 1/2 a large box
- 1 cup coconut milk, or plain milk if in a pinch
- 1 cup vegetable stock, fresh or from powder, or water
Instructions
- In a large non stick pan, heat the oil and when hot, saute the onion until soft.
- If you have never used Japanese curry before, it very much looks like a chocolate bar. This melts into hot liquid quickly.
- Pour in the stock and add the curry (yes, it does look like a candy bar). Move the curry around until dissolved and mixed in with the onion and stock.
- Add the coconut milk and stir in, then add the fish balls. Simmer on low heat for about 10 minutes.
- Remove from heat and the curry will thicken.
- Serve as is for a side dish or snack, or over rice with the curry as a main dish. Enjoy.
Notes
Low cost.
Variants:Â 1. Use mushroom or chicken stock in place of the vegetable broth. 2. Use beef, pork, chicken, or seafood balls in place of the fish balls.
This recipe for Curry Fish Balls is from China Sichuan Food.
Crock Pot Chicken & Rice
This sounds absolutely delicious! Common ingredients, very little prep time, perfect. On my to cook list. Links to the shortcuts are listed in the Recipe Notes section.
Ingredients
- 500-750 grams chicken breasts, boneless, skinless, (1 - 1 1/2 lbs)
- 1 can condensed cream of chicken soup, OR make from a shortcut
- 2 cups chicken broth, fresh or from powder
- 350-500 grams frozen peas and carrots, (12 - 16 oz)
- 1-2 cups Cheddar cheese, shredded
- 2 cups dry white rice, (not instant rice)
- salt and pepper, to taste
- 3/4 cup seasoned breadcrumbs, OR make from a shortcut
- 3 tablespoons butter, melted
Instructions
- Grease your slow cooker insert with butter, this makes the clean up a bit easier for you.
- Dice the chicken breasts into about 3/4 inch cubes.
- Add the rice, chicken, frozen vegetables into slow cooker.
- Mix together the soup, broth, half of the Cheddar cheese, and season with salt and pepper as desired.
- Pour mixture into the slow cooker. Push down the rice so it is covered with liquid.
- Mix together the breadcrumbs and melted butter then mix in the remaining cheese. Spread mixture over the contents of the slow cooker.
- Cover the cooker and set to Low setting and cook for 5-6 hours, or High setting and cook for 3 to 4 hours. If using High setting, check the rice, it may require a bit longer to make it fully cooked.
- Serve and enjoy with a vegetable side of your choice for a nice meal.
Notes
Chicken breasts are low cost, just using the low end of the ingredients, the chicken is only 30 Baht, without doing any math, this is Low cost per serving for sure.
Shortcuts: Condensed Cream of Chicken Soup, Seasoned Breadcrumbs.
Variant: 1. Use fresh cooked corn and fresh diced carrot.
Provided by Slow Cooker Kitchen and the link to this recipe is here.
United States.
United States.
Oven Fried Fish
This makes sense, there is oven fried chicken, so why not oven fried fish. I made this on 20 Dec 2022, easy to put together, and excellent fish. I used 4 pangasius fillets and cut each in half.
Equipment
- Oven
- Baking Pan (9x13 inch)
Ingredients
- 500 grams fish fillets, boneless, skinless, (1 lb)
- ¼ cup milk
- 1½ teaspoons salt
- ½ cup breadcrumbs, Shortcut
- 2 tablespoons butter, melted
Instructions
- For the fish I will use Pangasius or Barramundi, both are very good, but any whitefish, boneless and skinless will work fine. If the fillets are large, just cut in half, it makes them easier to remove from the baking dish after cooking.
- Preheat your oven to 200° C (400° F) and grease with butter a 9x13 baking dish.
- Add the milk to a shallow dish, stir in the salt. Place the breadcrumbs in another shallow dish.
- Dip a fillet into the milk coating both sides, then coat with the breadcrumbs, then place into the baking dish. Repeat for remaining fillets. Goal is a single layer of fillets in the baking dish.
- Pour the melted butter over the fillets.
- Bake for 10 to 15 minutes until golden brown and fish flakes easily with a fork.
- Serve with sides of your choice, enjoy.
Notes
Pangasius will cost about 45 Baht/500 grams. For 4 servings, this is about 35 cents per serving.
Oyster Mushroom Stir Fry
Oyster mushrooms are excellent cooking mushrooms in Asia, and many restaurants prefer them over the even better Straw mushrooms because they last much longer. Keep in mind, cooking this type of mushroom, the goal is to remove the moisture and just soften the mushrooms. I made this on 13 May 2018, and this is excellent, very well liked by the family.
Ingredients
- 400 grams fresh oyster mushrooms, (14 oz)
- 1 1/2 teaspoons oyster sauce
- 1 teaspoon dark soy sauce
- 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
- 6 spring onions, cut to 1 inch pieces, white and green separated
- 2 tablespoons cooking oil
- 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
- fresh coriander, chopped for garnish
Instructions
- Cut off the root ends of the mushrooms, wash, shake dry and even gently squeeze out any water. Set aside.
- Heat the oil in a non stick pan on medium heat, when hot, saute the white parts of the spring onion and when softened, sprinkle in the ginger powder.
- Add the mushrooms, oyster sauce, and dark soy sauce. Mix together then let the mushrooms cook with less stirring, think sauteing. This only takes 1-2 minutes. Reduce the liquid in the pan to almost gone.
- Season with black pepper as desired and mix in the green parts of the spring onions, give it a few stirs, then remove to a serving dish. Top with fresh chopped coriander.
- Serve as a side dish or over rice for a light meal. (For this photo, the liquid you see is chicken gravy, not liquid from the mushrooms, however, I will say the mushrooms with the gravy is very good as well.)
Notes
Low cost.
Variant: 1. For a more authentic flavor, use ground Szechuan pepper. 2. Add shrimp and cook until they turn pink, then serve as a main dish over rice.
This recipe for Oyster Mushroom Stir Fry is from China Sichuan Food.
Apple Cake
This sounds really good and was provided by a good friend also living in Thailand, his words: "This cake is so moist and rich and perfect for any time of the year." Sounds like a great cake to me, on my to cook list!
Ingredients
- 2 eggs, chicken or duck
- 1 3/4 cups sugar
- 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon, heaping, be generous here
- 1/2 cup vegetable oil, coconut oil is perfect
- 6 medium apples, Gala or Fuji is perfect
- 2 cups all purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons baking soda
Instructions
- In a large mixing bowl, mix together the eggs, sugar, cinnamon, and oil.
- Preheat your oven to 180 C (350 F).
- Peel, core, and slice the apples. I use an apple corer/slicer, so peel an apple, use the corer/slicer, then slice each piece, add the pieces to the large mixing bowl and stir them in to prevent browning. Repeat for remaining apples.
- In another bowl, mix together the flour and baking soda. Slowly mix in the flour mixture into the large mixing bowl until the flour is well combined, highly recommended to use a large sturdy fork to do this.
- Pour the batter equally into two 9 inch round cake pans and bake for 55 minutes.
- Remove from the oven and allow to cool on a rack.
- To serve, place each cake on top of one another and serve with ice cream or whipped topping.
Notes
Low cost for a great sounding dessert.
Provided by friend, Kurt Hammerschmidt.
Thailand.
Thailand.
Pork Loin (Slow Cooker)
This is a spin off from the 3-Ingredient Crockpot Ranch Pork Chops, which uses a packet, or homemade, Ranch Dressing. Ranch dressing has dried dill, dried parsley, dried diced onion, garlic powder, onion powder, and black pepper (those are the basic ingredients), so in this, I stepped it up to fresh dill, fresh garlic, fresh onion, and used pork loin instead of chops.
Ingredients
- 6 slices pork loin, thick cut
- 1 medium onion, diced
- 3 cloves garlic, smashed and minced
- 1 palmful fresh dill, chopped
- 1 teaspoon dried parsley
- 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
- 2 cups chicken gravy
Instructions
- I am going to use use fresh onion, garlic, and dill, and no added salt.
- Tesco has excellent pork loin, can get 3-4 thick slices from each piece. Here is the 6 pieces I am going to use for this recipe.
- Place the diced onion in the bottom of your slow cooker. Place a layer of pork loin, then sprinkle with half the pepper, parsley, garlic, and dill. Place another layer of pork loin and sprinkle the remaining pepper, parsley, garlic, and dill.
- Prepare your chicken gravy, I use Lobo brand (Thai product which is very good), let the gravy cool for a few minutes, then pour over the pork loin, do worry if the dill sort of floats away in places, it is all cooked together.
- Set the cooker to Low setting for 6 to 8 hours, cover and cook for 6 hours without removing the cover, then check the tenderness. Time is variable with thickness of the slices. for thin, less than 1 inch check at 6 hours, for 1 inch check at 7 hours, for 1 1/2 inch check at 7 and you may need to cook another hour. If not tender, cook for another hour and check again. Once tender, if not serving right away, just switch the cooker to Warm setting.
- Serve with mashed potatoes, rice, or pasta, and spoon the gravy over everything, add a vegetable for a side and you have a complete meal. Enjoy.
Notes
Pork loin in Tesco will cost about 170 Baht/1 1/2 kilos, for 6 servings, this is about 90 cents per serving.
My own creation based on another recipe to use fresh ingredients and pork loin instead of costlier pork chops. Lee Thayer.
Thailand.
Thailand.