Frugal: Hamburger Hash

My partner, The Lad, suggested we make hamburger hash for dinner tonight. I was a jerk and I didn't take any pictures. I should do that so you can see what a mess I make in the kitchen!
I spent most of my day in a robe. That'll tell you what kind of time I have on my hands.
I did manage some shorts and a t-shirt to prepare dinner. Spectacular!

Okay, recipe time.

This one constitutes an entire meat dish. I suggest some greens on the side for added nutrient value. The Lad had some mixed greens salad with his. His mouth was a happy place and he managed to have a little too much of the hash. I do good things with food, yes?

Hamburger Hash: echobunny Style
Cooking time: approximately an hour unless you're not running away from the kitchen constantly like I was.
Tools

• a knife
• a high-sided frying pan or heavy bottomed cooking pot
• a spoon or spatula to move things around while they're cooking
• a cutting surface
• stove

Ingredients

• 1 lb ground beef (about .454 kg)
• 3 golden potatoes, cubed (I used some sort of yellow/Yukon of a medium size. The Lad bought them.)
• a "regular" can of corn (I used Peaches and Cream style)
• 3 tablespoons of olive oil
• 1/2 cup finely sliced onion (I used a 1/2 of a medium sweet onion)
  
• 2 tablespoons chili powder
• 2 tablespoons garlic powder (you can use a couple fresh cloves, if you fancy! I was being lazy)
• pinch of salt (I used some kosher salt)
  
• a few grinds on the peppermill (maybe about a teaspoon worth)

Order of Operations

1. Wash and cube your potatoes. Or, approximate cubing. I do this by slicing my taters in half, lengthwise. Then, I slice it lengthwise several times and then widthwise to make little cubey chunks. I'll try to add some pictures down the line.
2. Rinse the extra starch off your potato pieces.
   
3. I put those potatoes in a large measuring cup (use any fitting microwave safe bowl) and covered them with water.
4. Nuke potatoes on high for about 10 minutes. The idea is to soften the potatoes so they'll cook faster in the pan, later. This time may vary according to the power of your microwave.
5. While the taters are in the microwave, add your oil to the pan and heat it up.
6. Add onions. I kept the heat down to about 4 or 5 on my stove and SLOWLY browned the little onions. This process took the better part of a half hour. Maximum flavour, minimum stove-sitting. Come back on occasion to agitate your onion bits with the spoon to keep them from sticking and burning.
7. When your potatoes are done, rinse them with cold water to stop the cooking process. Set them aside until your onions are done.
8. When the onions are nice and brown, toss in your potatoes and give it a good stir. Then, leave them alone! They'll slowly brown. If you want to keep a close eye on them, turn up the heat and agitate on occasion.
9. Add garlic, chili powder, salt and pepper here.
10. Stir.
11. When the potatoes look cooked, shove them to the side and throw in your ground beef. Turn up your heat to about 6 or 7 (medium high) and let it brown.
12. Start to incorporate all the parts of your hash in the pan. It's not pretty but, goddamn it tastes so good.
13. Dump in your can of corn.
14. Stir and heat everything through. This should be about 2-5 minutes.
15. Serve with ketchup and some sort of green veggie for balance.

Hope you enjoy a little easy slow cookin'. Yum!

-echobunny

Sidelines: "Boiled rice is just blah!"

The art of flavour is a learned experience. It really is a signpost for adventures in food. When you start to blend cuisines, you're getting the hang of it.

Persephone let me know she tried out the butter chicken. She also told me, "Boiled rice is just blah."
I agree! BOILED RICE IS JUST BLAH!

When you're serving tasty Indian cuisine or even the middle eastern flair, a little curried rice is easy and makes a bit of an exotic statement on your table.
Eh, enough exposition. Let's make some rice.
The following recipe is a nod to Indian pilau recipes. I've just made it my own.

A Curried Yellow Rice with Sultanas
(This recipe is scalable for servings. 1 cup rice + 2 cups fluid = a little over 2 cups of rice. This is technically 8 servings of rice! That is 1/4 cup per person. Take this into consideration when you prepare for dinner. Some people like to wolf the rice down. Make a little more if you've got company, that's for sure!)
(This recipe also has optional flourishes if you're feeling daring or trying to impress!)

Tools

• saucepan with lid - make sure it's big enough for your fluids and rice!
• a spoon
• a stove or hotplate
• a fine colander (to rinse your rice in)
• a knife for smushing/mincing your garlic
  

Ingredients

• 1 cup of rice (long grain, basmati, jasmine, etc)
  
• 2 cups of water (optional: use a broth in place of the water or half water, half broth)
• 3 tablespoons of olive oil (Use veg. oil if it's all you have. optional: use 2 tablespoon of olive oil and a tablespoon of butter. Keep the heat down on the pot so you don't burn your butter!)
• 3-4 cloves, whole
• 1 tablespoon cinnamon (use a little more if you like your cinnamon!)
  
• 1 teaspoon turmeric
• 1 1/2 teaspoon coriander seed, ground
• 2 cloves garlic, well minced or otherwise beaten into oblivion.
• 1 teaspoon cumin
• 1 small onion, minced (optional: shallots. about 4-5 of them. Minced. You could also try leeks. Yummy subtle onion flavour)
  
• 1/4 cup of sultana raisins (use regular old whatever raisins if it's all you have)
• 1/4 cashews (you can also use pine nuts, almonds walnuts and so on. Experiement!)
• salt to taste
• If you wish for a bit of spiced kick, a 1/2 teaspoon of cayenne is your friend
• Also optional: cilantro/coriander leaves for garnish and maybe some sliced onion. Sometimes I toss in some garam masala (you can even make THIS yourself, though it's a little time consuming. Here's a recipe: How To Make Garam Masala. That's an outside link and I can't guarantee the safety of the site.)
  

Cooking Steps

1. Rinse your rice off with cold water to wash away the starch. This allows your rice to cook as separate grains and keeps stuff from turning into mush! Set aside to drain as you do other steps!
   
2. Heat your oil in the pot. Use a medium to high heat. Use your judgment and keep an eye on it! Leave the lid off for now.
3. Add your onions and let them "caramelize" in the oil. Be sure to stir a little to avoid "burninizing". When your onions look a bit golden/brown you've got some caramelizing going on in the pot!
   
4. Add your nuts, garlic, cinnamon, cloves, cumin and coriander. Fry this for about 2 minutes, stirring as you go to keep things from burning. This process roasts your herbs and spices a bit, giving them more delicious flavour!
   
5. Add rice and fry it for a few more minutes. At this point you're toasting the rice. MORE FLAVOUR!
6. Add raisins and immediately do the next step.
   
7. Pour in your liquids. Be careful of steam billowing up from all your heated fryings at this point.
8. Bring your mess to a boil. Don't worry about mixing it. You can do it at the end of your rice cooking.
9. Once boiling, slap the lid on tight and turn the heat down really low. Barely on. Just above "I'm sorta keeping it warm". I know. It's an exact science!
10. Let this sit, cooking for about 15-20 minutes.
11. When it's done, fluff it with a fork and serve it with your dinner!

As always, leave me some comments. Make requests. I do this for you more than myself. Most of all, be adventurous in the kitchen! Food is wonderful!

Shredded Chicken and Butter Chicken: Together, at last!

I've been passing this recipe around for a while now. I think it's time to put it in writing. Butter chicken (Murgh makhani) is delicious Indian food and quite popular amongst western/British populations. Its origin (according to the ever-useful wiki page on butter chicken) lies in the Punjab region of India and is reputed to have been made by one of the kitchen staff at a restaurant called Moti Mahal.
Recipes vary greatly and I definitely can't claim the one I use as AUTHENTIC, but it sure is tasty. If your food isn't satisfying, why eat it?

So, after a lot of poking about I settled on this recipe for the meal. I'll embed it here for convenience!

Chicken: How To Make Butter Chicken

I tend to cut large chunks of onion. I like the rustic look and the texture it provides.

Instead of using the cut up chicken, I use shredded! Here's how I do it:
*as a note you can do this with any large chunk of chicken/turkey. Thighs and breasts are best!*

SHREDDED CHICKEN
Take your chicken pieces and place them in a pot with a lid. Barely cover the meat with water. I sprinkle a little salt and pepper. This is to your taste!
Bring the water to a boil. Cover the pot with a lid and reduce the heat to a low simmer. Leave it alone for a good 15-20 minutes.
Remove it from the heat and shred it on a plate or a cutting board with two forks.
In the case of the butter chicken, add it when the recipe calls for you to place the meat in the sauce at the end.

The shredded chicken will stretch the recipe a bit further than the small chunks of chicken.

Other uses for shredded poultry: chili, tacos, salads, burritos, samosa filling, spring roll filling

I serve butter chicken with rice, naan and sometimes some salad for greenery!
I hope this comes in handy!

Food Basics: Not Just a Grocery Store

A good friend of mine is adjusting to a move from New Jersey to British Columbia. She's getting married on July 24. I say "congrats!" I've said a lot of other things, as well.
She's requested my first content entry be about the basic things I think should be in your cupboards and your fridge.
A lot of trial an error have gone into my choices. I also feel that a basic knowledge of cooking techniques play an important role in what you select. Keep in mind, I've been living on my own (see: not with parents) for awhile and with folks who tend not to cook much for the better part of it.
Here's my list and my reasoning! This is primarily geared toward novice cooks and kitchen newbies!

1. flour - This is a food building block. Learn the basics and then move on to whole wheat flour, soy flour, and so on. It will expand your food world! Also, bleached white flour should not be a building block for everything you eat. It's just a place to begin.
2. baking powder - It's baking powder! You're going to need this if you enjoy BAKING. :)
3. baking soda - This stuff is good for your recipes AND it soaks up smells. Try to keep the box sealed off with a plastic bag or some clingfilm and a rubber band. No one wants their Irish Soda Bread to taste like the entire pantry cabinet. Yeech.
4. A wide variety of spices and herbs - These do start to lose flavour after awhile. Knowing how long it's been on the shelf in the store before you got it is also a crapshoot. Unless you're a major-league foodie, though, it's not so big a deal. I recommend having: ginger powder, garlic powder, oregano, chili powder, cumin, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, cayenne pepper, black pepper, basil and bay leaves as your basics. Pick up new ones as your recipes call for them. I plan to do an entire entry on the spices of India. Yummy!
5. salt - The great demon, Sodium. Yes. You're going to need it. I recommend having some standard table salt and some large chunky kosher salt. It really does come in handy.
6. sugar - White is great for most of your average recipes. Sugar comes in many varieties, however. These include demerara, dark brown, light brown, and "natural". Buy as needed for recipes. Definitely have some white and brown on hand.
7. a few bags of pasta - I try to keep the whole wheat kind on hand. If you're super poor, just grab the dollar deal bags of pasta and hope for better days. This stuff is good for Italian dinners with spagehtti sauce, pasta salads and you can even whip it into dessert form with recipes like this!
8. rice - This stuff really does feed the world and you can do a lot with it. I recommend brown rice if you've got cooking time and if you can't make time, just get some tasty jasmine rice. It'll do you for most recipes. This stuff isn't a diet staple for nothing. If you don't move around a lot, though, I recommend passing on the rice. I'll wax poetic about Glycemic Index foods later.
9. beans - Pinto, kidney, lentils, legumes of all sorts. These babies are dry, last in your cabinets forever (almost!) and are VERY affordable food powerhouses of nutrition. Good protein sources, they're also packed with fiber. We so need more fiber!
10. cooking oils - For you impoverished novice cooks, vegetable oil and a nicer extra virgin olive oil are a must. The veg oils can withstand higher cooking temperatures and e.v. olive oil is a must have for salad dressings and roasting garlic
11. vinegar - White should get you by. Get some balsamic for high class salad dressing.
    
12. butter - Salted is just okay. Try to get the unsalted when you can afford it.
13. corn starch - It's a thickener. It's also handy when you have chaffed thighs. Don't ask.
    
14. corn meal - The basis for polenta, corn bread and used to sprinkle under some breads before baking. Corn meal is also handy for thickening certain things like chili!
15. Vanilla extract - The other extracts like almond and rum are just icing on the proverb cake. Make sure you have vanilla. Try to avoid "imitation".
    
16. peanut butter - This is good for sandwiches, cookies, Thai recipes and so on! Try to get all-natural. It tastes better and it doesn't have all the nasty preservatives.
17. Fruit jams and preserves - Good for that PB & J you're craving as well as tasty (and easy) jam tarts and thumbprint cookies.
18. Fresh garlic cloves - I found a huge bag of garlic at the Asian food store. The skins had already been removed and the garlic had been cleaned. If you go through a lot, this is the way to go! I only spent about three dollars on that bag. I love it. If you buy it in clove form, be sure to inspect it for black dusty stuff. That's mold and you don't want moldy garlic.
    
19. Fresh ginger - It's fantastic to steep for a tea when you're sick (anti-viral capabilities, anyone?) or nasueated. Ginger is a food staple when it comes to all kinds of worldwide cuisines. Have a good thumb of it in the fridge at all times! I insist.
20. a few fresh limes and lemons - These are great in a glass of water and recipes are ALWAYS yelling for a lime or some lemon zest. They're cheap and great for vitamin C.
21. a bag of potatoes - Fries, mashed, boiled, used to make stamps. Potatoes are a good friend in the kitchen. Store them in the dark and dry places or they'll grow roots out of their "eyes". Scrub your potatoes before cooking and cut off the green/dark spots.
22. a jar of yeast or a few packets of it - This is the stuff of leavened bread. Cinnemon rolls need yeast, your French bread needs yeast. Have some around.
23. Onions - stores will typically sell a bag of several yellow onions. This will do you for most recipes. Make sure the onions are firm (little to no give when you squeeze with your fingertips) and don't have black dusty stuff on them (mold!)
24. Milk - How much you purchase at a time will depend on your use. Do you eat a bowl of Frosted Flakes every day? Do you live with more than just yourself? Perhaps you could go as far as getting bagged milk! It's cost effective if you're able to use it up before it goes bad. The lactose-free milk is a bit more costly (well, about twice as much!) but it doesn't go bad as fast. At least, in my experience.
25. A few cans of diced, whole, pureed tomatoes and maybe some tomato paste, too. Indispensable!
26. cocoa powder - Emergency cake in a mug for those munchies or chocolate cravings requires cocoa powder!
27. eggs - You just need eggs.
28. cheese - I recommend a 6-7 dollar block of cheese from places like No Frills here in Canada. This will last you through about a week or so of snacks, mac and cheese and salad toppings. I like to have mozzarella or cheddar around.

I must've missed something but, I think you get the general idea. Aside from all that, you should also have green leafy veg. in abundance. This stuff is the reason old Japanese people are so long-lived! Cruciferous veggies are your lifelong pals. Eat them. You don't make friends with salad, after all.
I also think this is one of the most focused things I've done in awhile. I think this will be good for me. If ya'll have questions, feel free to write or post a comment. If you have topic ideas or stuff you want to know more about, let me know! I'll do my best!