Continuing our series of main dishes that feed two or more people for less than $10...much fun can be had with packaged rice mixes. More advanced cooks work out their own recipes for spicy rice mixes, but here are some easy recipes to get beginners started.
Each of these recipes costs less than $10. You can afford to add at least one of the options suggested in the recipe. If feeding a multitude, add another box of rice (it could be plain brown rice) and add all the options; this will cost more than $10 but it's still a frugal way to give everyone a rich, hearty meal with some recognizable meat on the plate.
Frugal Dinner Recipe #6: Sweet & Savory Rice
1. Great Value Canned Chicken Breast is actually canned chicken; in some cans you get mostly dark meat. Pick this out, along with the visible fat, and give them to your pets. While your pets are eating outside the kitchen, close the kitchen door and proceed. Put the chicken and its broth ($2 to 2.50) in a saucepan.
2. Stir in 1 box of Zatarain's Pineapple Coconut Rice mix. Sometimes I substitute Cilantro Lime or Yellow rice mix. Each of these costs $2 or less. Stir well and turn on the heat.
3. Open 1 can of Del Monte Pineapple in Heavy Syrup. If you're a baby-boomer you will note right away that it's not heavy syrup, which was viscous and tended to scorch. It is light syrup. Anyway, drain the syrup into the pan. If you have bite-sized pieces of pineapple, dump them in. If rings, cut them into bite-sized pieces, then dump. Add water and/or fruit juice and/or fruit soda to make a total of 2 cups of liquid. (If you don't know what that looks like in your saucepan, drain the chicken broth and pineapple juice into a measure and fill it.)
4. Time cooking for 20 minutes after it boils.
5. Pass salt or soy sauce. Great Value canned goods tend to be undersalted.
6. You can substitute leftover chicken or turkey from your own cold roast, if you have one. Depending on how local the suppliers are you may be able to get fresh chicken or turkey, or chicken or turkey sausages, for $2 to $2.50
7. You can add an onion and/or bamboo shoots, horsechestnut slices, or sliced radish or jica fama for a more savory meal, and/or a can of mandarin oranges, peaches, or pears, a little fresh peeled or preserved ginger, kumquats if you have a tree, and/or almonds, cashews, or litchis, for a sweeter meal.
Frugal Dinner Recipe #7: Spanish Rice
1. Start with about a cup of cooked, boned, defatted meat of whatever kind appeals to you. In Spain it could be a leg of lamb or goat kid, hare or rabbit, pork, or beef, probably more often than chicken, which is what I usually use. Pick it off the bones of a rotisserie chicken, or use a can of chicken chunks as above. You could also press, marinate, slice, and fry some extra-firm tofu for a vegan meal. Or use a can of mackerel or tuna. Depending on your protein, add it to the rice before cooking or cook separately.
2. For the rice heat 1 pound of Great Value canned tomatoes and 1 cup water, or a 24-ounce can of tomatoes, as available (or use tomatoes from your garden).If using meat cooked in water, add that water, which has now become broth, to the tomatoes. Stir in 1 box of Zatarain's Spanish Rice mix. You can also chop in an onion, shallot, or a spoonful of garlic, and/or any parsley or cilantro stems you have lying about, and/or olives, either sweet or hot peppers, a carrot, even celery if you have some celery that you know is unsprayed. Heat rice and vegetables.
3. When it boils, cover the rice and cook for 20 minutes. Spanish Rice is supposed to be on the soupy side
Frugal Dinner Recipe #8: Packaged Rice and Beans
1. You may have noticed how many recipes advise you to rinse and drain canned beans. Do this if you are on a low-sodium diet. Otherwise, it's not necessary. Bean broth thickens slightly as it cools. This thicker liquid contains protein and nutrients from the beans and is safe to eat in dishes where, like this one, it soaks into the rice anyway. Measure 2 cups of bean broth and/or leftover meat and/or vegetable broth from the refrigerator and/or plain water.
2. Stir in 1 package Tony Chachere's Red Beans & Rice mix (under $2).
3. Add 2 to 4 cans Great Value beans (less than $1 each), depending on how many people you want to feed and/or how many servings you want to freeze. If using a large enough pan you can chop in any clean carrots, celery, peppers, and/or tomatoes you want to add, and garlic and/or onion to taste. Chop carrots as finely as possible so they can cook in 20 minutes.
4. Let it simmer for 20 minutes after it boils.
5. Pass chopped sweet onions, parsley and/or cilantro and/or other herbs from the garden, tomatoes, chives, radishes, even cucumber slices, as available, with bowls of hot rice and beans.
6. Rice and beans are a complete protein but you can serve meat with them, on the side fresh from the grill, or reheated and simmered in with the rice and veg, if you really want to.
Frugal Dinner Recipe #9: Dirty Rice
1. Zatarain's Dirty Rice mix is seriously "dirtied" with pepper and spices and must be cooked with meat and vegetables, I think, to be edible. Tony Chachere's is milder but still benefits from cooking with meat and veg. Pick a package. Either one costs about $2.
2. Pick a protein. In the same way Spanish people eat Spanish Rice with almost any protein, Cajuns eat Dirty Rice with almost any protein. If using Zatarain's rice, read "plain ground meat" for sausage--it will absorb salt, pepper, and sage from the rice mix. If using any meat that is not fully cooked leftovers, brown until all red or pinkish color is gone.
3. Stir in 2 cups of water, the rice mixture, and any tomatoes, sweet onions, sweet bell peppers, clean celery, or other savory vegetables you might want to use up.
4. Let it simmer for 20 minutes after it boils.
5. To feed extra people or freeze extra portions, serve small bowls and fill up with fresh cut lettuce, onion, tomato, cucumber, radish, sunflower seeds, pecans, parsley, cilantro, wild garlic, or other raw vegetables and/or nuts as available.
Frugal Dinner Recipe #10: Poverella
1. This web site is not going to advise eating any freshwater or saltwater shellfish, although a quick harvest of just a few of each kind that is locally available is traditional in Spanish paella. Many people like shellfish and they're often loaded with nutrients; they're also susceptible to bacteria and parasites. It's your choice, If you don't want to worry about shellfish, buy a can or package of fish and flake it. A can of tuna or mackerel costs about $2.
2. Boil water to cook 1 package of Zatarain's or Mahatma yellow rice (less than $2). While the water boils, cut up onion, garlic, tomatoes (you can use tomato juice as part of the water), drain a can of black beans (less than $1), and shell or open a can of green peas (less than $1), as wanted.
3. Add rice, veg, and fish to boiling water, Cover and cook about 20 minutes after it boils.
No comments:
Post a Comment