Wednesday, May 30, 2012

Curry Rice

As promised yesterday, here's the recipe for curry rice.

This entirely my own recipe. I wanted boiled, low-fat rice with some flavor. I found curry powder in the pantry. The rest was easy.



2.5 cups of water
2 chicken bullion cubes (low fat, low sodium)
1/2 tablespoon garlic powder
1.5 tablespoons curry powder
Half a teaspoon ginger
Half a teaspoon turmeric
1/4 onion chopped in large pieces (optional).
1 cup rice

Wash and drain the rice. Boil the water, add the chicken bullion cubes and stir (you may want to crumble them first so they will dissolve faster). When the cubes are dissolved, add the spices and the onion. Stir a bit then add the rice. Stir some more, reduce the flame to the lowest setting and cover the pot. Stir occasionally.Turn off the flame when the liquid is consumed, then fluff with a fork and serve. The rice ought to turn out yellow.

Tuesday, May 29, 2012

Stir-fried Red Cabbage with Soy Sauce

Sometimes I'll go to the grocery store and just pick up some vegetables I think will go well together. This is one such result. You may notice it's similar to my cabbage soup. That's no coincidence. I tend to try similar things from time to time.

Again I used jícama in this recipe. And again it's not essential.You can skip it or use a substitution, like celery, or even mushrooms if you don't want more crunchy veggies.



Ingredients:

200 grs. red cabbage shredded
100 grs. soybean sprouts
1/2 red bell pepper chopped
100 grs. snow peas whole
100 grs. jícama, cut into short strips.
1/4 onion finely chopped
1 clove garlic minced
3.5 tablespoons soy sauce (low sodium)
1 tablespoon teriyaki sauce
1/2 teaspoon vinegar (any kind, but white sugar cane vinegar works best)
The juice of one lime
Sesame seed oil
Ground black pepper to taste

Heat a few drops of oil in a pan or wok. Add the onion and garlic and stir fry or saute until the onions begin to turn translucent. Add the rest of the vegetables and sprinkle some pepper. You may want to add some more oil in this step. if you do, move the onion and garlic to the side and add the oil to the center of the pan or wok.

In a cup mix the soy sauce, teriyaki sauce, vinegar and lime juice. Add it to the veggies before they're too soft. Stir well and continue cooking until you achieve the desired softness for your vegetables.

A good side for this dish is curry rice, which you can see on the picture. I'll post that recipe tomorrow. Or try plain, boiled white rice if you like it.

Saturday, May 26, 2012

Kathy's Kitchen Laws

I have the bad habit of turning out lists of "laws" that I think are both humorous and helpful (in a tongue-in-cheek kind of way.

So without further ado, here are Kathy's Kitchen Laws:


1) Safety first. Knives, pots, pans, stoves, ovens, graters, and other things are sharp or hot. Exercise care at all times. Mind your fingers, use oven mitts and grab tools only by the handle. Also, wooden utensils can and will catch fire, so may plastic utensils. Don't leave them in the pot or pan while cooking.

2) Recipes should be seen as guidelines, not absolute rules. You can change them to suit your tastes and needs.

3) All the ingredients you're using are already dead. Don't be afraid to experiment.

4) Try to always get the ingredients yourself. That way you can make sure you get what you need or want, especially when you want or need to make substitutions.

5) When possible, sample the ingredients first (this doesn't apply to raw meats and eggs).

6) Tasting while coking is a valuable thing to do. Just remember it's VERY HOT. Let it cool a bit or blow on it before tasting.

7) A bit too much spice is often better than a bit too little, the major exceptions are very hot chilies.

8) Cooking is supposed to be a fun, enjoyable activity. If you don't like it, look for alternatives. Restaurants are expensive and leave you little choice of ingredients, but perhaps you can pay a neighbor, colleague or the maid to cook for you.

9) When learning to cook you will ruin things, make mistakes and otherwise produce some things that are not very good or downright inedible. Accept it, learn from them and move on. But don't get discouraged. Unless you lack all sense of taste and smell, you will get better in time.

10) If in doubt about cutting or trimming off a piece of vegetable or meat, cut it off.

11) Changing a recipe makes it your own. Accept the responsibility if the result isn't good.


12) Chop, cut and separate all the ingredients before you start cooking.

13) There are some things you can leave unattended on a stove for a few minutes. A pan with cooking oil and vegetables or meat isn't one of them. Quite aside from ruining the food, you could set the kitchen on fire. (very appropriate number, don't you think?)

14) Always clean up after you're done cooking.

Feel free to comment or chime in.

Wednesday, May 23, 2012

"Dry" Lentil and Barley Soup

In Mexico it's customary to serve a "dry" soup, either instead of soup or in addition to it. This recipe works for both the "dry" and regular kinds of soups.

Dry Lentil Soup


Ingredients:

1 Cup of green lentils
3 Tablespoons barley
3 Strips turkey bacon
1 teaspoon olive oil (or any other vegetable oil you like)
1/4 Onion, chopped
1 Clove of garlic, minced
1/3 Teaspoon powdered cumin
1/4 Teaspoon fine herbs
Ground black pepper to taste

For "dry" soup use 1.5 liters of water (that's six cups) and 3 Chicken bullion cubes, low-fat, low-sodium
For regular soup use 2.5 liters of water (that's ten cups) and 4 Chicken bullion cubes, low-fat, low-sodium

Preparation:

Soak the lentils in plain water for a couple of hours. Drain and set them aside

Put a soup pot on high heat on the stove. When it heats a little, add the strips of turkey bacon and fry them only until they begin to release some fat. Add the olive oil, carefully, and saute the onion and garlic along with the bacon.

When the onions begin to turn translucent, reduce the flame to low heat and add the water carefully. The hot pot will tend to boil the first of the water fast, so be very careful. Add the lentils and barley and bring the pot, uncovered, to a slow boil. When the water begins to boil, add the bullion cubes, cumin, fine herbs and black pepper. Stir well until the bullion cubes dissolve completely.

Simmer covered for 1.5 to 2 hours, or until the lentils are tender.

Let it cool a bit end serve.

Monday, May 21, 2012

Cabbage soup

This is the first recipe I tried making on my own. I find it tasty and hearty, yet low in fat. It keeps for about a week in the fridge.

I used jícama in this recipe, but it isn't essential. If you can't find any, just skip it and add more carrot or other crunchy vegetable you like. Celery ought to work well.

Ingredients:


1/4 white cabbage shredded, or 1/2 re cabbage shredded
1 clove of garlic finely chopped or minced
5 small mushrooms chopped
1/2 onion chopped
1 carrot (I cut it into sticks, but go any way you like)
About 1/4 of a medium sized jícama (in sticks, too, or see about the carrot)
Chicken stock or broth (enough to cover the vegetables)
1 teaspoon olive oil (or more or less to taste; and you can use any kind of oil)
Ground black pepper to taste
1/2 teaspoon oregano
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
A dash of Tabasco sauce or to taste

Preparation:

Heat the oil in a pot for a little while, then add the onion and garlic.Saute until the onions begin to turn translucent. Next add the rest of the vegetables and cook uncovered until they reach the level of softness you want, or until the mushrooms turn brown. Stir occasionally

Reduce heat to low and add the chicken broth or stock. Bring the soup to a slow boil, stirring occasionally. When it starts to boil, add the pepper, oregano, Worcestershire and Tabasco. Once it boils, let it simmer uncovered for about five minutes. Remove from heat, allow it to cool a bit and serve.

My First post

I'm a beginner cook who's still learning her way around the kitchen, really. But I think I've come up with a few recipes worth sharing. That's mostly what this blog will be about, though I may post some of my other interests from time to time.

Most of my recipes are vegetarian, and all are low fat. That's because I'm on a diet (70lbs and counting!)

Thanks for stopping by. I hope you'll find something of value in here.

Kathy

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