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Turkey Wings and Rice

November 29th 2010 Posted at Rice, Turkey
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Turkey wings are an inexpensive but nutritious bit of meat.  In some places, you can get them for $2 per kilo.  Some don’t like them because they are very fatty, but this is exactly what is needed when you are trying to get as much nutrition and calories as you can on a budget without resorting to overly processed foods.  That fat also comes in handy.  With this recipe, much of the excess is boiled off so by the time you bake the turkey wings, they come out nice and crispy.  This recipe is for about 12 servings, but you can halve it if you are only feeding one or two or don’t want to have leftovers.

You will need:

  • 6 turkey wings
  • 1 large onion, chopped
  • 1 clove of garlic chopped or smashed, or a teaspoon of garlic powder
  • 2 teaspoons salt (preferably gray/Celtic salt) or 2 tablespoons clear chicken soup powder or “vegetable condiment” (Vegeta or Mivina) or 4 Maggi or other stock cubes
  • 1/2 to teaspoon black pepper (depending how you like it)
  • 1 teaspoon paprika (sweet or hot depending on your taste)
  • 2 cups whatever vegetables you have around, chopped to small cubes
  • olive oil, butter, or animal fat
  • 1 and 3/4 liters of water
  • 1 kg. short grain rice

Instructions:

  1. Sprinkle some salt and pepper over the turkey wings, and rub it in a a little.
  2. In a large pot, heat about a tablespoon and a half of oil, and brown the turkey wings a bit.  Don’t overcrowd the pot.  You may need to do two wings at a time, and transfer them to a bowl to do the rest, and then put them all back in when you’re done.
  3. Sweat the onions in the same oil you browned the wings in.
  4. When the onions are just about clear, add the garlic, and stir around for just a few seconds.  Then put the wings, vegetables, and water in the pot.
  5. Now add the rest of the salt, pepper, paprika, soup mix, and/or whatever other seasonings you like.  Some like to add a seasoned salt, chicken grill spices, parsley, celery seed and such.  Do it to your taste.
  6. Cover and bring to a good boil.  Then turn the heat down to just above low.  You want it boiling but slowly.
  7. Let this cook for about an hour and a half, and then return to preheat your oven to about 200° Celsius or 400° Farenheit.
  8. While your oven is heating up, line a pan with aluminum foil or parchment paper.  Some like to use both.
  9. Take the wings out with a straining spoon or thongs, shake off the excess water, and arrange them on the pan.  Then drizzle them with a little oil.
  10. Bake them in the oven for about 20 minutes to half an hour.
  11. Meanwhile, in a large sauté pan, heat about a tablespoon and a half to two tablespoons of oil, and then add the rice.  Sauté the rice, stirring gently until at least a third of the grains are opaque white.  The idea is to parch the rice to make it less sticky and more digestible.  You can presoak the rice, but make sure to get it as dry as possible before this step.
  12. When the rice is parched enough, stir in the water/soup you just boiled the wings in.
  13. Bring it to a boil, stirring occasionally to prevent clumping.  Then reduce the heat to low or medium-low, cover, and allow to cook.  Resist the temptation to touch it for at least 20 minutes before checking for done-ness.
  14. When the rice is done, remove it from the heat, and then fluff it a little.
  15. Your wings should be done roasting by now, so take them out of the oven.

Serve each person a wing section and a nice pile of rice.  If you have leftovers, it’s nice to take the meat off the wings, chop it, and mix it with the rice for a quick lunch or dinner the next day.

Homemade Tortillas With An Electric Tortilla Maker

July 7th 2010 Posted at Breads, Cooking Tips, Mexican and Tex Mex, Money Saving Home Appliances, Money Saving Tips, Small Kitchen Appliances
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TortillaRecently, I purchased one of the best small kitchen appliances I ever got: an electric tortilla maker.  Making tortillas at home used to be an hours long operation, and this was especially tough in the summer.  Now, I can churn out 20 tortillas in less than an hour.

If you eat tortillas often, then it’s definitely worth it to get a tortilla maker.  If you live in Europe, Africa, or Asia, it may be called a roti or chapati maker.  It’s basically a press grill with a handle opposing the angle of the grill, that you can  push to make sure your tortillas are thin without having to push the top down directly.

Choosing A Tortilla Maker

There are a couple of kinds of tortilla makers on the market for kitchen use.  There are large ones that restaurants that make their own tortillas use, and the small ones that make tortillas between 6″ and 8″.  You definitely want to get one that has an anodized aluminum coating or cast iron plates.

How to Use Your Tortilla Maker

If you get one with cast iron plates, they may take some time to season.  Before you use it, wipe it down with a bit of oil, and let it heat until the oil burns.  Then do it again a few times.  Don’t ever clean it with soap.  If something gets stuck to it, wipe it down with a damp cloth, and heat it until all of the water is completely evaporated.

The directions say to just put a ball of dough in the center of the bottom, put the top down and press, but it’s actually not that simple.  If you do it that way it’s harder to control.  So pat down the balls a bit so that you have a kind of a disk shape.  Place them a bit off center, about 1-2″ away from the back edge, and then press.  You may have to look to see how flat you’re pressing it, until you get the hang of it.  If you press them too thin, the tortilla will basically “explode” outward, or come out with holes.

If it doesn’t have a thickness control, which most small ones don’t, then you’ll have to take care about that.  They will be thinner on one side than the other, but this isn’t something to worry over.  Even on the thick side, they’ll be quite thin enough to do the job.

Tortilla Recipe

The recipes that normally come with tortilla makers often have oil in them.  This ends up making tortillas that are too flaky to hold anything.  So here’s my recipe for taco worthy flour tortillas.

  • 3 cups white flour (You can use whole wheat, oat, barley, rye, or millet flour for up to half of the flour.) 
  • 1.5 teaspoons salt (preferably crushed gray salt)
  • 1.5 teaspoons baking soda (sodium bicarbonate)
  • 1 teaspoon citric acid or cream of tartar  (you can also use baking powder instead of the soda and acid combination)
  • about 1.5 cups water
  • extra flour for kneading
  1. Mix the dry ingredients together in a large bowl.
  2. Slowly add water while stirring with your fingers or a spoon until you have a somewhat soggy dough.
  3. Turn the dough out onto a floured surface.
  4. Knead the dough until it is fully combined, and then for another 5 minutes or so.  You may need to add a little more flour at a time until you have a firm but elastic dough.
  5. Put the ball of dough into a plastic bag, or in a covered bowl, and let it set for half an hour to two hours.  I recommend at least an hour because this gives the organic acids time to break down the gluten in the flour and make it more digestible.
  6. Heat up your tortilla maker.
  7. Pull off some chunks of dough, and roll them into approximately 1.5″ balls.  Then flatten them a bit.  Have them waiting on a floured surface.
  8. One at a time, brush off the flour, and then place them into your tortilla maker, and press until you hear the “screaming”.  Then release the pressure.
  9. When each one is done, place it in a covered but not air tight dish, lined with a few paper towels at the bottom.  It’s important to keep them like this so that they get soft and flexible but not soggy.

These tortillas will stand up to beans, meat, or whatever else you like to put in them or use them to dip.

To make crispy chips out of them, brush them with a little butter and seasonings and bake them for about 15 minutes in the oven.

Egg Chili

June 5th 2010 Posted at Beans, Eggs, Soups and Stews
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ChilliWhen you don’t have beef, but crave a bit of Tex Mex, use this recipe for chili made with scrambled eggs.

Ingredients:

  • 6 eggs (medium to large)
  • 3 cups cooked beans, preferably pinto or red beans
  • 1 cup home made hominy or corn
  • 1 large onion, chopped
  • 1 green bell pepper or 2 hot peppers, chopped
  • 2 tablespoons olive oil or animal fat
  • 1 cup tomato paste or home made tomato sauce
  • 1 heaping teaspoon cumin
  • 1 teaspoon parsley
  • 1 teaspoon garlic
  • 1 tablespoon soy sauce or balsamic vinegar
  • a good dash of black pepper
  • a good pinch of hot paprika or red pepper flakes

Instructions:

  1. Heat the oil in a large skillet or wok, and then add the onions and peppers.
  2. Stir fry them until the onions are just about clear, push them to one side of the pan.
  3. Add the eggs to the other side of the pan, and scramble them.  It’s okay if they get mixed a little.
  4. Add the tomato sauce, and stir it all together.  Bring it just to a boil.
  5. Then add the beans and hominy.  If they’re frozen, cover them and give them time to melt while stirring occasionally to prevent burning at the bottom.
  6. Bring it to a boil, and add the rest of the spices and herbs, as well as the soy sauce or vinegar.
  7. Cook on low heat (simmer) for about 20 minutes.

Serve this hot, with rice, cornbread, tortillas, or whatever you like your chili with.

Cheap and Creamy Pasta Sauce

June 5th 2010 Posted at Powdered Milk, Sauces and Condiments
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Couscous Alla PannaOne of my favorite Italian sauces for spaghetti or rice is panna sauce.  It is already pretty inexpensive to make, but there’s a way to make it even more inexpensive using powdered milk instead of sour cream.  This is a great way to use leftover meat or salami ends.

Ingredients:

  • 1 cup white flour
  • 1/4 cup powdered milk
  • 1 and 1/2 cups hot water
  • 2 tablespoons olive oil, or animal fat, or palm kernel oil, or butter, or a combination
  • 1 large onion
  • 1/2 cup chopped cooked meat
  • 1 level tablespoon vegetable condiment (preferably Mivina vegetable and chicken), chicken soup powder, or crushed gray salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
  • 1 teaspoon dry parsley
  • 1-2 more cups of hot water, depending how thin you want your sauce

Instructions:

  1. The night before, put the flour, powdered milk, and 1.5 cups of water into a bowl, and whisk it together well.
  2. Cover the bowl, and let it set in the refrigerator overnight or at least 7 hours.  This makes it a “milk roux”.
  3. Take it out of the fridge, and let it get closer to room temperature while you chop your onions and meat.
  4. In a large but deep frying pan or wok, heat the oil, and then add the onions.  Stir fry them until the onions are almost clear, and then add the chopped meat.
  5. Toss the meat around until it’s sizzling a bit, and then add the milk roux.
  6. Brown the milk roux very slightly, by using a folding motion with the spatula.  Keep it moving until it looks like it’s turning into a gooey dough.
  7. Then start adding the rest of the hot water, a little at a time, combining it with the roux.  You may need to turn down the heat a bit.
  8. When it reaches the point that it’s just a bit thinner than you’d like it to be at the end, stop adding water.
  9. Stir in the soup mix or salt, and the garlic and parsley.
  10. Let it cook a bit longer, about 2 minutes, while stirring occasionally so it doesn’t burn at the bottom.

Now your sauce is ready to put over pasta or rice, or to dip bread into.

Chicken and Dumplings

May 31st 2010 Posted at Chicken, Soups and Stews
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Chicken and DumplingsChicken and dumplings is a good old fashioned way of making a little chicken go a long way.  This stew is a family favorite that has stood the test of time, and is considered a comfort food even in more prosperous conditions.

This recipe uses chicken wings because they’re cheap but very fatty and tasty.

Ingredients:

For the soup, you will need;

  • 1 kg. (a bit over 2 lbs.) chicken wings
  • a tablespoon of schmaltz, ghee, or olive oil
  • 1 large onion, chopped
  • 1 stalk of American celery with the leaves or about 1/8 cup chopped seasoning celery with some root, chopped finely
  • 2 teaspoons salt (preferably gray salt)
  • 1/8 cup cider vinegar
  • 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
  • a pinch of hot paprika or red pepper flakes
  • 1 teaspoon dried parsley
  • 1/4 teaspoon sage
  • Optionally, a cup each of frozen peas and diced carrots
  • 1.5 liters of water

For the dumplings, you will need;

  • 1 lb. or 1/2 kg. flour
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1 teaspoon salt (preferably gray salt, crushed)
  • 3 tablespoons of vegetable ghee (unhydrogenated palm oil), virgin coconut oil, schmaltz, or butter
  • 1 tablespoon of whey or 1 teaspoon of vinegar or 1/2 teaspoon citric acid mixed with
  • about 1 and 1/2 cups of water

Instructions:

  1. Make the dumplings.  Mix all the dry ingredients in a large bowl.
  2. Cut in the oil with a fork or pastry blades until it resembles a coarse meal.  You can press it in some with your hands if needed.
  3. Mix the whey, vinegar, or citric acid with the water, and stir.
  4. Make a well in the center of the flour mixture, and pour the water mixture into it.
  5. Stir it around to begin incorporating the flour, and then begin pressing it together with your hands.  You can add a little more water if needed.
  6. Knead on a floured surface for about 3-5 minutes.
  7. Wrap the ball of dough in a bag or put it in a covered bowl, and put it in the refrigerator until you are ready to use it.
  8. Now, to make the soup.  Heat some oil in the bottom of a large pot.
  9. Add the chicken wings, and turn them occasionally until they are somewhat browned and begin to give up some of the fat from the skins.
  10. Add the onions, and sweat them until they are just about clear.
  11. Add the celery and toss them for a half a minute or so.
  12. Add the spices, and then pour on the water.
  13. Bring this to a boil, and then turn the heat down to low for a simmer.
  14. Cover, and let it cook for about an hour.
  15. At the end of the hour, scoop out all of the  chicken.  At this point, if you want other vegetables in it, now is the time to put them in.
  16. Spread out the chicken so that it will cool just enough for you to touch, and then begin removing the meat.  Put the meat in a bowl or a plate.  Some people like the skin in there too.  If so, cut the skin into small pieces.
  17. Put the meat back into the pot, and turn the heat up to bring it back to a boil.
  18. If it starts to boil too quickly, turn the heat back down so that you have it at a slow but rolling boil.
  19. Take your dumpling dough out of the refrigerator, and prepare it for dropping into the soup.  Some people like their dumplings finger pinched, while others like them neatly cut.
  20. If you like them neatly cut, roll them out on a floured surface, and cut them into squares using a pizza or pastry cutter.  If not, then prepare yourself for some fast pinching.  It’s a good idea to have an extra set of hands for that, but not necessary if you’re quick.
  21. Turn the heat back up to high, and begin dropping dumplings into the boiling water.
  22. When you run out of dough, make sure to bring the soub back up to a boil.  Then turn the heat down so that it’s boiling, but not too fast.  It should be just above a simmer.
  23. Let it cook for a half hour to an hour.  Start testing the dumplings for done-ness at the half hour point.

Serve this hot, and be careful because it is addictive.

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