Recipes

[Dr Sardonicus]

I've given this one the whimsical name MEXICAN CORN FLAKES. I don't like breakfast-cereal corn flakes. But I like these.

Ingredients: Pieces of busted-up corn chips (too small to hold and dip, but larger than salty crumbs), salsa

Equipment: Bowl, spoon

Directions: Put the busted-up pieces of corn chips in the bowl, add salsa, stir and eat with the spoon.

Notes: This obviously has a variation for any chip/dip combination. Busted-up chips seem to be in all-too-plentiful supply. This is a simple a way to eat them with your favorite dip.

[richs]

I have made this chicken vegetable stir fry on numerous Venture Scout backpacking trips and it is great! No need to eat dehydrated food if you have plenty of strong youth to carry the wok and ingredients.

CHICKEN-VEGETABLE
STIR-FRY

Good at home or pre-assemble for backpacking.

4 skinned and boned chicken breast halves
1 medium-size sweet onion
1 green bell pepper
1 red bell pepper
3 carrots
3 green onions or scallions
1 10-1/2 oz. can chicken broth, undiluted
¼ cup soy sauce
2 tablespoons chili-garlic paste
2 tablespoons cornstarch
1 tablespoon brown sugar
1 tablespoon grated fresh ginger
2 tablespoons dark sesame oil
Hot cooked rice
Garnish: green onions or scallions

Cut chicken into ¼ inch thick strips; cut onion in half, and cut halves into slices. Cut bell peppers into ¼ inch thick strips, and cut carrots and green onions diagonally into slices. Set aside.

Whisk together broth, soy sauce, chili-garlic paste, cornstarch, brown sugar and ginger until smooth.

Heat sesame oil in a wok or large skillet at medium-high heat 2 minutes. Add chicken and stir fry 3 to 5 minutes until lightly browned. Add vegetables and stir fry another 3 to 4 minutes. Add broth mixture and stir fry 1 or more minutes until thickened. Serve over rice. Garnish with chopped green onions or scallions.

Makes 4 to 6 servings.

[Dr Sardonicus]

CHILE CON CARNE

Ingredients

cooking oil (to grease pot)

3 lb (or more) fresh pork shoulder (either roast or "country style ribs")

1 large white or yellow onion (or more)

1 lb (or more) fire-roasted chiles, peeled and seeded. How hot they are is your choice.

1 Oz cider vinegar (or to taste)

2 Cups chicken stock (can be made using decent-quality bouillon concentrate -- not those little cubes!)

oregano and ground cumin, to taste

ALSO: Rice

Optional: Shredded cheese (Monterey Jack or other)

Also optional: Cooked pinto beans or other beans. These must be kept separate from the chile. It's in the Rosetta Stone!

Equipment:

Large heavy pot or casserole, with lid

Pot holders or functional equivalent

Knife, cutting board, utensils for stirring, etc

ALSO: Pan to cook rice

How to:

Preheat oven to 350 F. Use cooking oil to grease pot. Put meat in pot, with lid almost, but not entirely covering. When oven is preheated, put pot in oven. Cook meat for 30 minutes per pound, or until bones are easy to remove.

When meat is tender, use pot holders to remove pot from oven and lid from pot. Remove bones from meat, and break or coarsely cut meat into 1-2 inch chunks. Add chiles, stock, oregano, cumin, and vinegar. Stir to mix.

Coarsely chop onions and put on top, mashing in a bit to coat them with fat. Put lid on pot, use pot holders to put pot back in oven, and cook for 2 hours.

After pot is in the second round, cook a batch of rice and set it aside.

When chile is ready, use pot holders to remove pot from oven and remove lid. Stir, taste, and correct the seasoning with salt and (if you want) black pepper.

Serve chile over rice.

You can also use tortillas -- corn or flour. They can be heated in the still-warm oven wrapped in foil, or placed in the pot on top of the chile, with the lid on.

Other possible accompaniments besides shredded cheese: Hot sauce, chopped fresh cilantro, sour cream, avocados/guacamole, diced tomatoes, hot peppers, etc etc etc.

NO VELVEETA! It's in the Ten Commandments!

[pinhodecarlos]

3 main course:

-chips
-sandwich
-chocolate bar

4 main course:

-chips
-sandwich
-cereal bar
-chocolate bar

[richs]

My favorite dessert (US units of measurement):

PUMPKIN CRISP

Cake:
1 large can pumpkin (15 - 16 oz)
1 large can evaporated milk (12 oz) – Carnation or PET are two brands
1 cup sugar
½ tsp cinnamon
3 eggs
1 box yellow cake mix
1 cup halved pecans (can be chopped pecans also)
2 sticks butter – melted and cooled a bit, but still liquid

Frosting:
¾ cup Cool Whip
8 oz cream cheese at room temperature
1-1/2 cups powdered sugar

Preheat oven to 350 deg F. Line 9" x 13" x 2" glass casserole pan with parchment paper. Mix pumpkin, evaporated milk, sugar, eggs, and cinnamon with a whisk. Pour batter into the pan. Pour dry cake mix evenly over the top of the batter, then pat pecans over the entire top of the cake mix leaving a little space between pecans. Spoon melted butter over the nuts.
Bake 50-60 minutes, then invert pan onto serving tray and remove parchment paper. With an egg beater, whip Cool Whip, cream cheese, and powdered sugar into frosting. Frost with icing when cake is cooled and refrigerate.

[Dr Sardonicus]

The Doctor's Deadly Medley (drink recipe)

What you need:

Large tumbler(s)
Chilled tonic water
Ice cubes

Per serving:

1/2 lime (a "Persian" or big lime, not a Key lime)
1 Ounce Rum (white rum, not amber or dark)
1/2 Ounce Cointreau
Approx. 6 ounces tonic water

Method:

Put several ice cubes in glass. Squeeze juice from 1/2 lime over ice. Pour Cointreau and rum over the ice. Pour in chilled tonic water.

Notes:

Try to sip this yummy concoction slowly, over a period longer than five minutes. If you want another one, hand over the car keys.

You can use around a Tablespoon of frozen fresh-squeezed lime juice. I once got a whole lot of limes when they were on sale really cheap, and squeezed the juice into a Mason jar which I carefully sealed and froze. I scraped out the frozen juice as needed.

I've tried substituting other orange liqueurs for the Cointreau. The results were less to my taste, but not bad.

There is no substitute for the fresh lime juice. You can experiment with Key limes if you like.

Leave out the booze for a non-alcoholic refresher. Lime juice and tonic water tastes pretty good.

[richs]

This is an easy to make and very tasty dip to bring to a summer party:

AUNT EILEEN’S LAYERED NACHO DIP

1 – 16 oz. can refried beans
½ – 1.25 oz. package taco seasoning mix
1 – 6 oz. carton avocado
1 – 8 oz. container sour cream
1 – 4-½ oz. can chopped ripe olives
2 – large tomatoes, diced and seeded
1 – small onion finely chopped
1 – 4 oz. can chopped green chiles
1½ cups (6 oz.) shredded Monterey Jack cheese

Combine beans and seasoning mix; spread bean mixture evenly into a 11 in. x 7 in. x 2 in. dish.

Layer remaining ingredients in order listed above one at a time (the order is very important for the best taste).

Serve with large corn chips.

[Batalov]

Deviled Eggs

½ cup of powdered sugar
¼ teaspoon salt
1 knife tip of Turkish hash
½ lb of butter
1 teaspoon vanilla-sugar
½ lb flour
150 g ground nuts
A little extra powdered sugar ... and no eggs

Place in a bowl. Add butter. Add the ground nuts and knead the dough. Form eyeball-size pieces from the dough. Roll in the powdered sugar and say the Magic Words: "Sim sala bim bamba sala do saladim!" Place on a greased baking pan and Bake at 200 degrees for 15 minutes ... and no eggs.

(and there is a helpful reading of this recipe by one of the many L.A. bands.)

[masser]

I made this Aloo Palak today, substituting chard from my garden for the spinach and omitting the hing and garam masala, because we didn't have any of those ingredients.

Spicy! But pretty good.

[xilman]

Originally Posted by masser

I made this Aloo Palak today, substituting chard from my garden for the spinach and omitting the hing and garam masala, because we didn't have any of those ingredients.

Spicy! But pretty good.

I know it as "saag aloo" which may, perhaps, be an Anglo-Indian term as opposed to an Indo-American term and eat it moderately often.

Garam masala (which translates as "hot-spice mixture") is easy enough to make from ingredients which themselves can be purchased in bulk and will last for a year or two if kept in a cool dark place. Garam masala is best used fresh and so I generally make enough for a month or so at a time. There are recipes all over the web; I generally use one published by Madhur Jaffrey. I can dig it up and post it here if there is sufficient interest.

[Dr Sardonicus]

Originally Posted by xilman

Garam masala (which translates as "hot-spice mixture") is easy enough to make from ingredients which themselves can be purchased in bulk and will last for a year or two if kept in a cool dark place. Garam masala is best used fresh and so I generally make enough for a month or so at a time. There are recipes all over the web; I generally use one published by Madhur Jaffrey. I can dig it up and post it here if there is sufficient interest.

This one?

Ingredients
For the garam masala

1 tbsp cardamom seeds (if you can't buy the seeds then buy cardamom pods and shell them yourself)
1 tsp black peppercorns
1 tsp black cumin seeds^* (you can use regular cumin seeds if black aren't available)
1 tsp whole cloves
1/3 of a whole nutmeg (you can break a whole nutmeg by placing it on a cloth and bashing it with a meat mallet or rolling pin)
a medium stick of cinnamon, about 5-8cm/2-3 inches, broken up into 3-4 pieces

Method

Put all the ingredients in a clean coffee grinder or other spice grinder and grind as finely as possible.

Store in a tightly lidded jar, away from heat and sunlight and use as needed.

^* This took a little more digging. There are two seeds commonly referred to as "black cumin," Bunium bulbocastanum AKA kala zeera, and Nigella sativa AKA kalojeere AKA Kalonji, which further digging revealed, is what Madhur Jaffrey means by "black cumin."