Because this this recipe is for my brother Jason, who has a ready supply of rotissirie chicken I’ve modified the recipe to have chicken in it. Of course if you are vego you just skip the chicken. Massel chicken stock is still my vegetarian and non-vego convenience stock of choice.

Spicy chicken and lentil soup (serves 6-8- cost per serve $1ish)
2 tablespoon oil
2 cup red lentils
2 onion, finely chopped
3 teaspoon turmeric
3 teaspoon garam marsala
3 teaspoon ground cumin
(you could probably skip the turmeric if you were buying new spices)
1 chopped red chilli (or 1 teaspoon chilli paste)
Shredded chicken (optional, this soup was originally vego)
4 cup of chicken stock
2 potatoes, peeled and diced (optional, make the soup thicker)
coriander to garnish

Rinse and pick over the lentils for any discoloured ones.

Toast the spices in a medium sized saucepan until aromatic. Add the oil and saute the onion, chilli and chicken until the onion starts to brown. Add the lentils and stir to coat.

Add in the stock and potato and bring to the boil. Simmer gently for 20 minutes with the lid half on. Serve with a garnish of coriander and a bit of fresh bread.

a splash of oil
some flour if you’ve got some
2kg of cheap stewing steak (ask the butcher for that!) or stewing Kangaroo ($10/kg)
garlic (chopped or whole cloves)
2 onions
any or all of the following: carrots, parsnips, turnips, celery all peeled and cut into equals size pieces (check the old veggie section at work, they sometimes pack these as ’soup mix)
1 can of tomatoes
1 can/stubbie of beer (something dark such as coopers dark is best)
1 cup of beef stock or water

In a big pot heat the oil to medium. The pan is hot enough when you see the oil move a bit
Dust the meat in salt and pepper and flour if you’ve got some and brown it, handfuls at a time. Once each lot it browned remove it from the pot, until all is cooked.

Add in a bit more oil if the pot is dry and cook your onions until soft.

Throw in the rest of the veggies and garlic and turn the heat down. Pop a lid on for a few minutes until the carrots start to soften.

Splash in the booze and use a wooden spoon to scrape all the cooked on bits off the bottom of the pot. Increase the heat a bit until the liquid bubbles for a minute or two.

Throw the meat back in, along with everything else. Put the lid back on and turn down to the lowest temperature. Simmer for 2 hours. If you’ve got really cheap meat it might take longer.

If your saucepan doesn’t have any wooden or plastic bits (handles etc), pop it in the oven for the 2 hours instead at 150ºC/280ºF

Variations:
RED WINE SAUCE: Replace the beer with 1/2 glass of red wine and some tinned tomatoes.
OR
Red Curry: Don’t flour and season the meat and replace the beer and stock with coconut milk and add in some red curry paste

Note: this is part of the Cheap Eats series, aimed at arming my brother, who has just moved out of home with a few dishes to get him by. The heavy use of rotisserie chickens is because he works behind a supermarket deli counter and often gets the leftovers.

Chicken nasi-goereng (makes a shitload- easily about $1 a serve)

A good slug of oil
random cheap veggies gathered at the central markets OR 1 bag of mixed frozen stir-fry veggies (about $3)
Shredded cooked chicken from work
cooked rice (add more rice to make the meal cheaper!!)
a good slug of soy sauce (kecap manis is better but you could theoretically steal soy sauce from sushi bars and mix in a little sugar to sweeten it)
sambal oelek or chopped chilies
1 egg, beaten

Heat a wok or big frying pan to very high and add in some oil.
Chuck in the veggies and cook until done.
Throw in the rice and the chicken and chilli and stir fry for another few minutes until the rice is golden
Add the soy sauce, enough to coat the rice without making it soupy. Continue to stirfry for a few more minutes until dry.
Push the rice to one side and add the egg and fry until nearly cooked then stir into the rice.
A bit of coriander would brighten this up.

Image courtesy of http://ninecooks.typepad.com/

The real secret to these recipes is cooking in bulk. Cooking for one is expensive. I suggested he might even be able to rope his friends into food swapping with him if they do a big cook up too. The other suggestion I had for him, is to to do what every struggling student does. Hit up the central markets at lunchtime on a Saturday. The bargains found there of slightly old veggies should ward of the scurvy. Grow some coriander and other herbs.

So my challenge was set. Use rotisserie chicken or other cheap cuts of meat to make the tasty meal my brother is accustomed to. I’ve guessed that most of these meals will come out to under $2 a serve. Lucky for him, he can follow a basic recipe and makes a mean muffin!

Chicken and white bean chilli (makes 6-8 serves- about $1.50 a serve)

1 Shredded cooked chicken (rotisserie chicken from work!)
3 cans of cannelloni beans (about $1 a can)
1tb vegetable oil ( no need for olive, just get the cheapest you can)- DO NOT DRAIN
1 brown onion finely chopped
1 clove crushed garlic
1 green chilli, finely chopped
1 green capsicum, finely chopped (slightly ugly central market seconds are fine)
1 t.b. ground cumin (Chinese grocers in bulk is cheapest)
1 cup of chicken stock from powder/cube (I suspect powder is cheapest)
oregano (if you’ve got some)
coriander leaves

In a big pot:
Cook the onions on a low heat until they’re soft.
Add in the garlic, cumin, chilli and capsicum and cook for another few minutes.
Chuck in everything else, except the coriander (DO NOT DRAIN THE BEANS, you want the bean liquid) and simmer for 10 minutes.
Garnish with coriander.

Kevin and I took the camera out to share our walk with everyone.

Click on the image to see the full set.

If you have a beautiful walk you do, how about sharing it on your blog. Leave me a note

In addition to fresher breath wikipedia claims “Green cardamom in South Asia is broadly used to treat infections in teeth and gums, to prevent and treat throat troubles, congestion of the lungs and pulmonary tuberculosis, inflammation of eyelids and also digestive disorders.”

In my quest for a tasty alternative to coffee my friend and massage therapist, Carly, suggested I try dandelion lattes. It wasn’t until I was in Melbourne at Leroy Espresso in St Kilda that I saw one on the menu. I was hooked! I ordered 3.

Roasted dandelion root tea has a similar texture and flavour to coffee without the health, fairtrade and chemical concerns of coffee. Dandelion is also said to help with water retention.

I’m still experimenting with different ways of brewing my tea. I bought BonVit’s Dandelion blend but must have bought the ‘fine’ grind as it put up a mighty fight in my espresso maker. It would be perfect for drip filter but we threw out our machine years ago. Next time I’ll try the medium. The coarse grind would be perfect for plunger. To be honest, I didn’t even notice it came in different grinds until I visited the BonVit website just then.

Watch out though, however you make it, because it sets like concrete if you don’t clean it up after making it.

In a further experiment to find the perfect DSL at home. I came across Hari Hari Chai. I am familiar with there beautifully package chai but never even knew they had a dandelion option. Even better, they did mail order. Opening up the parcel post bag was like walking into an indian grocer I was hit in the face with warm, spicy aromas. It was like a big Indian woman giving me a hug! Hari Hari’s website assured me that their grind would be perfect for my espresso machine, so I had extra motivation to get my morning walk done and give it a try. For my tempremental Silvia it was a bit of an ask. She likes her coffee ground at 3 3/4. I get raised eyebrows when I ask for this but 4 is too coarse and 3 1/2 too fine. So it came out a little watery, but the flavour. Mmmmmmmmmm spicy. What a shame I need to experiment some more with my stovetop espresso to see if it’ll work!

As for the soy milk. This of course makes a huge difference. I have two preferences. Rich, thick and creamy BonSoy. The soy milk that tastes like you’re drinking full fat milk. Even their website knows how naughty you feel drinking it (check out the porn soundtrack!). Unfortunately, Bonsoy is full of added sugar so it’s my special treat soy milk. Australia’s Own Malt Free Soy Milk gets my ‘everyday’ tick of approval. It’s not super beany and froths well with my espresso maker. Stir in a spoonful of sweetener or a drop of stevia and it’s a pretty perfect coffee break.

For anyone interested in the process of making their own Dandelion root tea, you’ll find instructions here. In my quest for more sustainable living, I might even give it a go.

The new beginings: As of tomorrow I start a 6 month course studying Commercial Cookery at TAFE. I’m very excited about this but more than a little nervous. I’ll be the mature age student who’s vowed to pay attention. I remember how annoying this was when I was a snotty 18 year old fresh out of high school. I guess I’d better not be too annoying as everyone will have knives, and I’m in the South so they know how to use them. I’m hoping to gain vaulable knowledge on the commercial aspects of running a food business and then in the second half of the year you’ll see me hopefully launch my own food service. Exciting!

As for training, I’m taking the rest of the week off. I’ve been training pretty hard for a while now and have a few injuries and niggling things that need attending to.  Then I’m gonna start from the ground up and really get things rolling.

Part 1 is reveal 7 little known facts.
1. I can play saxaphone, clarinet and trombone. I’m on the lookout for a cheap clarinet so I can start playing again.
2. I can’t read comics. Something about the words and the pictures and the humour spins my brain out so I have to cover the pictures and read each separately.
3. You all know my dog Kevin, but before Kevin there was Duke and before Duke and Beano

Beano

4. Until all the banana trees were blow down a few years ago I never like bananas. After bananas became cheap again I decided to see what all the fuss was about. Now I’m hooked.

5. In uni I posed nude for photos for my best friend’s assignment.

6. I have a small dimple shaped scare on my top lip from a piercing I had for about a year. I have a scare around my left eye where there’s a bit of road from my bike accident. And I have a scare on my right thigh where my sister bit me for hogging the swing when I was 10.

7. I get very shy and tend to hide at my own parties and then feel like a bad host

Part 2 is to nominate other bloggers. Most of the blogs I read have already done this. So I’ll let you all know your beautiful instead.