India restaurants are known for their skimpy offerings of Mango Chutney. I always feel guilty asking my waiter for more of this cool and sweetly picked Middle Eastern condiment. But when you like spicy curries, then jam preserves-like Mango Chutney is needed to cool you down between hot bites. Well, now with The 99 Cent Chef latest recipe go ahead and bring your own! (Or at least get it out for at-home leftovers or orders to go.)
My Mango Chutney is spiced with easy-to-get cumin and cinnamon. Sauteed onion gives it a bit more volume, and sugar with vinegar provide the pickling ingredients.
Living in California, I always find mangoes on sale, and onions are cheap at any grocery store. You could get an expensive curry powder or just go with what I use, cheap ground cumin. As I've mentioned in earlier posts, cumin provides 75 percent of a typical curry powder mix. You can add cinnamon if you have it -- apple pies are not the only cooked fruit that benefits from this eatable ground tree bark.
The 99 Cent Chef Mango Chutney is not only for India entrees, you could use it for any favorite spicy dish. Pull it out for an entree that is served with rice, like my Beef and Broccoli Stir Fry, or Sweet and Sour Pork (click on the names to see my blog recipes.)
Ingredients
1-2 mangoes - remove peel and seed. About 1 to 1 1/2 cups of flesh.
1 onion - any type, chopped.
1/4 cup sugar - or favorite sweetener, like honey.
1/4 cup vinegar - white, apple, or rice.
1 teaspoon ground cumin - or your favorite curry powder.
1/2 teaspoon of ground cinnamon - optional
1 tablespoon cooking oil - for sauteing onions.
Salt to taste
Directions
Add 1 tablespoon oil to a pot over a medium heat. Roughly chop one onion. Add it to the pot. Stir occasional. Cook until onion is soft, about 5-10 minutes.
Peel and seed mango. I even scrape, with a spoon, any flesh left on the peels and seed. Slice into large chunks (about 1 to 2 inch squares.) Add mango to cooked onion.
Add vinegar, sugar, cumin, cinnamon (optional) and a pinch of salt. Mix well.
Bring to a simmer, reduce heat to low and cover. Cook 15 minutes. Stir every once in a while.
Uncover and cook until liquid reduced by almost half - about another 10 minutes. If you like a bit of liquid in your chutney, then just reduce cooking time.
When done allow to cool, then keep Mango Chutney in the refrigerator until ready to use. It will thicken to a jam consistency as it cools down.
Hindsight
Mangoes are expensive, so I did a minimal recipe. If you are using 2 large mangoes, you can add another onion, but I would not add any more spices or sugar and vinegar. For 3 or more mangoes and onions, I would try about a 1/4 teaspoon more of spices, and a regular teaspoon of sugar and vinegar with each mango and onion you add.
Most recipes load up with sugar, but this recipe uses half the normal amount -- you could even add less, mangoes are plenty sweet by themselves. A lot of sugar and vinegar is used for pickling and preserving, but don't worry this Mango Chutney won't last long!
If you follow The Cheapskate Food Blogger, you will never go hungry. And here are my Top 9 Recipes of 2012 to prove it. Although the ingredients are inexpensive, the flavors are varied in their scrumptiousness. And I have personally mined from the last year these culinary multifaceted gems for your viewing pleasure.
I like to mix it up, from vegetarian to carnivore fare, and a sweet condiment of Mango Chutney, to a slab of Homemade Deli Pastrami. Just click on any Recipe Title below to go to my recipe blog page. So let the countdown begin!
1. Falafel Pita Sandwich
Like most of my recipes, I had never tried making crunchy orbs of Falafel. But sometimes you just roll up you sleeves and jump in. I ended up making way too much, but my friends at work didn't seem to mind - I brought a batch in and they ate them up. And this is a great recipe for Meatless Mondays.
You can drain and roast a can of cheap garbanzo beans (to put back some crunch and texture) or go whole hog and soak dried chickpeas overnight and make Falafels from scratch. I have a neighborhood Middle Eastern market, so I got a bag of beans for a buck. Falafel balls are easy to make, as my recipe shows. And as a bonus, I came up with a cool accompaniment to stuff into a Falafel Pita Sandwich: Cucumber, Yogurt, and Honey Relish.
2. Homemade Egg McMuffin
I've been on a tear lately, cranking out cool stop motion animated food recipes, and one of the more wild ones is my Homemade Egg McMuffin. A wacky highlight is my constructing an egg frying ring out of a tin can -- hey, don't knock my cheap ways, it was simple to do and it works great. And I got a perfectly round puck of egg that fits snuggly between a toasted English muffin.
So do check out my recipe video below, and to see the recipe text with photos -- just click on the title heading above.
3. Beef & Broccoli Stir Fry
You may often ask yourself after reading my food musings a few times, "Where's the beef?" Well, here it is.
This Tightwad Forager seldom cooks with this most expensive protein, but there are small 3-ounce packages of frozen rib-eye steaks for $1 to be found in the meat deli cases of L.A. chain grocery stores. It's the perfect size for a serving or two of a Chinese classic, Beef & Broccoli Stir Fry.
I love stir-frys for their simplicity and sweet, salty, and sour flavors. My accompanying stir-fry sauce is easy to make and so flavorful. And if you are carb-phobic, this recipe is for you. Plus, my chintzy recipe has been highlighted by Fave Health Recipes here.
4. Steamed Artichoke
Everyone knows how to eat a steamed artichoke, right? Apparently not, according to Lesley Bargar Suter, the food and dining editor for Los Angeles Magazine. She posted a link to my recipe video on the magazine's food blog, Digest, so her husband and Chicago friends can see how the Chintzy Food Professor does it! To read her amusing artichoke post, click here.
If you've never steamed an artichoke to tender perfection and worked your way to the creamy choke, then be sure to oogle the animated video below.
5. Homemade Deli Pastrami
My recipe for Homemade Deli Pastrami is the Lawrence of Arabia of stop motion animated food videos. Just check out the epic cinematic culinary artistry on your computer screen. A widescreen vista of cured bovine fresh from a smoky BBQ grill will leave you breathless...and salivating. And there are no movie lines to wait in, and the price of admission is a big fat zero -- take that, movie theaters and cable TV.
I directed this deli-story with brevity, featuring tasteful compositions. So, I submit for your consideration, my video of a Homemade Deli Pastrami. Try out this recipe on your family, and you will surely receive a Standing O -- but look out because they will want an encore after the Deli Pastrami encore.
6. Mango Chutney
If you like eating Indian food, then be sure to check out my recipe for Mango Chutney. This fruit-packed jam is the perfect accompaniment to spicy curry or Tandori chicken (my recipe here) that you bring home from your favorite Indian restaurant. This sweet condiment goes with any of my Orientalor Middle Eastern-themed recipes. And if you are looking for a bit of sweetness to go with your favorite savory entree, then chop up some mango and onion, and simmer with vinegar, sugar, and a few spices for an easy-to-make Mango Chutney.
7. Shepherd's Pie
This recipe is meat and potatoes, British style. Traditionally made with Lamb, I've substituted cheap ground turkey for a lighter one-pot meal. Shepherd's Pie is also loaded with carrots and peas in a thick gravy, and topped with a charred crust of mashed potatoes. You can't get a more hearty winter's day meal than this; and it reheats deliciously in the microwave -- so you can't make too much. Plus this recipe gets my Wife's Seal of Approval!
8. Delicatessen Coleslaw
I like my deli sandwiches with coleslaw. And my recipe for a deli coleslaw is crunchy perfection. It combines shredded cabbage and carrot with mayo, oil, and vinegar to create a creamy, tart topping, or sandwich side dish. And if you make my Homemade Pastrami, then team it with this Delicatessen Coleslaw.
9. Baked Chicken with Grapes
I've saved one of the best Top 9 Recipes of 2012 for last: a sweetly succulent Baked Chicken with Grapes. Roasted chicken with fruit is a winning combination, and the preparation is minuscule. Just scatter a handful of grapes on an inexpensive leg quarter, along with a splash of white wine, and you have a divinely sweet and savory budget entree.
And remember to just click on any Recipe Title above to read each Top 9 Recipe of 2012 and get all the delectable details.
Well. Thanks for being my dining companions this last year. Please do come back and try your hand at a few of my economical recipes - always presented with creativity, humor, and a bit of style.
This week leave yourhot dog, meat-eating, guilt on the curb. The 99 Cent Chef videos Let's Be Frank, which serves up wieners with compassion. No factory farm beef, pork, or turkey are used in their franks. All the animals are 100% grass fed and humanely raised locally in California. Hormones, antibiotics, nitrates, and nitrites are not added in the production of the meat.
The owner, Sue Moore, was a former meat forager for Alice Waters' temple of locally sourced restaurant cuisine, Chez Panisse, in Berkeley, California. And the taste of these franks reflects her organic, artisanal creativity. The natural casing dogs are somewhere between a coarse hand-ground Italian sausage and the smooth baloney texture of a normal hot dog. In my video, one of the customers compares the taste to a Bronx deli hot dog from 45 years ago!
I shot my video at the Helms Building parking lot location in Culver City. The links and buns are steamed, then grilled, and cost $5 -- that may seem a little high, but you get eight inches of tube steak, much longer than a normal hot dog.
The organic condiments that go with an order include sauerkraut from Kruegermann (a local purveyor), homemade pickle relish, and grilled onions. There is also an Asian chutney-like hot and spicy Devil Sauce, made especially for Let's Be Frank.
There are five franks to choose from: Frank Dog (beef), Brat Dog (pork bratwurst), Bird Dog (turkey), Hot Dog (spicy pork), and Not Dog (vegetarian). I really enjoyed the white pork juiciness of the Brat Dog, and didn't find the Hot Dog too spicy, even with Devil Sauce! I asked for grilled onions (they're cooked until almost caramelized) for both. The locally made Kruegermann sauerkraut and organic pickle relish is mildly sour, mixed with a slight sweetness -- crunchy and fresh tasting.
So check out my latest video for an up close and delectable hot dog jaunt to Let's Be Frank, where wieners are made with thoughtful humaneness and real flavor.
Let's Be Frank - Video
Play it here. The video runs 3 minutes, 44 seconds.
Let's Be Frank
Helms Avenue parking lot, across from Father's Office, between Washington and Venice Boulevards in Culver City.
Hours: Wed.-Fri: 11:30 a.m. - 3:30 p.m. weekends 11:30 p.m. - 4:30 p.m. Map, click here.
Shrimp is not only a crustacean, but is a term used to define small, and my latest recipe combines both -- bite-sized Shrimp Sliders loaded with seafood flavor. It's a convenient and quick way to make a uniquely savory sandwich.
With this recipe I made 3 mini seafood burgers, which is quite a large serving. Get a few packages of bay shrimp and you can feed a small party. Of course you can use regular sized shrimp -- you just need to chop or mince in a food processor or blender. Since shrimp cook quickly, raw shrimp can be used with this recipe, too, just add a couple of minutes of saute time.
You are basically making a shrimp meatloaf like mixture with: sauteed veggies, breadcrumbs, some mayo and 1/2 of an egg. I seasoned the shrimp mixture with salt and pepper, but you could kick it up a notch with Cajun spices, or a favorite spice/herb blend.
I always find small 4 ounce packages of teeny cooked and frozen bay shrimp for a dollar. My local Albertsons chain grocery stocks them in the frozen deli case, and I often find them in 99c only Stores, too.
So for a fun party platter serve my Shrimp Sliders -- or if all you have is a 4 ounce package of shrimp then my recipe below for 3 sliders feeds one fully, no problem.
Ingredients (3 Sliders)
4 ounces shrimp - I picked up a dollar package of cooked bay shrimp. You can use uncooked too.
3 tablespoons of bread crumbs - or 1/2 slice of bread fine chopped or blended.
1 tablespoon of mayo
2 tablespoons of fine chopped onion - any type. Many recipes call for green onion.
2 tablespoons of fine chopped celery - optional
1/2 small or medium egg - well mixed.
3 tablespoons of oil - for frying veggies and shrimp patties. Start with a tablespoon and add more if you need to for each shrimp patty.
Salt and pepper to taste.
3 small dinner rolls - Or you could make one or two large shrimp patties for Shrimp Burgers.
Dress the Shrimp Sliders with you favorite sandwich ingredients, including: lettuce, tomato, pickles and mayo, ketchup or mustard.
Directions
In a medium sized frying pan add a tablespoon of oil over a medium heat. Add chopped onion and celery. Saute about 2-4 minutes until tender.
In a medium bowl add defrosted bay shrimp. (You may need to drain them first.) If you are working with larger shrimp, then roughly chop them to about green pea sized. Okay to pulse in a blender.
Add all the other ingredients, including: bread crumbs, mayo, 1/2 blended egg and sauteed onion and celery. Salt and pepper to taste
Mix the ingredients together. Add a tablespoon of oil to a low/medium heating frying pan to cook the shrimp patties. Add more oil as you need it.
You want to make the patties about the size of your small dinner rolls. I used a tablespoon and got a heaping amount,scooping it into the heating pan.
Let the shrimp patty cook for about 3-5 minutes. But do check the cooking edges during the last couple of minutes -- you don't want to burn the patties. You can peek under the patty after a couple of minutes; you are looking for a golden brown color.
Turn the patty over and continue cooking for another 2-3 minutes, until the liquid is cooked out. You can make a small slit into the top to check.
While shrimp patties are cooking you can slice the tomato and get out the slider toppings. When shrimp patties are done then assemble the sliders and enjoy.
Hindsight
It's easy to double or quadruple the recipe for a gathering. And if you are working with regular hamburger buns, then make one or two large shrimp patties.
Try cooking one shrimp patty to see how it holds together. If is is too crumbly, then add another tablespoon of mixed egg for binding. You could also chill shrimp mixture for a couple of hours to make patties bind better.
I like a few chunks of shrimp in the patties, but you could pulse the mixture finer in a blender.
I used small dinner rolls, but you could use any type of bun you like -- just make the patty large enough to fit the bread size. The shrimp patty is delicious just on it's own, if you are carb-phobic. You could even top it with my sweet Mango Chutney I made a few weeks ago (recipe here.)
