Ceviche (Avocado, Tomato, Black Beans & Krab) - Video Recipe

A cool dish for a hot day is the 99 Cent Chef's Krab Ceviche with black beans, Krab, cucumber, avocado, tomato, onion, and cilantro. Check out my recipe video further down and see how easy and quick it is to make -- and there is no cooking involved!

There are a hundred variations of Ceviche (my own version is here) and I've tried quite a few - from bland American "Acapulco" chain restaurant style with semi-frozen shrimp; or L.A. San Fernando Valley taco truck "lime-cooked" minced fish and chopped onion on a crispy tostada round; to a just-across-the-border scary Tijuana fresh clam ceviche from a local street vendor using "cleaned" clams with juice, chopped onion, lime, and plain ketchup with Salsa Picante - it's actually quite delicious when chased with a cold Corona.

Local Latin markets will carry most Ceviche ingredients. I get onion, cucumber, and cilantro for less than a buck each.

Seafood is expensive so I keep a lookout for sales on imitation crab, or Krab, often for about $1.99 per pound when on sale.

I find small 8-ounce packages of Krab at my local 99c only Store every once in a while. I pick up a few as they freeze well. 

This Budget Chef is a fan of imitation crab or Krab, also known as Surimi (first developed in Japan.) It is firm and shreds easily. Krab is made from fish that is cooked, reformed, and flavored to taste and look like boiled King Crab leg meat. When I shred the Krab I like to leave some bigger pieces in the mix. 

I know that some will not eat Krab because it is cheap and man-made. I've noticed Krab as an ingredient in most supermarket sushi cold cases that carry a California Roll. I have my own California Roll recipe a click away, here.

Other Latin market ingredients all cost well under 99 cents a pound or 99 cents each.  99c only Stores and the Dollar Tree stock canned black beans and tortilla chips.

I bulk up my Krab Ceviche adding black beans and cucumber. The cucumber brings an extra cool crunch and black beans add extra protein and texture (for a vegetarian version leave out the Krab.) You can use any drained canned bean you like including pinto beans. And canned beans are cheap, of course.

Classic Ceviches use lime-cooked shrimp or fish. You drench the seafood in lime juice and let it set in the refrigerator overnight or for a few hours, depending on how "cooked" you like your seafood. Lime juice will firm up the fish and turn the soft shrimp and fish from clear pink to a firm white.

It is important to add lime or lemon juice to a Ceviche with avocado so it stays green. Chopped avocado will eventually turn brown on the edges so it is best to eat the Ceviche in a day or two. I've also made the Ceviche without avocado. 

Also, make sure to drain and rinse the canned beans as the juice will make the Ceviche mushy in appearance and have an overwhelming bean flavor.

So sharpen your knife and chop up a cool Krab Ceviche. It's great for a patio party and travels well to serve as an appetizer...if your friends can handle the Krab.

I often add more Krab than 8 ounces as I list below. You may not like onion, cucumber, tomato, or cilantro, so it's okay to reduce the amounts to suit your taste. 

Krab Ceviche - Video

Play it here, video runs 3 minutes, 58 seconds.

My YouTube video link for viewing or embedding, just click here.

Ingredients (serves 2-4)

• 8 ounces to 1 pound of Krab - It's up to you how much to add. Sometimes I add a lot of imitation crab and other times not so much.
• 1 chopped onion - any color. I like a red onion when I'm out to impress.
• 2 cups chopped tomato - About 2 large tomatoes.
• 1 cucumber - scoop out seeds and chop. Sometimes I will peel half of the cucumber as the skin can be too bitter.
• 1/2 bunch of cilantro  - chopped. Add as much or as little as you like. 
• 15 oz. can of black beans - rinse & drain.
• Juice of 1 Lime or Lemon.
• Large avocado or 2 to 3 small - chopped.
• 1/2 jalapeno chopped (raw or pickled) - optional. Add a little at a time to reach the desired hotness.
• Tortilla Chips - when I want to impress, my local Latin market carries bags of freshly made chips and they are the best!
• Tostadas -  for an autentic taco truck-style Seafood Tostada.

Directions

First, rinse black beans and drain away any liquid (if the juice from the can remains, it will dull the bright colors and make the ceviche mushy.) 

Shred Krab into bite sizes. I like a few larger pieces so you know what's in the Ceviche.

I hope your knife is sharp -- this recipe involves a lot of chopping. 

Chop tomato and onion. Roughly chop cilantro. 

For a jalapeño remove the seeds and white membrane. Chop 1/4 of jalapeño into small pieces. Be careful handling it and don't touch your face as it can burn your eyes easily - wash hands with soap after handling a jalapeño.

I like to remove seeds from cucumber. Slice it in half and scoop out the seeds with a spoon. I usually peel half the cucumber as the skin can be bitter.

In a large bowl combine Krab, beans, cilantro, chopped veggies, and avocado.

Add lime or lemon juice. Mix it all together. 

Chill Ceviche for a couple of hours, if you can resist dipping in. This is a great patio party dish on a hot day. Serve with tortilla chips, hot sauce, and ice-cold Cerveza. If you have access to tostada rounds then pile on the Ceviche and make a taco truck-style Seafood Tostada.

Gazpacho - Veggie Soup Recipe Video

 This recipe is for all you home gardeners! And my Gazpacho video is just in time for the end of summer vegetable harvest.

Even if you don't have a summer garden, all the veggies in this recipe are easily had from local farmer's markets and roadside fruit and vegetable stands. I get my ingredients from a local Latin grocery store, too. All are for less than a buck per pound.

Click on any photo to see larger.

Tomatoes are the most expensive veggie, but they often come on sale somewhere. Cucumber and bell pepper are cheap, and onions are the cheapest veggie by far. I sometimes use garlic from the jar, but I also like a fresh chopped extra-pungent clove.

The other main ingredients are olive oil and vinegar. I get extra virgin olive oil in small bottles from my local 99c only Store and Dollar Tree. While not the best quality, hey it's good enough for me. And you can use any expensive olive oil, flavorful oil like avocado, or a nut-based one.

Gazpacho is a cold vegetable soup originally from Spain. They use Sherry Wine - use that if you can find it, but I find  Red Wine Vinegar is an easy substitution. It's okay to use any vinegar you have on hand like apple cider or white vinegar.

There is no cooking involved, all you do is roughly chop all the veggies to fit in a blender or food processor - you can use a hand blender. Pour in a half a cup of olive oil and a couple tablespoons of vinegar, then blend it all together for a minute or so, until smooth and creamy.

I like to serve Gazpacho chilled and topped with a sliced fresh herb like basil. I add a sprinkling of fine-chopped tomato and cucumber for extra color, and crunch.

The veggie balance is up to you. Some recipes call to peel and remove seeds from the cucumber. The cucumbers I've gotten lately are almost seedless, or the seeds are very small and soft. If you peel the cucumber the Gazpacho will be a brighter red color.

I used green bell pepper, but any color on sale will do. Red, yellow, and orange bell peppers are a bit sweeter but more expensive.

Tomatoes are the main ingredient. So let them fully ripen on your kitchen counter or windowsill. I use a couple pounds of tomatoes, and you can use as much as you like with an extra-large crop to harvest. Adjust the veggie amounts to suit your tastes.

My patio garden tomatoes.

So get to chopping and blend my summer fresh Gazpacho Soup for a cool and refreshing appetizer or light lunch.

Gazpacho - Video

Play it here, video runs 2 minutes, 48 seconds.

My YouTube video link for viewing or embedding, just click here.

Ingredients

• 2 pounds tomato - roughly chopped, about 3 to 4 cups. I used 4 regular sized tomatoes.
• 1/2 onion - roughly chopped
• 1 bell pepper - remove seeds and white membrane.
• 1 cucumber - Some recipes just throw in a chopped and unpeeled cucumber with seeds. Okay to peel and remove seeds for a more colorful soup.
• 1 clove garlic - 1 teaspoon chopped. Fresh or from a jar.
• 2 tablespoons wine vinegar - usually sherry vinegar is used, but any type of vinegar will do.
• 1/2 cup olive oil - okay to use any favorite flavorful oil.

Directions
 Chop veggies to fit in a blender or food processor. The veggies don't need to be finely chopped, just a quick couple of slices will do. If you have a hand blender then put chopped veggies in a large bowl.

Remove seed and white membrane in the bell pepper. Some recipes say to remove cucumber skin and seed. The type I get recently have little to no seeds. If you peel the cucumber the Gazpacho will be brighter orange or red.

You can add or subtract the amount of garlic, onion, bell pepper, and cucumber. Just make sure to add plenty of tomatoes! I do remove the stem part, but I keep the seeds.

Add veggies to a blender or food processor. Pour in a half cup of olive oil or favorite flavored oil. It's okay to add more or less olive oil, to suit your tastes.

Finally, add 2 tablespoons of vinegar. I use Red Wine Vinegar, but it's okay to use any you have on hand including balsamic vinegar. Add as much or as little as you like.

Some recipes call for adding a slice or two of bread to the blender for a thicker soup. I leave it out for this recipe.

Cover and blend it all together until smooth and creamy, about one minute.

Chill Gazpacho until ready to serve. I like to top my Gazpacho with a fresh sliced herb and a small amount of chopped veggies like tomato and cucumber, for added crunch and color.

National Sandwich Day

 Sandwich: two pieces of bread with something (such as meat, peanut butter, etc.) between them. As defined by Merriam-Webster dictionary.

It's National Sandwich Day every November 3rd. Well, in the cheapskate chateau, it's Sandwich Day any time of the year - and you've come to the right place to get your fill ! So read on and click on any recipe name that meets your fancy to see recipe text and photo illustrations.

I have a sandwich at least once a week as it's quite easy to get nice quality lunch meat from my local 99c only Store and Dollar Tree.

Lately, I buy day-old (or week-old) bread from the bargain bin at my big chain grocer, Ralphs. Since the bread is no longer soft I will grill the sandwich or first toast the bread - now, it is no different than fresh-baked, once toasted. Anyway, I like to try out a new bread type on the cheap before I pay full price.

John Montagu, the Earl of Sandwich, is the namesake and is thought to have been one of the first to put some cooked meat between slices of bread while on a gambling binge. I guess they didn't have pizza delivery in England during the 1600s. It started simple, evolving to loaded, filled with decadent ingredients.

Fried Shrimp, Tomato, Lettuce & Pickle with Mayo on French Bread

The winter holidays of Thanksgiving and Christmas are right around the corner, so bookmark my Ultimate Turkey Sandwich recipe to use up the dinner table leftovers. It's a versatile recipe, so make it your way. I like sliced turkey, stuffing, gravy, and cranberry sauce. What makes this holiday hoagie over the top is the addition of a sauteed slice of crunchy turkey skin - I like to use the whole bird. Check out my recipe video below and click on the name above for all the tasty directions.

A BLT is a bacon, lettuce, and tomato sandwich. It's satisfyingly simple. I should know better than to muck up things...well, in this case, I think a couple of tasty tweaks won't hurt. 

BLT Sandwich

It's blasphemy, but I like turkey bacon sometimes, it may be just as salty as regular bacon, but it is lower in fat. I'm old now so I gotta back off a bit.

The other addition is the letter "A" which stands for avocado. Now I know you will like that extra creamy inclusion - so just call this sandwich a TBLT + A.

Jews know how to make a sandwich, and here in LA, the temple to the open-face is served at Cantor's and Langer's Delicatessens.

Now, the sandwiches are expensive there, but they are so stacked with corned beef, brisket, turkey, tongue, etc. that you can easily get two meals out of one sandwich. But if you have been following my blog posts then you may have seen my cheap$kate recipes for Corned Beef and Easy Pastrami.

Corned Beef

I always buy a few on-sale packages to freeze corned beef during St. Patrick's Day - yep, my recipes are a mashup of Jewish and Irish cultures, so get out your green yarmulke and get to cookin'.

They are not that difficult to make, and if you are on a budget, then do it my way. I take a shortcut and start with already corned beef from the grocery store for Easy Homemade Pastrami. For Corned Beef, you boil the raw Corned Beef, brisket until fork-tender, then slice it up. For Pastrami I add a short smoking stage. 

Smoking Boiled Corned Beef ='s Pastrami

In my Easy Homemade Pastrami recipe video below, I show you how to make it using a grocery store-bought corned beef.



Once the Corned Beef and Pastrami are cooked it's time to make sandwiches and believe me they will be as good as any deli-made. Keep it simple with just sliced rye bread and a smear of mustard.

Or, kick it up a notch and make Rachel and Reuben Sandwiches - they are the best! Both sandwiches have Swiss cheese and Russian Dressing on rye bread. A Reuben Sandwich has the addition of sauerkraut. See my video below for the tasty details. 

Reuben Sandwich with Sauerkraut

For a Rachel Sandwich add a big scoop of Coleslaw to the sandwich. Of course, I have a delish Coleslaw Recipe a click away here. And look at my video below for a Rachel Recipe.

Rachel Sandwich with Coleslaw

The next couple of sandwiches come from Cajun Country, which is Louisiana. One of their signature sandwiches is called a Muffaletta.

It's just a loaded deli sandwich with cold cuts and cheese. What sets it apart, beyond a round bread roll, is an Olive Salad or Olive Relish. 

 It's all in the family as my nephew Chef Matt rustles up a Cajun specialty, an Alligator Po'boy.  I suspect not many of you will make this, but the recipe can easily be adjusted by substituting alligator with catfish, shrimp, or oysters. 

It is the most outrageous sandwich of the group and worth a viewing - just for the uniqueness of the bayou reptile ingredient.

If you're ever in New Orleans, you can use this video below for a Po'boy Sandwich Guide. You'll find some great eateries serving Roast Beef to Fried Oyster Po'boys. 

For my vegetarian visitors, my sister Denise makes a mean Veggie Burger made with eggplant. Just watch the video below that also includes a cheap$kate shopping spree in my local 99c only Store for all the ingredients that make up an Eggplant Burger.

Another tasty veggie sandwich is my grilled Portabella Mushroom, Bell Pepper, and Cheese Burger. 

Of course, use a slice of vegan cheese. When I came up with this recipe a decade ago there was not much in the way of vegetarian whey. Brush on the veggies a simple vinaigrette of olive oil and balsamic vinegar then saute or grill the veggies. Finally, melt on the cheese and toast the buns or bread.

A Patty Melt is the most decadently delicious of sandwiches. There is no nutritious lettuce and tomato, just butter, caramelized onions, and a slab of fried ground meat. But I do make a less fatty version using ground turkey instead of ground beef.

 Patty Melt Sandwich

You can visit my blog post or just watch the video below to get all the tasty details.

It's intermission time, that is you can watch the video below to cleanse your palette with my noir-tinged nighttime romp through Los Angeles eateries looking for the perfect sandwich. Turn up the volume for my Restaurant Nocturnes video below.

A most unique sandwich is the Bánh mì by way of Vietnam. It is loaded with crunchy veggies like cucumber, radish, carrot, and spicy jalapeño. The meat components are pâté, head cheese, and roast pork. Due to its French influence, all the ingredients are tucked inside a crunchy French roll. It reminds me of a Louisiana Po'boy sandwich. I have a simple version of Bánh mì a click away here. 

I first had one when I worked in Santa Monica and read about the Nom Nom food truck that featured a great Bánh mì sandwich. They were so good I had to do a video about the sandwich and the cool chefs who worked there and customers that hung out. Check it out below.

A BBQ Pulled Pork Sandwich is one of my faves - it's what we served on my wedding day with my late wife, Amy. I get whole pork shoulder on sale sometimes for less than 99 cents per pound at my local Latin market, too! If you have an ethnic market in your neighborhood, do check it out for interesting food ingredients, often cheaper than you can get at a regular market.

Pulled Pork just needs a simple dry rub made with inexpensive dried spices like cumin, chili powder, paprika, garlic powder, and sweet brown sugar.

A typical Southern Pulled Pork Sandwich is dressed with sliced raw onion, sour pickles, and BBQ sauce. Just check out my recipe video below to see how I do it.



I make Cuban Sandwiches with tender slices of pork from a citrus-marinated slow-roasted pork shoulder. The sandwich is uniquely constructed of Cuban roast pork, ham, Swiss cheese, pickle slices, and all between a sliced browned bread roll smeared with mustard.

Cuban Roast Pork

Cuban Sandwich

You have to break a few eggs for the next sammies: a simple Egg Salad and Fried Egg Sandwich, plus a Homemade Egg McMuffin.

There is something so soothing about Egg Salad My recipe couldn't be simpler, just chopped boiled egg, fine-chopped celery, and mayo. 

It's a dangerous recipe that I have too often just eaten right out of the mixing bowl. But if I can resist I'll refrigerate the Egg Salad and make a fatEgg Salad Sandwich.

Egg Salad Sandwich

I make Fried Egg Sandwiches the most. As long as it takes to fry an egg, I toast slices of bread, slice a tomato, peel off a leaf of lettuce, and I finish the sandwich with a smear of mayo, that's it.

 Egg Sandwich Recipe

My Homemade Egg McMuffin recipe will save you trips to McDonald's, and you can slice the ham as thick as you like, plus go ahead and add an extra slice of cheese.

What's the big deal with McDonald's McRib? I mean it's an okay sandwich, but kinda weird as there is no rib in the sandwich and the meat is just pork ground meat that has the texture of a McNugget.

Ripoff McRib

For my version of a McRib, I use an outrageous shortcut - a Boneless Pork Riblet by Banquet frozen foods! 

How does it compare? The patties look and texture are the same, and the flavor is very similar. This TV dinner slab of pork is smothered in BBQ sauce just like the McRib -- it's not too bad really plus a lot cheaper. Click here to see all the tasty details of how I pull off this ripoff recipe!

OMG, the Fried Chicken Sandwich is everywhere. Almost all fast-food joints have a version, and that's because they're the bomb. And chicken prices are still a steal. 

Fried Chicken Sandwich

I have a great spiced crunchy coating for the chicken filets a click away. Get an inch of hot oil going and after about 10 minutes of frying, assemble the sandwich and you're ready to dig in!

Check out my recipe video below for all the juicy details. I like my Fried Chicken Sandwich with lettuce, tomato, pickle slices, mayo, and mustard, how about you?

One of my most acclaimed recipes is a luscious Scallop Roll. I was even linked and highlighted by the Huffington Post when I published the recipe. To read about it click here, then click on "See Gallery" and arrow ahead - I'm number 4.

Scallop Roll

I got the idea after reading and fantasizing about what an East Coast Lobster Roll would taste like. I couldn't afford lobster, so I got the next best thing, tender bay scallops for $1 per small package, just enough for a cheap$kate Homemade Scallop Roll. Go ahead and see how I make it here!

I'll end this blog post with live music and picnic sandwiches. Amy (my late wife) and I caught a great free concert by songbird Aimee Mann at a seaside park in Marina del Rey. I brought along Finger Sandwiches made with Cucumber & Cream Cheese, Salami with Dijon Mustard, and Ham with Butter.

We set out a blanket, opened a bottle of vino, and ate our sandwiches while Amiee Mann serenaded the picnickers. Just check out the video below to join our picnic and get all the Finger Sandwiche Recipes.

So click on any recipe name above if you have the appetite for one of my delish and cheap$kate sandwiches.