Mango Chutney

I am in Cambodia now, and it is mango season.  So while I am getting mangoes for 13 cents for two pounds, canning is still an economical way to store these fruits anywhere when you catch them on sale.

I do have an important disclaimer.  I do not follow the recommendations of the US Department on Agriculture on canning to the letter.  You can find information on their suggested processing of acid foods here.  The reason is because I can't find all the equipment, like a canning rack, that I need to process canned fruit here in Cambodia.  Next time I am in Phnom Pehn, though, I will try to look there for all my needs.  But in the meantime, I must refrigerate my chutneys and pickles.

My perspective is that people have been canning for at least 4000 years.  The Egyptians were know to have pickled foods beginning between 3000 BCE-1000 BCE and we actually have recipes from the Romans that date to 100 CE.  Basically, vegetables were salted and then put into vinegar, soured wine, or packed in honey.  These went into clay pots that were often buried to help preserve them.  Here in Cambodia vegetables are pickled in much the same way but put into non-sterilized screw-top plastic containers.  Now, I quote for the USDA:

Many older recipes call for pickles to be packed into jars and sealed without processing. This method is no longer recommended because microorganisms may enter the food when it is being transferred from the pickling container to the jar; processing destroys them.

I have found a happy medium in pickling.  I sterilize all my jars which are clamp-top glass jars and lemon juice to my vinegar solution increase the acidity.  Then my fruit, pickles, relishes or chutneys are transferred into these. I refrigerate them, and while if processed they could store for two years on the shelf, they will keep six months in the fridge. It should be fine without the additional acidity, but I wanted to take the added precaution.  Folks planning on using it fresh can skip that ingredient.

If using fresh like me they should be stored 1 week before using.  If canning, store 1 month before consuming.  If canned, will keep unopened for 2 years.  Uncanned and refrigerated, it should be consumed within six months.  In both cases, they should be eaten within six weeks after opening.  So depending on how much chutney you eat, plan on using jar sizes that you will eat within a month.  This recipe yields about two cups.


Mango Chutney

Three very ripe Mangoes
1/8 cup Raisins
1/2 medium Onion, chopped fine
1-2 cloves Garlic, chopped fine
1.5" fresh Ginger, chopped fine
2-3 fresh Red or Green Chilies, chopped fine*
1/4 teaspoon Cumin Seeds
1/4 teaspoon Black Mustard Seeds (can substitute Yellow)
1/4 teaspoon Caraway Seeds
1/8 teaspoon Cinnamon (go easy on this as it can overwhelm other tastes)
1 tablespoon Sea Salt (or other non-iodized salt)
1 cup white Sugar
1 teaspoon Lemon or Lime Juice
1/2 cup White Distilled Vinegar (at least 5% acidity)

*We eat all our food fiery hot.  We do not de-seed our chilies, and with three red chilies with chutney is far beyond what most people and tolerate.  For milder tastes, one de-seeded chili is plenty of heat.

Remember to sterilize your jars beforehand. 

Cut peeled mango into 1/2" or so squares, mix with salt and let sit two hours.  The secret to peeling a mango is to cut slits in the skins into quarters or eighths.  Then you can simply peel the skin off with your fingers.  Salt pulls water out of the mangoes that gets replaced with vinegar.

Add raisins to vinegar and soak two hours in a non-reactive pan (stainless steel or Pyrex).  Be sure everything that comes into contact with the chutney is non-reactive (steel, glass, or organic like wooded or bamboo spoons).  Copper-containing instruments will react with the acidity and poison the food.  Never use copper or iron pots when canning.  Aluminum is suppose to be fine, but I only use non-coated stainless steel.

Add sugar and bring vinegar to simmering boil in a non-reactive pan (stainless steel or Pyrex), let sugar completely dissolve.  Add lemon juice.

Stir in all other ingredients without draining mango.

Simmer for 35-45 minutes.  Keep an eye on it to ensure it does not stick to bottom on the pan.  It should thicken considerably and have a thick syrupy consistency.

Allow to cool until warm and add to your canning jars or, if planning in using fresh, in a covered jar and refrigerate. 

Sourdough Bread Recipe

This is my mother's sourdough recipe and I feel almost guilty even giving it away it is so wonderful.  I do always use the mix of whole wheat and white bread.  It really comes out too heavy if you use 100% whole wheat.

Bon Appetit!

Starter:
Mix together:
3/4 cup sugar
1 cup flour
3 Tablespoons instant mashed potatoes
1 cup warm water
Set out 8-10 hours, then refrigerate.  If you don't use every 3 - 4 days, discard 1 cup starter and re-feed.  Feed starter every 3 to 4 days

Bread:
6 cups flour (plain, self rising, or 4 cup whole wheat plus 2 cup white flour)
1/2 cup sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup oil
1 cup starter
1 and 1/2 cup warm water

Mix and knead 8 to 10 times.  Cover with waxed paper and let raise 8 to 10 hours, punch down and put in three loaf pans.

Second Rising: 8 to 10 hours

Bake at 325 degrees 45 to 60 minutes.

Since this recipe has no added yeast, every loaf, every time may turn out different.

On the raising time:  let it set long enough to raise but keep and eye on it, if it raises to long, it will fall when you bake it. 

Good Luck!

Chao Ga, Vietnamese Rice Porriage

INGREDIENTS

* 3 cups water

* 3 cups chicken stock

* 1/2 cup glutinous rice

* 1 cups long grain rice

* 1 cup chicken meat, shredded

* 2 tablespoons fish sauce

* ½ teaspoon sugar

* ½ tablespoon poultry seasoning


GARNISHES

* ½ teaspoon white pepper (black works also)

* 2 spring onions or scallions or green onions, sliced thin


DIRECTIONS

1. Place rice and glutinous rice in a large pot with water and stock.

2. Bring to boil then lower heat, cover and simmer, stirring occasionally.

3. Cook until rice is very soft and mixture is thick. Roughly 45-60 minutes.

4. Add fish sauce, sugar, shredded chicken, mushrooms, and poultry seasoning.

5. Stir Gently.

6. Spoon porridge into individual serving bowls.

7. Garnish with spring onion.

8. Sprinkle with pepper.

Stock and Chicken Noodle Soup

Don't Throw Out That Bird Carcass!

Monday is coming up, and hopefully you have a pretty picked turkey carcass in your fridge, but I certainly hope that you didn't throw it out because you have a big pot of stock just waiting to be made.

This year I make Cornish Game Hens for a Thanksgiving Party I attended, but I asked my host if I could have the turkey carcass to make stock with. I was able to pick about a half cup of meat off of it still, which I did and refrigerated, and then I threw the entire thing--what I couldn't pick off, skin and bone--into a 12-quart pot along with the game hen bones, covered with water, and started boiling it down. I let it boil for two solid hours, about 20 minutes at a full boil and then the rest of the time at a low rolling boil, and then strained. By that time it was already delicious, but I really like my stock to be flavorful.

Chicken or Turkey Stock Recipe (Or Cornish Hen Stock!)

I had about 6.5 or 7 quarts of base stock. Next, I added:
four large cloves of garlic,
half and a yellow onion,
a cup and a half of carrots diced small,
three stalks of celery sliced thin (did you use all your celery on that stuffing?)
one medium potato diced very small since I basically wanted it to dissolve to naturally thicken the stock a bit,
some fresh parsley (optional)
a few turns of the pepper mill (not too much),
about 1/4 a teaspoon each of:

dried rosemary,
sage,
marjoram,
thyme,
and just a dash of nutmeg.

and I also added about 1 teaspoon of salt.

Remember that stock is a base for other recipes, so you don't want to go all out and over spice it. More pepper and salt can be added, for example, if your particular recipe needs it. For now, I am just concerned with creating a very tasty stock that won't overwhelm whatever I happen to use it in.

After cooking all the other ingredients at a low boil for about one hour I let it cool and then began straining it. First, I emptied out about half of that is just stock with no veggies in it. I put it in ice trays to freeze, and from there transferred it into freezer bags. The reason for putting it into ice cube trays is so you don't have a huge mass of stock you have to chisel at or constantly be defrosting and refreezing. In cubes, if you need a cup of stock you can just grab about six or seven ice cubes. You do need a lot of ice trays--more than I had--so I also put some in freezer bags, putting 2 cups into each bag.

I set aside about 1.5 quart of the rest for the recipe I'm going to give making sure I had veggies in it. The rest of the stock, with the veggies, I froze in 2 cup portions in freezer bags.

Homemade Chicken Noodle Soup Recipe

With the set aside stock, I made a simple and delicious "chicken noodle soup."

I simply cooked about 12 ounces of whole wheat egg noodles in my stock, adding about 1-2 cups of water.
I also added about 1 teaspoon or less of salt,
and I added an additional 1/4 teaspoon of thyme,
and the 1/2 cup of meat I'd been able to pick off the leftovers.

That made four generous servings (or six modest ones) of the most delicious "chicken noodle soup" you could hope for. It would have also been good with a few turns of the pepper mill while cooking. And, with the leftover stock, I can make the same meal again

Healthy Breakfast Anyone?

I like to have a heavy breakfast. I mean, when I am done with breakfast I like to feel full.

One strategy I've learned is to begin the day with some fairly simple carbohydrates like fructose that kick-start your metabolism after several hours of general lethargy. I usually have a couple of prunes as soon as I wake up while I make my first cup of morning coffee.

For breakfast, I try to work in a lot of fiber since the type of food we eat in the West for breakfast lends itself well to fiber loading. I also try to ensure I get a high quality protein as well which for me usually means some fat free dairy--either fat free cottage cheese, which has an extremely high protein to calorie ratio, or yogurt which is higher on the carbohydrates. I usually include an some additional less complex sugars in the form of fresh and frozen fruit as well. Through the rest of the day, I usually don't consume much other simpler sugars, including fruit.

This recipe is as simple as could be, and it makes for a wonderfully delicious breakfast.

Fruit Oatmeal

1/2 Cup Strawberries or 1/4 Cup Blueberries, Frozen (fresh are okay, too, but frozen are less expensive, cook down easier and keep longer!)
3/4 Cup Whole Old Fashion Oats (slightly over one normal serving)
1/2 Cup Water
1 Teaspoon Honey or Sorghum Molasses

The fruit will give up enough enough liquid to properly cook the oats. First, add the fruit and water to a small pot, bring to a boil, add the oats, and reduce heat. Stir occasionally to keep from sticking . . . it should cook in about five minutes, but you want it to be pretty thick by the time you are done but a little standing liquid is okay. Let cool for about 3-5 minutes while still on the (off) burner and it will continue to adsorb moisture. If you have a hard time getting you kids to have a healthier breakfast--look no further!

Poll Results on Eating Choices

I just wanted to quickly share the results of my recent poll on people's eating/cooking choices. The question was simply, "Which is most important to you when making food decisions for dishes you will cook yourself?"

Choices along with their results:

30% Healthiness
22% Expense
33% Ease of Preparation
15% How Quickly it is Ready
0% Earth Friendiness (Sustainable, Organic, et cetera)

Hopefully, no matter which if these is most important, "I Like My Recipes Healthy, Cheap and Easy" is delivering on all fronts!

No recipes, today, I'm afraid, but we've got several things "on the burner" so to speak including another lentil and another potato soup, homemade salsa, more salad dressings, a healthy version of aloo tikki, and much much more, all coming up!

Also, you may have noticed there are now several advertisements appearing on the blog. I've tried (when possible) to identify partners like Coupons.Com, CoffeeForLess, and MotherNature.Com that are aligned to the "mission" of this blog--to eat great tasting food that is healthy and doesn't break the budget. Some of the ads are generated based on the blog's keywords, as well, so perhaps there will be something there that you are interested in checking out.

Until next time--good cooking and good eating to you!

Hoppin' Johns

Black beans and brown rice are a staple of mine. A bag of brown rice is under $2. A bag or dried black beans is under $2. Together, they make about 8 generous servings that, with a few extras, can serve as a delicious and healthy meal.

It requires some planning as is always the case with dried beans. I find it is best to soak the black beans at least 12 hours, but 18 is even better.

8 oz Dry Black Beans, Soaked
1 1/2 Cups Brown Rice
Romaine Lettuce (enough for a bed to plate the lettuce)
1/4 Cup Salsa per serving
1/8 Cup Fat-Free Plain Yogurt
Cayenne
Hot Sauce/Tobasco Sauce optional

You can put the beans and rice on at the same time. Completely cover the beans with water and bring to a rolling boil, then reduce to a simmer. Add about 1/2 teaspoon of cayenne to give the beans a touch of additional flavor and heat.

Combine the rice with 3 cups of water, bring to a complete boil, and then reduce to low heat, a very low simmer and cover. The rice will take about 40 minutes to cook, and so will the beans.

After about 40 minutes, put down a bed of romaine. Romaine is really best for this recipe. It is a tall lettuce with rigid leaves that are tightly packed together. The leaves are dark green, with the inner leaves having less color. Some consider romaine the most flavorful lettuce variety. It is usually cheaper to buy a bundle of it, wash and shred it yourself, but you can buy it prewashed and ready as well.

Next, pile on your rice and then put your black beans on top of that. Then your salsa follows (I'll give you a quick and easy salsa recipe in the following weeks, but you can use any canned variety, but I urge you to pay attention to the ingredients and try to find something preservative free). After that, put on your dollop of yogurt. Fat free plain yogurt is a fantastic substitute for fatty sour cream--so good, in fact, no one who hasn't seen me dumping yogurt on their Cubano food hasn't asked, "Is this sour cream?" So, save yourself a heart attack and try yogurt instead.

That's it. Two pots dirty and your plates. This is also a great packed lunch dish since you can make it for dinner the night before and prepare yourself a Hoppin' John for breakfast the next morning and stick in your lunch box.

I had a bit of an eclectic meal the last time I served this, having some spinach with garlic and vinegar and some locally made kim chee to go along with this. The spiciness of the kim chee went well with the spiciness of the Hoppin' John (to which I added quite a bit of hot sauce to in addition to the hot salsa), and then vinegar taste of the spinach (recipe given in a previous post) went well with the kim chee, so in the end it all came together. I hope you enjoy as much as I did!