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| Posted: Tue May 13th, 2008 02:26 pm |
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1st Post |
Vargr
Vargr
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There were times in Vargr's past when pre-payday meals demanded a bit of creative unconventionality in the kitchen. Scrounging from a near empty refrigerator and pantry became a bit of an art form, and "cheap" was the operative word. These were times when meat came mostly in two forms, ground beef hamburger and hotdogs, both of them the cheapest bargain stuff in the store. Variations were many, and eclectic, to try to add a bit of interest to a limited menu. Hotdogs, for instance, served triple duty as key ingredients in "beanie-weenie", "weenie-mac", and wrapped in a slice of sandwich bread as "poor-boy dogs".
On rare occasions, we'd "splurge" for a big bucket of chicken when it was on sale, and there'd be chicken variations for the week's meals that followed. Here's a "blast from the past"!
Only slightly "tongue in cheek", this recipe actually works as written. For folks who've graduated from "hard core" bachelor mode, Vargr's done a second version with substitute steps that use a bit more conventional cooking style. Will post that at another date.
With emphasis on "cheap", this recipe pretty much sticks to the key "bachelor spices": Garlic, onion, salt, pepper. Vargr's pantry also included ground ginger (okay, wuff was a "rebel" even then! *grins*), and one of those yellow plastic "squeeze lemons" was usually rolling about the 'fridge (You didn't look too close at the "use by" date back then.). You can make this dish without those ingredients, but its somewhat more Asian-flavored with them in, at least to wuff's way of thinking.
Disclaimer: Some of these techniques are NOT recommended at any time, such as "cooking in the raw" or tossing frozen foods directly from their package into a hot, oiled pan! Just because we did this when we were young and stupid doesn't make it right, or safe. We "got away" with it without serious injuries - your mileage may vary!
Bachelor Stir-Fry "Sticky Noodles"
"Sticky Noodle", because the eggs are added raw and cooked into the combined noodles and ingredients, making it all cling together. We enjoyed this version then, because we were hungry, and this kept everything from slipping off the fork to be chased around the plate. If you like a more conventional "chow mien" texture, wuff will add that optional preparation method as well.
Ingredients:
2 packs of "ramen" style noodles - Chicken or Oriental flavor, whatever brand is on sale. Should be about 10 cents a pack.
4-5 packets of left over soy sauce from Chinese take-out - Free, and they keep almost forever in the fridge.
1 leftover chicken thigh or breast, or 2 left over legs - Churches, KFC, Popeyes, supermarket deli, or any other takeout.
1 pack frozen, mixed vegetables - These were always the best bargain veggies in the freezer section. Watch for sales and grab a couple packs when they're cheap. Used to get 'em for well under a buck.
1 egg - We always seemed to end up with 1 lonely egg; too few for a decent breakfast, and most other recipes wanted 2 or more.
Garlic powder - Can use Garlic Salt as well, but be careful and taste before adding any extra salt later.
Onion powder or minced dried onion flakes - the flakes are more available and cheaper these days
Pepper
"squeeze lemon" juice - We used one of those yellow plastic lemons, but any lemon juice is okay.
Ground Ginger
Vegetable Oil
Optional: 1/2 can of sweet peas, corn, or green beans - These were the 3 "staples" for our vegetables back then, for when we wanted to get "fancy" and actually include a vegetable "side" with the meal. Baked beans didn't count - those were a main entre! *grin* There was frequently a can of something still left pre-payday. The peas seemed to work best in this dish, with corn as a second choice.
Preparation:
Chicken: If breaded, peel off the breading with your fingers and have it as a "cooks treat" while you're working. With fingers or a knife, pull the chicken off the bone and break up into chunks. Set meat aside for now, and toss the bones. (If using fingers, wash up before and after in the kitchen sink, and don't use TOO much dish-soap on your hands or you'll have the runs all night from the soapsuds in the food!) Don't feed he bones to the doggy - they splinter!
Open the noodles packets and put them in a sauce pan with just enough water to cover the noodle blocks. Don't break up the noodles, and DO NOT add the flavor packets that come with the noodles! Keep them for later to season the whole dish.
Shake a few shakes each of the garlic powder, salt, pepper, and onion flakes into the water, and turn heat on high. Cover, with the lid set a wee bit off center so a crack remains around one edge of the rim. That way you can see the foam rising before it lifts the lid and boils over. When that happens, take off the lid to let the foam recede a bit, and turn the fire down until its still boiling but not trying to make a mess all over the stove. Sometimes, a quick stir will help the foam go down faster, if its still threatening to bubble over.
Crack the egg into a water glass, and stir it up a few seconds with a fork. Fish out any bits of shell before stirring, or they'll "hide" in the now-opaque mix. Dont try to make it all one yellow color - just make sure you break the yolk and mingle it somewhat with the rest. Set the glass aside out of "elbow range" so it'll still be upright and available for later.
Heat a big frypan until pretty hot, add a "splash" of vegetable oil (a capful if you're into "measuring"), and swirl it once to help coat the bottom of the pan better.
Tear open the frozen mixed veggies.
WARNING -- Make sure you are NOT "cooking in the raw" at this point! A shirt is definitely recommended, in addition to coverings from the waist down!
Dump the frozen veggies into the fry pan -- jump back from the initial spits and splatters - then stir the veggies once or twice to get them spread out around the pan and as many in contact with the heat as you can.
Tear open 2 or 3 of the soy packets and squirt them into the cooking veggies. Add a squirt of lemon juice, a few shakes of garlic powder, a couple shakes of ground ginger (more if like ginger flavor), a few shakes of onion flakes, and some pepper. Hold the salt, because the soy sauce is salty.
Stir the veggies around a few times, letting them sit long enough to "toast a bit" between stirring.
Watch out for the noodles -- they'll try to boil over right about now, while you're busy!
When the veggies are all thawed out and starting to smell warm and good, toss in the chicken meat and stir once to distribute.
Drain the water off the noodles into the sink, and pour the boiled noodles into the fry pan. Don't worry about "al dente" or all those fancy cook terms. If you've done this all in the order given, the noodles will be "done enuff" by the time the veggie and meat part is ready to receive them.
Add the flavor packets from the noodles packages now. Tear open 2-3 more soy packets and squirt them in. Stir the noodles into the veggies and meat to mix everything together.
Here's where this becomes "Sticky Noodles":
Give the egg another quick stir with the fork, and then pour it over the noodles. Stir the mixture around until the egg cooks. This will make everything cling together a bit.
If you like you noodles more "chow-mien" style, before you add all the veggies to the fry pay, pour the egg into the pan and stir it around constantly until it scrambles, the put it back into the glass. Add the already-scrambled egg chunks at this point, and don't stir quite as much - just enough to distribute them - otherwise they'll 'disappear' into fine granules instead of flavor-bites.
Taste, and adjust pepper, ginger, garlic, salt, or lemon as desired.
If using the optional peas, corn, or green beans, add them now. If you're using peas, only stir them once, GENTLY, or they'll smush!
Turn off all the burners. Make sure they're all off - you used 2 of them!
Remove from heat and serve. Toss a coin for who gets the plate, and who finishes the other half out of the skillet.
Feeds two hungry bachelors, or you can put the second half, pan and all, into the fridge (covered with its lid), and reheat it for tomorrow.
____________________
We grow not old, so long as we continue to chase our dreams.
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| Posted: Tue May 13th, 2008 02:43 pm |
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2nd Post |
boojum
boojum
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Just something to add for those of us counting calories:
Ramen Noodles: 750 Calories (380/block)
Soy Sauce: 44 Calories (22/ounce)
Chicken, thigh: 82 Calories (34/ounce)
Mixed Vegetables: 270 Calories
Egg: 75 Calories
Vegetable Oil: 44 Calories (44/tsp)
Total Calories for the dish: 1265 Calories.
Serves 2-3 (depending how hungry your bachelors are):
so about 420-630 Calories per person
Last edited on Tue May 13th, 2008 04:22 pm by Vargr
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