plonq | A couple of old family recipes (Reply)

At one of the more recent meets the subject of cooking and recipes came up, and I promised to post a couple of them here when I got a chance.

I now have a chance, so here a couple of recipes.

Bean Surprise
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My brother came up with this recipe more years ago than I care to admit, and its always a treat.

Ingredients:

1-2 cans of Boston-style beans.
1 Medium onion (cut into small bits)
3-4 Wieners (sliced thin)
1 can Mushroom Parts (optional)
Tabasco sauce (to taste)
Worcestershire sauce (to taste)
Black Strap Molasses (to taste)
1 slab Butter, margarine or oil. (Butter smells and tastes the best)

Directions:

Slice the wieners and sauté them in butter or oil. While they are cooking, cut up a medium onion into small bits, pausing occasionally to stir the wieners. Add the onion and sauté them together until the onion is transparent. Open one or two cans of your favourite beans (I prefer the ones with pork & molasses, but the ones in tomato sauce will probably work almost as well). Open and drain a can of mushroom parts. Add the beans and mushroom parts to the pot and stir to combine all ingredients. Add a tablespoon or two of black strap molasses, about a teaspoon of Worcestershire sauce, and enough Tabasco to give the mixture some bite. Adjust any of the last three ingredients to taste.

Heat and enjoy.

Thai Curry Chicken
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A friend gave me this recipe, and I added my own twists to it.

Ingredients:

3-4 Chicken breasts, sliced thin.
1 Can sliced bamboo shoots
1 Red pepper, sliced thin.
1 Green Pepper, sliced thin (optional)
1 Can sliced water chestnuts (optional)
1 Can cut baby corn (optional)
1-2 Cans coconut milk
1-2 Cans Cream of Mushroom soup concentrate
1 tsp Fish Sauce (found in the Asian section of most stores)
Red Thai Curry Paste (found in the Asian section of most stores)
1 tbsp Sugar
Oil

Directions:

Slice the chicken into thin strips. If you don't want the extravagance of chicken breasts, you can use thighs, or even substitute turkey meat or stewing beef at this point. Cook the meat in oil over medium heat until it is cooked through (in the case of chicken or turkey, just cook it until it has turned completely white. If you cook it any longer it will get tough.) Drain if needed. Add the bamboo shoots, water chestnuts and baby corn (all drained), peppers, coconut milk and mushroom soup. Stir thoroughly. Add the fish sauce and sugar, then heat the mixture through and begin adding the curry paste a bit at a time until the flavour and heat are about right for your palate. The curry should be hot, but not unpleasantly so. If you use two cans of coconut milk and soup then double the amount of fish oil and sugar respectively.

The "lite" coconut milk and soups work just fine as well. You can also use sugar-substitute in place of the sugar (adjusting quantities as needed).

This recipe will also work with eggplant and/or zucchini if you are a vegetarian.