Lentejas con Jengibre (Lentils with Ginger)

It's been a bit chilly the last few days so it seemed like a perfect opportunity to make a pot of lentils. In Spanish they are called Lentejas and where I live, they are a common dish. The prep work is simple and you just cook them until they are soft.

 

In a large sauce pan, add one bag of lentils, 1 can/package of tomato paste, 3 chicken boullion cubes, tablespoon of salt, teaspoon of black pepper, 1 tablespoon of cumin and water about an inch above the lentils (you may need to add more later). Bring to a boil and reduce to a high simmer.

I use a mini processor to make life easier, but the following can also be done with a knife and cutting board. Chop/dice/process your veggies however you like them. 6 strips of bacon, half clove of garlic, 1 small onion, 5 culantro leaves, 1 small carrot, 1 small bell pepper and fresh ginger about the size of a marble. Adjust the quantities to your liking, you can also add celery, curry, coconut milk or other yummy flavors, I normally work with what we have on hand so the recipe changes from time to time.

Add all of your chopped ingredients into the pot with the lentils, stir it together and top with a lid. Check on the lentils every 10 minutes or so to make sure there is enough water and to not overcook them. Cook until the lentils are soft and then they are ready to serve alone or over rice. We will be having ours with the customary Costa Rican staples of rice, beans and a boiled green banana.

Notes: Culantro can be found in your local latin grocery store, if not, you can substitute with the fluffy cilantro that looks like parsley. As mentioned, this recipe changes based on what's on hand, sometimes we have a little bit of cabbage, so I slice it thin and add it to the pot. If we have very ripe tomatoes that need to be consumed, I will throw them in the blender and use them instead of tomato paste, this of course changes the amount of water needed since the blended tomatoes are not concentrated.

Pita-Pockets and Traveling on a Budget

Living in Central America, I travel just about every three months or so because of my visa. I almost always travel on a budget, so eating out for the duration of the trip simply doesn’t work well. The most recent trip was to Bocas del Toro, Panama with my roommate.

First thing, made sure to pack my hot/cold bag that I picked up for a dollar at the grocery store ages ago and have used more than any cooler we own. I suggest everyone should have one, they fold down real nice and are convenient to carry with you.

So upon arrival in Bocas, we decided we would eat-in as best we could without a kitchen, our room did however have a mini fridge. A trip to the grocery store resulted in a package of pita bread, a small package of good bologna with the peppercorns in it, 6 slices of American cheese, can of tuna, can of smoked tuna (make sure they are pull top), small package of mayo with lemon, tiny jar of green olives, small head of lettuce, small onion, two bags of chips and aluminum foil. This covered lunch for two days plus a snack.

We made bologna pitas with cheese, lettuce, mayo and onion; tuna pitas with olives, lettuce, mayo and onion; also cheese pitas with lettuce, mayo and onion. Some we ate in the room, others we wrapped up in foil and placed in the hot/cold bag for our excursions, they were perfect on our trip.

We were however on vacation, so we ate out for breakfast and dinner spending no more than $10 for the two of us at each meal and a couple of times far less. One night we had two pizza slices while walking the town, another night be nibbled on items we purchased from street vendors while strolling the main drag, and our last night we shared a giant plate of chow mien and an orange soda while overlooking the water.

We had a blast and enjoyed our food, if you are traveling on a budget, I hope this gives you some ideas on how to keep it cheap.

Notes: Although I brought my hot/cold bag, I failed to think about items that might be necessary for assembly, like a knife which we borrowed from the small hotel’s owner. In the future, I’ll make sure to have a little kitchen kit with us. Also, the pita bread was a little difficult to work with as it had been refrigerated at the store, but the roommate won the in-store debate, in the future I will do tortilla wraps. Thought the roommate was a bit goofy for buying the olives, but I don’t think I’ll ever make a tuna sandwich without them again, super delicious results.

FYI: Bocas del Toro was awesome!

Mini Stove-top Mealoaves

On a super chilly morning, I was feeling a little nostalgic for food from back home. Lunch is our big meal, what to make? Based on the ingredients on hand, my Mom's meatloaf came to mind. Thoughts of the tangy and sweet tomato based sauce had me salivating. We don’t have a working oven (door fell off, don't ask), so I needed to create a stove-top version. I also don’t use a measuring cup, so below is the rough recipe. Not the greatest presentation, but trust me, they were so good!

Mix together half a kilo of ground beef, packet of beef consume, cup or so of oatmeal, handful of bread crumbs, handful of flour, teaspoon of black pepper, 1 medium onion diced (set aside 2 tablespoons for the sauce), two eggs. Mix until distributed evenly, set aside while making the sauce so the oatmeal can get nice and soggy.

The sauce is 1 packet/can of tomato paste, 3 heavy tablespoons of brown sugar, 2 tablespoons of mustard, cup of apple cider vinegar, 2 tablespoons of diced onion and a tablespoon of cumin. Mix it all together and cook on a low heat until the onions are soft and the sauce has thickened up like ketchup, then set aside. You can adjust the amounts to your liking.

Back to the mini meatloaves….stir the meat mixture once more. Heat a frying pan with a little bit of oil to medium. Then make your meat mixture into square patties the size of a slice of meatloaf. (I make them as I’m placing them in the pan, one less plate to clean.) Fry the patties until they are nice and golden on each side. You may have to put a few finished ones on the side to make room in the pan. When done, add all of the patties back into the pan and pour the sauce over them. When it looks like the sauce might start to burn, pour half cup of water into the pan to deglaze and cover with a lid on low heat for about 10 minutes.

Notes: From start to finish is about 30-40 minutes. The mini meatloaves were super most and tender, like butter. My mini food processor makes the onion chopping go much faster. This recipe served 4 of us, 2 are light eaters and we have enough leftovers to feed us again. This would probably feed 6 normal eaters just fine. I served these little beauties with boxed macaroni and cheese, but you can pair them with anything you’d like. You could even skip the side dishes and make sandwiches on French bread, that’s what I’ll be doing with the leftovers.

Pork Chops in Mushroom Gravy, Veggie Medley with Homefried Potatoes and Butternut Squash

Dinner tonight was delicious. I started with the vegetable medley. Half a can of corn. Half of a small onion, carrot and red bell pepper rough chopped. A handful of green beans from my parents farm chopped to match in size. Cooked altogether until tender. For the homefries, I left the skin on the potatoes, chopped them into chucks. Peeled the squash and chopped it into similar sized chunks to the potatoes. Boiled them in water until soft, but still firm. I drained the water to the side added a little vegetable oil and S&P, then fried the combo up. I made Pork chops which I cooked in cream of mushroom soup made from dried soup mix and the water from the potatoes and squash. Yum!