A Fundamentally Quick Chili

Better than fast-food chili

Once again, I regained some of the inspiration to cook and blog a little; maybe it was all the stress from college or lack of inspiration. Either way, I hope to be back better than before!

One of the most notorious things about chili is that most recipes require that it needs to cook for 6-8 hours in a crockpot (one appliance I'm not keen on getting). Truth be told, this recipe (adapted from The FamilyFun Cookbook) takes less than an hour to make since it uses canned beans instead of dry ones. I used the sweet corn chili recipe as my base and substituted the corn with jalapeno to spice up the evening.

Chili
1 1/2 lb of ground beef
1 cup of chopped onion
1 1/2 green bell peppers
1 can of red bell pepper
2 cans tomato paste

1 can of red kidney beans, drained
1 tbsp cumin

salt and black pepper, to taste
1 tbsp chili powder
Plenty of Tex-Mex seasoning
1 medium tomato, diced
1 to 1 1/2 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp butter
1 tbsp crushed garlic
1 tbsp oregano
1 jalapeno, diced
2 cups of cooked rice

Topping
Crispy bacon, chopped
Crumbled feta cheese

First off, crumble the ground meat into a hot skillet with butter and brown.  I took the liberty of lightly seasoning it with the tex-mex seasoning while it cooked.

While it browns, saute the onions in a large pot until just translucent with the oil. Add to the onions the peppers, diced tomato and paste, jalapeno, beans and seasoning until just about cooked (about 15 minutes on medium heat).

Add the browned beef to the bean casserole and simmer for 5 to 10 minutes, until the ideal thickness is achieved. Pour the chili over the steamed rice.

Chop some crispy bacon roughly and top the chili with it and the cheese. Serve immediately.

Serves 6

Spicy Red Kidney Beans

Damn, it feels good to blog again! :D

Yes, I've been a bit MIA (almost 2 weeks since my last post). The reason, in short, would be that for those two weeks, I had no real urge to blog. I hadn't come up with any good recipes, had a very stressful time with my classes and reeled back into bad eating habits (in other words, eating out). Now, I got a little bit of that blogging itch again, so I'd better make use of it!

A small surprise I made for my boyfriend for dinner. He loves beans (specifically ones from a Rincon barbecue place called “El Cerdito del Cielo” (The Piggie from Heaven). I haven't tasted them myself (not a big bean fan), but by his words, their ham cooked beans are probably the best he's ever had. These might not be them, but they rank a close second in his book.

Ingredients
1 can of red kidney beans
1 can of tomato paste
2 generous tbsp mild chunky Salsa dip
2 tbsp All purpose seasoning
2 tbsp oregano
scant 1 tsp Tabasco sauce
3 slices of ham cubed (about 1/ 2 cup)
salt and black pepper to taste
3/ 4 cups of water
2 tbsp of olive oil
1tsp of ground chili pepper

In a medium pot, mix all the ingredients together and set the temperature to medium-high on  the stove. Cook covered for 30 to 45 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Uncover and cook for an additional 15 minutes on low-medium so the sauce may thicken.

Serve over hot cooked rice or meat.

Onigiri (Rice balls)

Aren't they adorable?

There's something about malleable rice that brings out the child in me.

A few years ago, when I was in high school, I was very much into animé. It was pretty common to see my friends, twin sister and I carrying around bento boxes filled with lunch and share it in the Art classroom. One particular friend, Puki, always packed her lunch with the latest and cutest gadgets. Mind you, this was before bento making exploded on the Internet, or else, you would've seen her work.

The best part of her bento were the assorted shapes she made with the rice. Every once in a while, my friend and twin sister visit me at my apartment to hang out for the weekend and we always end up making onigiri. I'm usually in charge of the filling while she makes the rice.

It took some experimenting and some reading (see Simply Sushi by Steven Pillet), but I finally got the recipe right.

Sushi Meshi
2 cups short grain white rice
2 cups + generous 1/4 cup of water (0.55 L)
1 generous tbsp of coriander (for more authenticity, use 3 cm of kombu)

Vinegar dressing
1/5 cup (50 ml) of vinegar
1/5 cup (50 ml) of cooking wine
2 tbsp of sugar (30 g)
1/2 tbsp + 1/4 tbsp of salt (10 g)

Start by washing the rice by massaging it with your hand gently. This will release all the impurities such as bran into the water, turning it milky white. Drain completely and repeat until the water is almost clear and drain once more.

Rice Cooker version (I used this one in this recipe)
Add the rice, water and seasoning into the rice cooker and switch on. The cooker will do the rest.


Pot version:
Add the rice, water and seasoning into a pot. Cover and bring the water to a boil in medium to high heat. Reduce to medium heat after 1 minute. Once the rice is visible over the water, reduce to low heat. Once the water has evaporated, turn up to high heat for 10 seconds and turn off. Leave the rice for an additional 15 minutes to finish cooking by steaming. If using kombu, please remove before proceeding.

While the rice is cooking, prepare the vinegar dressing. Start by mixing the wine and vinegar thoroughly, then add the sugar and salt. Turn the heat to low to dissolve the crystals completely.

Once the rice is done (it should be sticky, but relatively odorless), transfer to a wide, shallow container. Add the prepared vinegar, making sure to spread it evenly with a spatula.

The filling is up to you! I've made onigiri with ground beef and chicken (I like my meat, thank you very much) but they can be filled with vegetables and fish if you want.

There are plenty of online shops that sell rice moulds at affordable prices and assorted shapes.

If you don't have any (like me), just use a plastic wrap to mould the rice into the shape you want.

Have fun!

Karaage with steamed rice

Karaage with steam rice
Originally uploaded by bunnyq.lita

A quick, easy and incredibly tasty way to finish up any leftover raw chicken.

Karaage is Japanese-style chicken nuggets, usually served with lemon and eaten all year long and a good bento standby.

The recipe used is from "The Manga Cookbook" by Yoko Ishihara

Karaage
1 lb of boneless chicken thighs
1 1/2 cups of cornstarch/cornflour (or enough to coat the chicken)
1 lemon
1 cup of vegetable oil (or enough to cover the chicken)

For the marinade
1/2 cup of soy sauce
1 tsp of freshly grated ginger
2 cloves of garlic (or 1 tsp of garlic paste)

Steamed Rice
1 1/2 cups of medium grain rice
2 cups of water
1 tbsp of vegetable oil
salt for taste

Place the garlic, ginger and soy sauce in a container with lid to make the marinade for the chicken.

Cut said poultry into bite-sized portions and toss them inside the CLOSED container (unless you want to clean up soy from your kitchen and clothes). Let it sit in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.

While the chicken marinades, start boiling the water with the rice, oil and salt for about 20 minutes, making sure to move it along to speed up and completely cook it.

Transfer the chicken into a ziplock bag with the cornstarch (or another container) and shake until the chicken is throuroughly covered.

Heat up the oil in a large pot (I use a wok for my frying) on medium heat and slowly add the chicken. Fry until it's golden brown. Remove from pot and place on paper towels to drain the oil.

Cut the lemon and squirt the juice on top of the chicken to finish!
Note: You can skip the lemon all together, as I did. It will be just as delicious!