(Not Really) Moroccan Chicken & Lentils Recipe

This might be my favorite Hunger Challenge recipe. My apologies for it being brown on brown on brown, but trust me, it is delicious. On a bed of earthy and mildly spiced lemony lentils rests sweet roasted onions--some soft and some chewy--and tender roast chicken with crisp skin. It's is a combination of two different Bon Appetit recipes, but modified pretty significantly because I didn't have all the ingredients necessary. The technique for pan roasting the chicken thighs is a good one though I had to adjust it to keep the chicken from overcooking.

Beans and legumes like lentils are a very economical way to stretch a budget and more expensive ingredients such as fresh vegetables and meat or cheese. My chicken thighs were over 6 ounces each, so one per person was plenty, but if you need more for bigger appetites by all means double the number of chicken thighs. I baked this dish in the toaster oven, you may need to cook it a little longer if you use a conventional oven. I'm not sure how Moroccan the original recipe is. My version is undoubtedly even less Moroccan which accounts for he admittedly goofy name.

A few other tips for saving money when it comes to cooking and shopping:

* Canned beans are more than dried beans. Cook things like chicken broth, beans and rice ahead of time and keep them in the refrigerator all week and use them as you need them.

* Look for vegetables that are in season and on sale. Compare the price to frozen vegetables especially for things like spinach and peas.

* Soups and stews like chili are easy ways to save, but you may get tired of eating soft food. Make some crunchy raw salads with carrots or beets to add variety.

* Scour the "ethnic" food aisles for bargains. Sometimes spices and even staples like rice can be cheaper there.

* Cook double portions and you'll have something to eat on days when you don't have the time to cook.

* Buy in bulk. Instead of buying a jar of spices and bags of dried fruit and nuts, buy just a few teaspoons or tablespoons.

* Price out "value packs." The chicken I bought was only 99 cents a pound, but most packages were at least four pounds.

* Utilize ingredients that add flavor, texture and visual appeal to your meals, but don't cost a lot such as fresh cilantro, green onions and toasted bread crumbs.

Not Really Moroccan Chicken & Lentils

$2.09 for 2 servings (double the chicken for bigger appetites)

Ingredients

1/4 lb brown lentils .32
3 cups water
salt

2 chicken thighs, bone in 1.60
1/2 onion, sliced .20

2 Tablespoons olive oil .40
Juice of 1/2 lemon .17
1/2 teaspoon chile powder
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon .05
1 garlic clove, minced .05
Chopped cilantro to garnish .10 (optional)

Instructions

Preheat toaster oven to 450 degrees. Combine water and 1/4 teaspoon salt in a saucepan over high heat. Add lentils; bring to boil. Cover, reduce heat and simmer until lentils are tender, about 20 minutes. Drain well; rinse with cool water and drain again. In a mixing bowl combine the olive oil, lemon juice, chile powder, cinnamon and garlic. Add the lentils and toss. Season with salt to taste. Make a bed of lentils on each plate that you will serve the chicken on.

Season chicken with salt, pepper. Heat a cast-iron skillet over high heat until hot. Place thighs in dry skillet, skin side down, and cook 2 minutes. Reduce heat to medium; continue cooking until fat renders and skin is golden brown, about 5 minutes. Flip and cook for another 5 minutes. Flip again so skin side is down and tuck sliced onions into the skillet, between the pieces of chicken. Transfer to the oven and cook 12 minutes. Check the skillet occasionally to make sure the onions are not burning and stir as necessary. Flip chicken so skin side is up; continue cooking until skin is crisp and meat is cooked through, about 5 minutes longer. Chicken is done when it reaches the internal temperature of 165 degrees. Remove from the oven. Place onions on the lentil salad and chicken on top of that. Garnish with chopped cilantro.

Day 162! Singapore - Singapore Noodles - Up Next, Slovakia

It's a beautiful, cool New England night -- even the air smells like fall. The sun is notably lower in the sky now, which means I have to cook a little earlier (and faster) to photograph in natural light. Luckily, this evening's meal of Singapore Noodles was both easy to prep and cook, so I got some shots off before the sun set. This was such a delicious and perfect dinner for the end of a long week, I wonder why I don't stir-fry more often? So now a little more about this beautiful and interesting country that's on my top 10 list of places I'd love to visit.

Located in South East Asia off the southern tip of the Malay peninsula, Singapore is an island country made up of 63 islands and separated from Malaysia by the Straits of Johor to its north and from Indonesia's Riau Islands by the Singapore Strait to the south. Singapore's earliest recorded history dates back to the 3rd century, but it was first settled in AD 1298-1299. During the 18th century, modern Singapore was founded. In 1819, Sir Thomas Stamford negotiated a deal to make Singapore a trading station, which attracted merchants from all over Asia, the Middle East and the U.S. When the Suez Canal opened in 1869, trade between the east and the west expanded even further, significantly increasing the population of Chinese, Indians and Malays. In 1941, Singapore was attacked and occupied by Japan during WWII, until Japan surrendered in 1945.  For a year, Singapore was a Crown Colony, but in 1959, it finally achieved with independence.

An extremely multicultural and diverse country, there are 4 major ethnic groups and accompanying languages: English, Chinese, Malay and Tamil. The language of the indigenous people is Bahasa Melayu or Malay. It follows then, that cuisine in Singapore is equally interesting, yet hard to categorize, with South and North Indian, Cantonese and Malay traditions and influences. Following is but a small sampling of some of the food, dishes and spices that make Singapore so interesting: Vegetarian thali, naan, bri yani, spring rolls, noodles, dim sum, roasted meat, soup, chicken,rice, steamed seafood, coconut milk, cardamom, cloves, cumin, coriander  chillies, ginger, turmeric, galangal root (I have some in my freezer!), lemon grass, curry leaves, shrimp paste, peanut sauce, bean curd and satay. There's not one thing in this list I wouldn't love to eat for breakfast, lunch or dinner.

Shrimp cut into small pieces and beef sliced super thin across the grain

Shittake mushrooms, sliced thin (I added extra)

Scallions and green beans, sliced on the diagonal

Curry - with crushed, dried red pepper added (I didn't have Madras curry)

Onions, sliced thin and crushed garlic

Rice Vermicelli noodles, soaked in boiling water for 5 minutes

Dry vermicelli noodles on a clean tea towel while heating the wok

 Stir-fry shrimp and beef first, then remove and set aside

Stir-fry mushrooms, onions and curry

Add vegetables, noodles and soy sauce - and that's it!

Singapore Noodles (Recipe Adapted from The Complete Stir-Fry, Edited by Helen Aitken)
(Serves 4-6)

150 grams (about 1/2 package) dried rice vermicelli
Oil for cooking
250 grams (8oz) beef, sliced super thin, across the grain
250 grams (8 oz) raw prawns, cut into small pieces
2 Tbsp. Madras curry powder (or regular curry powder with ground dried hot peppers added)
2 cloves garlic, crushed
100 grams (3-1/2 oz) shittake mushrooms, thinly, sliced
1 onion, thinly sliced
100 grams (3-1/2 oz) green beans, thinly sliced on the diagonal
1 Tbs. soy sauce
4 spring onions, thinly sliced on the diagonal

1. Place the vermicelli in a large bowl, cover with boiling water and soak for 5 minutes. Drain well and spread out on a clean tea towel to dry.
2. Heat the wok until very hot, add 1 tablespoon of the oil and swirl it around to coat the side.
3. Stir fry the beef and the prawn pieces in batches over high heat. Remove from the wok and set aside.
4. Reheat the wok, add 2 tbsp. of the oil and stir fry the curry powder and garlic for 1-2 minutes, or until fragrant. Add the mushrooms and onion and stir fry over medium heat for 2-3 minutes, or until the onion and mushrooms are soft.
5. Return the beef and prawn to the work, add the beans and 2 tsp. water, and toss to combine. Add the drained noodles, soy sauce and spring onion. Toss well and serve.

Final Assessment: As I said before, I don't know why I don't stir-fry more often, especially when this meal was so easy and required very little prep. I didn't have Madras curry, so I used a mortar and pestle to grind some very hot dried red chillies, which I added into the curry. It gave the noodles just the right amount of heat. This might be the first time I used curry in a stir-fry, but it was excellent. I used shrimp and beef, but the recipe could easily omit meat or seafood altogether and add more vegetables. A great one pot  wok meal that my kids gobbled up with chopsticks.

© 2010-2011, What's Cooking in Your World? Sarah Commerford/All Rights Reserved

More Observations on the Hunger Challenge

Yesterday's post was the most pitiful thing I think I've ever written. I tried a new recipe, Queso Panela Kebabs, and it was a failure. The cheese melted into a sad pile of goo. Failure happens but it's all the more discouraging when you're on a budget. It's not like you can run out and buy more ingredients. Also, you can probably tell, my heart just wasn't in it. I was feeling uninspired and that always comes across when I'm cooking (and writing). So I made a dull meal lacking any real creativity. It makes me embarrassed to read that post. But my embarrassment is nothing compared to the feelings that someone really living on a limited budget would experience.

There has been some criticism of the Hunger Challenge specifically from people who have experienced real hardship, some of whom have been on public assistance. I can completely understand why they would not want to participate and would feel uneasy with the Hunger Challenge. If I experienced real hunger I would not want to relive it or even be reminded of it. The Hunger Challenge is about the experience of living on a very limited budget. It is NOT an attempt to fully experience what someone actually living on a food stamps budget experiences, because that would be impossible.

In the future I hope the Hunger Challenge will make room at the table for those in our midst who have experienced hunger. I'd like to see a space for those who are willing to share their stories, like KitchenMage. Painful as it may be, those stories are more powerful than anything we who are taking the Hunger Challenge could ever share. Like the Hunger Challengers they raise awareness about hunger and also inspire readers to make donations. And really, no matter what we do, that's what it's all about.

Ways you can help

♥ Read blogs by people taking the Hunger Challenge. There's a blogroll here.

♥ Follow the Hunger Challengers on Twitter. There's a listing here, or search for the hashtag #HungerChallenge.

♥ Learn more about the San Francisco Food Bank - and make a donation. For every $1 donated the food bank can supply hungry people with $6 worth of food!

♥ Follow the San Francisco Food Bank on Twitter or visit their Facebook page to see how they're fighting hunger every day.

Chicken & Vegetable Kebabs

I believe there's a trick to making kebabs. While skewers threaded with alternating chunks of vegetables and seafood, meat or whatever-you-put-on-a-skewer look great, they are difficult to cook so that everything is done at the same time. On the other hand, if you make each skewer with just one ingredient, it's guaranteed to cook evenly. Another thing, I have metal skewers and bamboo ones as well. Recipes always tell you to soak the bamboo skewers so they don't burn. But I can't be bothered. I'm going to throw the skewers away after I use them anyway so what do I care if they burn? I've never had any kebabs burst into flames and I'm not cooking over an open flame (unless I'm broiling) so it's really no big deal.

Food on a stick always seems to be more plentiful than just plain grilled food-on-a-plate. I don't know why. I had lots of chicken thighs, because I bought a "value pack" for 99 cents a pound. But I had to buy 4 pounds. Luckily I have a household of two. I can't imagine one person eating anywhere near that much chicken.

I made a simple marinade for the chicken and the vegetables, using the paltry ingredients I had on hand. I used only vegetables that were on sale. Fresh herbs would have been a nice addition but I didn't have the budget for them and my dry Italian seasoning mix probably would have burned. I served these skewer with couscous but really any starch would do. After I bought the bulk couscous I saw bulgar which was much cheaper and probably has more nutritional value. In an attempt to use everything possible, I added the lemon zest from my half lemon to the couscous. This is not a recipe I would make again. It was healthy, cheap and fast, but it was also boring.

Chicken & Vegetable Kebabs

$2.92 for 2 servings

Ingredients

1/2 onion .10
1/2 zucchini .34
1 Anaheim chile pepper .29
4 oz. button mushrooms, stems removed .99
2 chicken thigh, skinned and boned .80

1 Tablespoon olive oil .18
Juice of 1/2 lemon .17
I clove garlic, pressed .05
Salt and freshly ground pepper

Instructions

Mix the marinade, toss the vegetables in it then thread on skewers. Then place the chicken in the marinade, allow to marinate for 10 minutes then thread on skewers. Grill or broil until done.

Swimming Rama

Since today is Seth's birthday, I figured I would post one of his favorite dishes.  Happy Birthday! This has become a favorite dish of mine as well.  One of the best things to result from my pregnancy is a newfound tolerance for spicy food.  Previously, I had absolutely no tolerance for anything spicy.  None.  Now I can finally appreciate the wonderful world of spicy food.  Swimming Rama was a dish that always sounded good to me in theory, but when I actually got the dish in a restaurant, it was too spicy for me and I couldn’t eat it.  Now I find myself craving the stir fried slices of chicken that have been coated with a creamy, spicy sauce and placed on a bed of spinach.

Ingredients
1 lb chicken breast, sliced thinly and sprinkled with salt, pepper, and some fresh lime juice
5 garlic cloves, minced
1 shallot, minced
1 ½ teaspoon chile paste
½ cup peanut butter
1 teaspoon honey
1 tablespoon lime juice
2 teaspoons fish sauce
1 cup coconut milk
1 tablespoon peanut oil
10 ounces spinach

Instructions
Whisk peanut butter, honey, lime juice, fish sauce, and coconut milk in a small bowl.  Heat oil over high heat and brown chicken.  Reduce heat to medium and add shallot and garlic. Cook until the chicken has cooked through and the shallot is soft.  Add peanut sauce and chile paste and cook for another minute or two to allow the flavors to come together.  Serve over a handful of spinach and with a side of rice.

Hunger Challenge Chili Recipe

This is one of the cheapest meals I know how to make. There are a lot of tricks to make it taste good without using very many ingredients. Chili is all about layers or flavor and texture and spice. While texture is not the hardest thing to achieve on a budget, flavor and spice are a bit trickier. To make up for the lack of complexity in the spices, I overcompensated in the texture department and also tried to get the most flavor out of the ingredients I could afford.

I like some fresh vegetables in my chili so I used one Anaheim chile and half of a large onion. I also used mushroom stems. Surprise! I will use the caps for another recipe and I would have just discarded the stems. Mushrooms, even just the crumbled stems, lend savory "umami" flavor and also meaty texture. Speaking of meaty texture, this is not a purely vegetarian chili. It has two slices of bacon which might not seem like much, but it adds a bit of meatiness and fat for cooking the vegetables.

I used a combination of white beans and red beans which made it more visually appealing. The beans were cooked from dry beans so I spent less money than if I had bought canned beans. I also used one can of corn. I bought a 2 1/2 ounce packet of ground New Mexico chile powder I found in the Hispanic food section of the store. I used 3 Tablespoons but you could use less or more to taste. Likewise the amount of salt you use will vary depending upon your taste. I only used one clove of garlic which was probably a mistake. I would recommend at least two.

Because I cooked all the beans earlier, the chili comes together quickly. I normally don't buy diced tomatoes because they don't break down very well, but in this case that was fine. I primarily chose them because they had "mild green chiles" in them and I was looking for all the flavor I could find.

Frankly this chili isn't all the different from my normal everyday vegetarian version, though it has a lot less spice. Depending upon your serving size, you could certainly add cilantro, chopped green onions and a tiny bit of cheese on top of each serving and still stay on budget.

Hunger Challenge Chili
$3.68 for 4 servings

Ingredients

2 slices bacon, diced .58
1 Anaheim chile pepper, diced .29
1/2 onion, diced .11
1 clove garlic .05 (I would recommend adding more)
3 Tablespoons ground New Mexico chile powder .30
Mushroom stems from an 8 oz pkg of mushrooms (no cost since they would normally be discarded)
2 cups water
1 can diced Mexican style tomatoes .98
2 cups cooked red beans (1/4 lb dried) .31
2 cups cooked white beans (1/4 lb dried) .31
1 can corn .75

Generous toppings for 1 serving, about 35¢
cilantro .05
cheese .24
green onions .06

Instructions

Heat a large dutch oven and saute the bacon for a few minutes or until beginning to brown. Add the onions and pepper and continue cooking until they are soft and onions are golden. Add the mushrooms and garlic and cook for another couple of minutes then add the chili powder, water and tomatoes and simmer for 10 minutes before adding the beans and corn. Simmer another 10 minutes and season aggressively with salt.

Is Hunger a Taboo Subject?

The first year I participated in the Hunger Challenge, one of my commenters basically said that anyone who was hungry in this country was lazy. I was also told by a blogger that she wouldn't participate in the Challenge because it was her personal goal to support organic farmers and the Hunger Challenge just encouraged support of an already broken food system. In subsequent years I have heard that hunger is a bigger issue in other parts of the world, and that childhood obesity is the real problem we should be focused on.

The goal of the Hunger Campaign is to raise awareness about hunger in the San Francisco Bay Area. Participants in the Challenge live on the same budget a food stamp recipient would receive, a paltry $4.72 a day. But somehow, I find many people I tell about the Challenge don't want to hear about that. They'd rather focus on something else. All those other issues - politics, sustainable food systems, organics, world hunger and even childhood obesity get way more attention in the media than local hunger. Yes. I said local hunger.

Here in San Francisco, according to the San Francisco Food Bank, 197,000 people struggle to feed themselves and their families. In Marin, just over 40,000 people - or 16% of the population - face the same problem. 
I find it shocking that in a community as rich as ours (San Francisco and Marin), 237,000 people live at or below 185% of the federal poverty line ($33,873 per year for a family of three). While children or families may be eligible for aid at that level, even with assistance it can be very challenging to provide enough food to consistently nourish themselves.

Won't you think about what you can do help alleviate hunger in your community?

GET INVOLVED!

♥ Take the Hunger Challenge yourself. Sign up here.

♥ Read blogs by people taking the Hunger Challenge. There's a blogroll here.

♥ Follow the Hunger Challengers on Twitter. There's a listing here, or search for the hashtag #HungerChallenge.

♥ Learn more about the San Francisco Food Bank - and make a donation. For every $1 donated the food bank can supply hungry people with $6 worth of food!

♥ Follow the San Francisco Food Bank on Twitter or visit their Facebook page to see how they're fighting hunger every day.