One-Pot Rice Dinner

This is a great lazy dinner. Seriously easy. Cut up the stuff, put it in the pot, cook it until it’s done. No draining. No constant stirring. No multiple-pot-washing. And it’s my favorite way to use up cheap ingredients…aka hotdogs on sale for $1.11/pack of 8. Are the hotdogs amazing? No. Will they taste amazing in this dish? Yup. This is markedly FRUGAL. And customizable. And delicious. And easy. And…I’m gonna stop now. Inspired by the white rice recipe from Let’s Cook Japanese Food! by Amy Kaneko—an EXCELLENT cookbook if you are even remotely interested in Japanese cuisine. She taught me—somehow awful though I was at this easy technique—to properly cook sushi rice. Arigato, Amy!

Ingredients

2 cups sushi rice

4 cups broth (I used chicken stock)

1 can vegetables or 1 bag frozen vegetables (I used green beans)

4 servings of meat (I used 4 cheap hotdogs)

½ onion, diced

2 cloves garlic, minced

Soy sauce, sriracha, salt, granulated garlic/onion, pepper, etc. to taste as seasoning

1. Dice the onion; mince the garlic; slice the hotdogs on the diagonal so they look faaancy.

2. Measure out the sushi rice into a pot that is preferably clear-lidded, and at least 4.5 quarts in size. Don’t worry about having too much space in the pot—that is actually desirable. If you’ve ever cooked sushi rice, in comparison, this will take up a lot more pot space.

3. Rinse the sushi rice by putting water in the pot and shushing it around with your fingers until it gets cloudy. Carefully drain the rice. Repeat at least 5 times, if not 6. I usually get tired of it around 6. Side note: This is the same process for starting sushi rice. Good practice, because even if you screw it up, the one-pot dinner will taste great. Texture isn’t super important here.

4. Throw the onion, garlic, hotdog, vegetable, and broth on top of the rice in the pot. Put the lid on. Put it over high heat until the lid starts jumping—you know, right before it starts to boil over.

5. Turn the heat on low to create a simmer and set a timer for 15 minutes.

6. When the timer goes off, check the pot. Very helpful to have a glass lid so you can see whether the liquid has mostly incorporated, or not…if doubtful, add 3–5 minutes to the timer and then turn off the heat. If you think it’s good now…turn that heat off.

7. When the heat is off, set the timer for another 15 minutes and LEAVE the lid on. If it looks like most of the liquid is absorbed when the timer goes off…aka, you can’t see much (through a glass lid–or you don’t have a see-through lid at all), then take the lid off and stir it up. If you lift the lid and see actual quantities of liquid, turn the heat back on simmer for 5 minutes.

8. Serve into bowls and add spices and condiments as desired. I like soy sauce, a bit of sriracha, and garlic and onion granulates. Enjoy!

Wakame (aka Seaweed) Salad That Isn’t $8 for a Small Serving

If you love sushi (like I do), then at some point, you’ve likely eaten seaweed salad. At first, it sounds kinda gross. Seaweed? No thanks. Then, at another point, you realize that you’re eating seaweed with your sushi maki (nori, hello?). It is right at that point that you become more open to seaweed salad. So you try it. It is delicious…slightly chewy, with a delicate roasty…or is it sweet? Or vinegary?...flavor. It looks so simple, but is so fresh and tasty. You eat up the meager (what seems like 4 tablespoons-worth) serving and move on to your sushi. Eventually, the bill arrives, and you realize that THOSE 4 TABLESPOONS COST ABOUT EIGHT BUCKS. (If you’re lucky. I’ve seen higher…) It is right there at that point when seaweed salad becomes a delicious but unpurchasable appetizer. Anathema, if you will. Well, today is your lucky day. I’ve got the recipe for you…and you can make it for about 2 cents a serving. Ok, I’m exaggerating…but a 2 oz bag of wakame costs about $2 here, and that is the main ingredient. One of those bags will make entirely too much seaweed salad. You will not use it all at once. Or…maybe you will…this recipe does freeze.

 

Ingredients for about four 1/3c servings

1/3c (about ¾ ounce) dried wakame (yields about 1 1/3c when rehydrated)

3T rice vinegar

3T soy sauce

2t sesame oil

1t sugar

2T sesame seeds (any combination of toasted and untoasted is fine—I like 1T of each)

Dash red pepper flakes

1. Soak the dried wakame in a bowl with enough water to cover, and then some. Wait about 5-7 minutes. Do not just throw the dried seaweed in some water and walk away for an hour—the texture gets a bit too un-firm.

2. Meanwhile, mix the rest of the ingredients (except the sesame seeds and red pepper flakes) in a small bowl.

3. Drain the seaweed and press/squeeze out the excess water. You don’t have to go nuts, but you don’t want sopping wet seaweed or the dressing will taste really washed out.

4. Mix the dressing, seeds, and red pepper flakes into the seaweed. Enjoy!

Million Island Dressing (Homemade Thousand Island), Reuben, and Big Mac+

Chef Paul Prudhomme’s Louisiana Kitchen is one of my favorite cookbooks. The guy knows what he’s doing. He makes recipes with awesome depth of flavor, and even shows how to make your own salad dressings. Awesome. And it’s not some rinky-dink recipe that tells you to put mayonnaise in with a bunch of other ingredients…you make your own mayo. Yep. Let that sink in. This is the real deal. Of course, after you have “3 cups” of fresh dressing (try a whole pickle jar full) that you need to use up in a week, you get creative with ways to use it. Reubens? Check. Big Macs (but better)? Check. And you’ll probably still need to make some Reuben-style hot dogs or something to use up that last little bit…I GUESS you could use it as salad dressing…

 

Million Island Dressing (adapted from Chef Paul Prudhomme’s Louisiana Kitchen)

1 egg

1/4c diced onion (about half of a small/medium onion)

1c canola oil

1c diced tomatoes

2 hard-boiled eggs

1t salt

1t pepper

1t garlic powder/granulated garlic

1t onion powder/granulated onion

1/2t cayenne pepper

1/2c sweet pickle relish

1. Add the raw egg and onions to a blender or food processor and blend until combined (a few seconds). Add the oil in a thin stream with the processor still running (this can be tricky, depending on the processor…I had to stick a funnel into a pour spout on mine). This is the creation of the mayo. Pulse the processor/blender for a bit until the mixture looks like it’s getting thicker.

2. Add everything else EXCEPT the relish. Blend until smooth.

3. Pour dressing into a bowl or jar and mix in the relish. Refrigerate; keeps for up to 1 week or so.

Reuben tips:

You’ll need rye bread, corned beef, sauerkraut, and million island dressing. You can get a nice chunk of corned beef brisket in the refrigerated meat aisle of your local grocery store. Slow-cook it in your crock pot for 5 or 6 hours with a can of sauerkraut. About 2 pounds of brisket and 1 27oz can of sauerkraut (I like Silver Floss) will make about 7 or 8 sandwiches, depending on how much of each you like. I suggest toasting the rye bread a bit so the sauerkraut doesn’t make it soggy. If you drain the sauerkraut well, though, you don’t HAVE to toast the bread. Spread some dressing on both pieces of bread, top with sliced or pulled corned beef and sauerkraut, and enjoy!

Big Mac+ tips:

You’ll need a hamburger bun (preferably with sesame seeds, if you’re being authentic…I wasn’t) and a piece of bread to use as the middle layer. Grill up two beef patties, top with cheese, diced onions, lettuce, tomato (not authentic, I know…), and million island dressing. This will be impossible to eat in a clean fashion, so have napkins on hand. Good to have some oven fries on the side!

Reuben-style hot dog tips:

Grill a hot dog and bun; spread million island dressing on the bun, add the dog, and top with kraut. Easy!

Salad tips:

I'd suggest an ample dose of million island dressing over an iceberg or romaine chopped salad with raw onion half-moons and sliced hard-boiled eggs.