that time of the month
- having a mexican fiesta in your garden, baking fancy breads and sippin’ on fat bottles of châteauneuf du pape are all fundamentals you should have in your life. but when the landlord comes knockin’ and those tight few days are creeping by, there is always something tasty as fuck to be made.
- leftovers are one of the seven wonders of the world. they can turn a quick meal into something with depth and is just all round enjoyable to eat.
- nobody is a stranger to seeing a sad half-onion in the fridge, leftover from that curry you attempted on wednesday night, or a dried up slice of lemon that you didnt need that much juice from, these things linger there, you morally feel bad throwing them out, telling yourself you are going to use it up before it goes bad, only to inevitably forget once again, and find it a week later and its grown something on top that you wish you could unsee.
- take all those slices and end-of-packet bits out of the fridge, put all those thoughts of potato dauphinoise or ordering a take-away in the bin instead. grab some rice and lets fuckin’ eat.
- its always a good idea to have rice at home. whenever you cook some, its useful to cook a little extra to keep in the fridge and whip out for a quick and easy meal addition. you have probably cooked extra anyway unintentionally, this is even better.
- if you haven’t got some leftover rice: either cook some, get a cheap packet of that weird rice that is ready to eat or microwave, or grab a small portion from somewhere close to your house.
- we happened to have some (a lot) of wild rice leftover, so this is what we are using.
- keeping your pantry stocked is key for making cooking at home enjoyable as fuck. we will drop a pantry guide soon, with some things we recommend you have stored and ready. you might not have some of the condiments we have, but its always a good idea to try and keep a range of : spices, seeds, nuts, vinegars, oil, honey, sauces…the list goes on.
- for vegetables, we have used what we have laying around here, and we are hoping you have even a few similar ingredients, however it does not truly matter because on rent week, you have to use what you have. so do that.
hot, dry.
- always toast your nuts & seeds.
- when toasting nuts & seeds in hot, dry pan, they release the essential oils inside, increasing the flavour and the aroma and takes everything up a level.
- you can do this in the oven, but we like to use a skillet here, or just a regular pan if you don’t own a skillet (yet). it also involves less cleaning and keeps the fragrance of what you have toasted in the pan when you add in other ingredients.
- we used peanuts, sesame seeds and black mustard seeds. add the peanuts to the hot pan, and toast, shaking the pan regularly, until starting to blister slightly. smash them a little with something hard, then add sesame & mustard seeds, tossing until popping and golden. it will smell like nutty, buttery popcorn, you will see.
- while this is toasting. add some lime juice & salt to your rice. mix well.
- add your toasted nut & seed mix to the rice. mix.
- we had half an onion, a green chilli and two garlic cloves. simply slice your veg, and throw into the same pan with a little oil.
- while this is cooking down in the pan, it is a good time to make some sauce or dressing, something that will bring everything together and turn this from a broke meal into a bangin’ dish that you could whip out anytime.
- you should own a pestle & mortar. it lets you control the consistency more so than a blender, textures can play just as important a role as flavour.
- we added a few leftover peanuts, and scraped the ends of an almond butter jar on top because why not.
- next we added some soy sauce, sesame oil, rice vinegar, honey, sriracha blackout & lime zest.
- mix together until you have your desired consistency, and taste along the way adjusting the balance. warning: sriracha blackout is hot.
- when your onions & garlic are starting to caramelise just a little in the pan, its time to get on it.
- add your rice to the pan and mix. we had some scallions laying around, which is always useful. throw in if you have them.
- now take that unreal sauce you smashed together, and pour it on top of everything.
- and thats literally it. fuckin easy.
- the soy sauce & peanuts add a good amount of saltiness, but adjust the seasoning of the dish to your taste.
- throw on a few slices on lime, we also recommend eating straight out of the pan, because you don’t need more dirty dishes on top of an empty bank account this week. or put it on a plate, whatever you want.
- you can add literally whatever you want to this. we recommend topping with a fried egg, which can step in as any meal of your day.
- also, if you are some sort of reasonable person who saves for rent-week and isn’t left skint in despair that one period of the month, then well done, but enjoy your fancy marks & spencers ready meal and leave the dirty rice for us broke motherfuckers.
- making this when not broke is also perfectly acceptable, it gives you that extra bit of financial freedom to grab a 6-pack of beer to help this dish go down a treat. which you most definitely, should do.