Budget Living - Dave Hamilton

Lentil Dhall, Broth , Leftover Burgers, Mother Hubbard Cous Cous , Beans & Noodles

Throughout my student life I inevitably found myself almost permanently skint. There was always something that I needed to buy; books, stationary, bills, food etc. Then while writing my dissertation I found that four days had gone by without me spending a single penny. I was living off all the things stored in my cupboard bought for one recipe or another. My allotment was still at the stage of producing very little but I found with a bit of imagination I was eating quite well.

Breakfast consisted of porridge from a bag of oats I had bought to make flapjacks with water raisins and cinnamon (nicer than it sounds). Lunch was cous-cous and frozen vegetables spiced up with ancient condiments and dinner was usually made from either the giant bag of lentils I had sitting in my cupboard for months served with home-made naan or soup-mix (mixed pulses and barley) with dumplings. Pretty soon these got used up and I found my meals getting stranger and stranger until the cupboard and freezer were bare. I can't recall exactly but I think it was close to a fortnight before everything had gone. I did cheat a little; I cooked for my housemate a couple of times and would slyly try and include most of his ingredients. I knew exactly what he had in the fridge and his cupboard and would say, ‘mmm, this is good but it could do with some…’ he would always eagerly reply with, ‘oh I’ve got some of that, how much do you need?’

The food was surprisingly healthy and tasty and made me wonder why I hadn't used many of the items before. It is a very simple thing to do, rather than say to myself, "what do I want for dinner?" I started to say, "what have I got to make dinner?"

Here are some of the dishes I used to make starting with the choice meals and ending with, well make up your own mind.

Lentil Dahl with home-made naan bread and home made chutney

Ingredients – For the dahl

Lentils and vegetables (about a half to a cup-full per-person (PP))

If they are red lentils they will need no pre-soaking but anything else should be soaked over night.

½ Onion/1 clove garlic garlic/1-2cm2 ginger PP

Good sized pinch Curry powder or Chili, coriander and cumin PP

Turmeric (optional-for colour)

For the naan – Wholemeal or white flour

Yogurt (or milk or water and margarine)

Pinch of baking powder (if you have some)

Spices same as dhal but use less, or experiment with what you have.

Not sure of the quantities for this one as I rarely weigh anything. At a guess I would say half a cup of flour to two tablespoons of flour.

For the chutney –

1 rip banana PP or Mango or carrot etc (sweet fruit and veg)

Enough Vinegar to cover

2-3 tablespoons sugar PP

Spices (again use what you have but it is good with coriander)

Method

For the dahl

1. If you have them, fry up some onions, garlic and ginger in a little oil until all softened
2. Take off the heat and add the lentils.
3. Cover with water and bring to the boil, skim off any scum that may form and top up with water as it drains off.
4. Once most of the scum is gone add the spices/turmeric and other vegetables.
5. Cook until it is a nice mush or the constancy of porridge
6. Serve with naan bread and chutney

For the Naan Bread

1. Mix all the ingredients together in a bowl until it forms a dough.
2. If using butter/margarine and water mix it can turn out a bit pastry like so try and add a splash of milk too if you can.
3. Work into Naan bread shapes if oven baking or pancake shapes if frying.
4. Place on greased baking tray or on a non-stick dry pan.
5. Oven bake for about 5-mins until golden brown or
6. Dry fry for 1-2 mins until golden brown

For the chutney

1. Cut up soft fruit or grate the carrot and put in a pan with enough vinegar to cover them.
2. Add the coriander/spices and sugar.
3. Bring to the boil and then simmer until porridge like consistency.
4. Serve immediately. (For and improved flavour put into a sterilised jar and leave for two months)

Broth and Dumplings

A firm favourite in my house in the winter and really simple to make.

Ingredients

Broth

Some of a packet of broth mix and/or seasonable vegetables

Vegetable stock

Rosemary (I used to take it from a bush down the road in an overgrown garden)

Any strong herbs work well, sage, thyme etc

A knob of butter

Dumplings

Equal parts of oats, gram flour and wholemeal flour (can use semolina/fine polenta mixed with these)

Black pepper

Water

Some butter or margarine

Method

1. Cook the broth mix as packet instructions, soaking the night before if necessary, with the stock and herbs.
2. If using vegetables cover them with water and cook them in reverse order of hardness (i.e. potatoes before carrots) with the stock and herbs. The less water you use the thicker the broth.
3. Mix the dumpling ingredients together adding more dry or wet ingredients until a firm constancy. Roll into golf-ball sized balls. If you've made too many they will keep for a day or two in the fridge.
4. Drop the dumplings into the broth and add more water/stock if necessary.
5. Serve on a table or your lap in front of Eastenders with some cheap booze and some mates in bowls, (the broth not your mates).
6. Eat
 

Leftovers burgers

This works well with any pasta/curry/thick soup leftovers

The leftovers usually quite liquid to begin with and the secret is to add enough dry ingredients until the can be made into burger or sausage shapes.

Method

1.Use a coffee/spice grinder to make bread crumbs from stale bread, crusts are particularly good, if you do not have a grinder use a pestle and mortar or rub between your hands until you have smallish crumbs.

2.Add the breadcrumbs until you have a fairly thick consistency.

3.Add herbs/spices at this point (optional) as the flavour can lessen from the day before.

4.To further thicken add some flour/oats/gram flour or crushed nuts or seeds.

5.Make into burger shapes on a lightly floured surface.

6.Fry in a little oil serve with cous cous (see below)/ potatoes and beans/salad/with pasta and sauce/anything you have

Mother Hubbardish Cous Cous

Ingredients Cous Cous and frozen/tinned anything

Herbs/condiments/spices

Method

Put all the ingredients in a pan and boil gently until ready.

If the cous-cous is unflavoured add any of the following ketchup, soy sauce (my housemate lived of pot-noodles but would never use these sachets so they were always in the cupboard), super-noodle flavouring sachet, garam masala, chili powder etc.

You can mix tinned soup and cous-cous but you have to be quite desperate.

Baked Beans and noodles

I think that speaks for itself.