Recipe for Simmered Black Beans

A friend of mine just told me about a recipe she just tried for Mexican Simmered Black Beans. She got it off of the New York Times dining section from March 11, 2009, and she loved it. It seemed like a good, simple meal, so here it is:

Simmered Black Beans

The key to a great pot of black beans is using enough onion, garlic and salt for seasoning, and then cooking the beans for a long time at a slow simmer. In Mexico, a sprig of epazote or a few dried avocado leaves are usually added to the pot. Those ingredients aren’t as easy to find as cilantro, which is what I routinely use to season the beans.

1 pound black beans, washed and picked over for stones

2 quarts water

1 tablespoon canola oil or extra virgin olive oil

1 medium onion, chopped

4 large garlic cloves, minced

1/4 cup chopped cilantro, plus additional for garnish if desired

Salt, preferably kosher salt, to taste

1. Soak the beans in the water for at least six hours. If they will be soaking for a long time in warm weather, put them in the refrigerator.

2. Heat the oil over medium heat in a large, heavy soup pot or Dutch oven, and add the onion. Cook, stirring, until it begins to soften, about three minutes. Add half the garlic. Cook, stirring, until fragrant, about one minute. Add the beans and soaking water. The beans should be covered by at least an inch of water. Add more as necessary, and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to low, and skim off any foam that rises. Cover and simmer one hour.

3. Add the salt, remaining garlic and cilantro. Continue to simmer another hour, until the beans are quite soft and the broth is thick and fragrant. Taste. Is there enough salt? Does it need more garlic? Add if necessary. Let sit overnight in the refrigerator for the best flavor.

Note: If you can get hold of a sprig of fresh epazote, add it to the beans in step 3.

Yield: Serves six

Advance preparation: The cooked beans will keep for three to four days in the refrigerator and will freeze well.

Hannaford Good Deal: Whole Chicken for $0.69 a pound

One of my favorite local supermarkets here in the New England area, Hannaford, is having a great sale on whole chickens this week for just $0.69 a pound. I picked up a chicken for $3.05 (over 4 lbs), which I'm roasting as I write this entry. Roasting a chicken is wicked easy. Just follow the instructions on the package.

I'm serving this chicken with white rice and asparagus, which I bought for $2.99 for the bunch and should last two meals for the two of us.

I plan to strip the meat of the chicken and save the bones for stock again. I expect the chicken can last us two meals as well.

So, tonight's dinner will cost about $1.75 per person.

Hmmm... the chicken sale ends this Saturday. I'm thinking of going back to buy a few more and stock up the freezer. Given that I only have 4 more days left in the month, and I still have $28 left in my groceries budget, I can afford to do this!

New York City Chinatown Supermarkets: New York Supermarket v. Hong Kong Supermarket

Along East Broadway in New York City's Chinatown, there are various stores and markets, selling everything from baked goods to fish balls. I stopped by two of them today to comparison shop.

New York Supermarket
75 East Broadway
New York, NY 10002

Located in a slightly hidden mini-mall directly under the Manhattan Bridge, you have to get past a corridor with small stores that smell of perm solutions (appetizing, no?) to get to the New York Supermarket. Don't worry - the market itself doesn't smell or seem to be contaminated. The fruit section of the market is in a covered, outdoor area, but the vegetables and other food are located inside the store. This supermarket has the usual Chinese fruits - Durian, Persimmons, Kumquats, etc. - and vegetables - bok choy, pea shoots, winter melon, etc. Everything looked pretty fresh. I found scallions at a great price (3 for $1.00)! The space itself is well-lit, but the aisles are a little tight.

Hong Kong Supermarket
109 East Broadway
New York, NY 10002

The Hong Kong Supermarket is the 800 lb. gorilla of Chinatown supermarkets. They have a huge space and a ton of selection. Reviews on the internet of this supermarket are unfairly harsh. People think that this is a dark and dirty spot. I'm not sure what standards they are applying because I find the Hong Kong Supermarket to be brighter and cleaner than most American supermarkets in the city.


Comparison
Interestingly enough, the fruit selection (located outside of the Hong Kong Supermarket) was much bigger and better than the New York Supermarket, but the vegetable section (again, located inside) was not very good. The aisles were bigger than the New York Supermarket, and just because the sheer size of the place, Hong Kong Supermarket has much more selection.

As for prices, I found that noodles (both fresh and dried) were slightly cheaper at New York Supermarket than at Hong Kong Supermarket. However, for other goods, Hong Kong Supermarket served a beat down to New York Supermarket by a wide margin. Here is a quick comparison:

Fresh Lo Mein Noodles ($1.39 at New York Supermarket, $1.49 at Hong Kong Supermarket)
Gold Key Dried Mangoes ($4.99 at New York Supermarket, $3.49 at Hong Kong Supermarket)
Kadoya Sesame Oil ($4.19 at New York Supermarket, $3.99 at Hong Kong Supermarket)
25lb. bag of Golden Crown Brand Jasmine Rice (N/a at New York Supermarket, $14.99 at Hong Kong Supermarket)

As a side note, do you know how difficult it is to carry a 25lb. bag of rice around NYC? It must be like carrying a small child around with you everywhere. Now, I understand the plight of young mothers with their small children on the subway! Except, I would imagine that young mothers can't (or shouldn't!) throw their small children on the ground like I did with my bag of rice.

Note: This blog is in no way affiliated with either of these businesses mentioned in this post. This is the sole opinion of Mystery Ter.

Summer Rolls (not the ones you find when you put on a bikini!)

I find eating summer rolls to be extremely refreshing, the perfect combination of cool and salty. Of course, eating these in the summer would probably be a better idea than eating them in the dead of winter, but inspiration struck last night.

I cooked the shrimp and split them lengthwise in half. I got the wrappers for $1.25 (for about 30) and the rice sticks for $0.89 (for 8 bunches). I soaked the rice sticks in hot water for 20 minutes and dipped each wrapper individually to soften it just prior to wrapping.

Cost breakdown:
Shrimp ($19.99/2 lb bag. I used about 1/4 lb) = $5.00
Scallions ($1.19/bunch. I used about 1/10th) = $0.12
Rice Sticks ($0.89/package. I used 1/4 package) = $0.22
Wrappers ($1.25/package. I used 1/3 package) = $0.42
TOTAL = $5.76

I made so many that I ate some for lunch the next day! Yum!

Eating on $1 a Day?

Two social justice teachers experimented to see if they could eat on $1 (or less) per day. They had some rules:

1. All food consumed each day must total $1 each.
2. They could not accept free food or “donated” food unless it was available for everyone in their area. (i.e. foraging, samples in stores, dumpster diving)
3. Any food they planted, they paid for.
4. They did their best to cook a variety of meals; ramen noodles could only be prepared if there was no other way to stay under one dollar. (Sorry, Ms. FrugalMeals!)
5. If they decided to have guests over for dinner, they had to eat from their share; meaning they don’t get to eat their own dollar’s worth of food.

This is similar (in some ways) to the Morgan Spurlock "Super Size Me" experiment.

Except I don't think these people got fat.

(NOTE: Frugal Eating does not recommend or condone trying this at home.)

Grocery Budget of $325 a month for 2 people and 2 cats

I'll kick off this blog with my entry. There are two people including myself in my household. I have a monthly budget of $325 (that's only $2 more than the amount of food stamps allowance for a 2-person household in Massachusetts, even though we are not on food stamps), covering groceries and pet food/supplies for our 2 cats. We eat pretty well. I want to show how this can be done.

WRITE DOWN NUMBERS. The biggest trick is logging in your receipts each time you shop. It's amazing how you can stick to your budget just by writing down numbers. I'm a total, complete slob and it took me a while to get used to this, but having a little notepad with you can really help.

GO INTO THE GROCERY STORE WITH A PHYSICAL SHOPPING LIST. The shopping list gives you a guideline to prevent you from impulsively picking up that "sale" item that you really don't need.

COOK MORE THAN ONE MEAL AT A TIME. Make a lot of food and store them in plastic containers.

I think these three are most helpful tricks for me. I will share what I make and how much everything costs as we progress.