recession stew

with my impending last day of work looming over me, my survival instincts have finally kicked in. gone are the days of multi-cheese purchases at murray’s. i’ll be sticking with kraft singles for the time being, or maybe even america’s choice (cringe).

luckily, my favorite soup in the world, corned beef and cabbage stew, is also cheap as heck. a simple analysis proves that this brokeman’s broth is actually cheaper than an item off of the mcdonald’s dollar menu. behold:

cabbage (chopped up into big chunks): $1.29
corned beef: $1.89 for a can
noodles (wide, elbow or orrechiette): i purchased mine for 98¢, but they’ll usually run you a good $1.29 so let’s just use that figure
water: free
salt & pepper: free (from mcdonald’s when i stopped in there to ogle the dollar menu)

fill a large pot with 6 cups of water and bring to boil. then drop in the cabbage. after 3 minutes, drop in the pasta and cook for as long as the package specifies. lastly, drop in the corned beef, season with salt and pepper and cook for another 3 minutes.

the total comes out to $4.47, but will feed 6 people. 75¢ a head!

if you want to be really fancy, you can drop in some mini mozzarella balls or tofu.

japanese steamed egg custard (chawan mushi)

chawan mushi means “tea cup steam” and has always been one of my favorite comfort foods because of it’s savory, creamy and smooth texture. it’s surprisingly low in calories too, which is precisely why i always have two portions.

note: for any chawan mushi purists out there, i know that the addition of the gelatin is a bit kooky, but after trying the sea urchin egg custard at en, i knew i had to take this recipe up a notch. i think that adding the gelatin creates a richer, more luxurious texture on the tongue.

for the custard:
3 eggs (i sometimes use 2 eggs and 1 egg yolk if i want it to be craaazy)
2 1/2 cups dashi soup stock which can be made by dissolving 3 teaspoons full of dashi in 2 1/2 cups of lukewarm water
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp soy sauce
1 packet of unflavored gelatin dissolved in 1 cup of water (follow instructions on the packet)

fillings (optional):
1/2 a hard-boiled egg
3 cubes of mozzarella cheese
1/4 packet of mentai or ikura spaghetti mix (i can’t live without this stuff, you can cop it at JAS Mart or Sunrise Mart)
whatever else you feel like

1. gently mix all the ingredients for the custard together in a large bowl, taking care not to make it frothy
2. fill 6 ceramic cups or ramekins with your fillings, saving some if you want to top the chawan mushis as they set
3. pour the custard mixture over your fillings
4. fill a large pot with water until it is 1 1/2″ deep
5. arrange the cups in the pot and cook covered over super-low heat for 15 minutes or until they set
6. if you saved any fillings in step 2, sprinkle them on top of the chawan mushi a couple of minutes before they are done so that they sink into the custard a bit, but are still visible
7. inhale chawan mushis liberally (after they cool, please)

it tastes really good cold too (over ice chips)!

why is this a site?

swyyne has always been an experiment for me. with all of the other super eco sites out there, i've been feeling like i want to contribute something just a bit different. so for now, here are my random musings.