Dinner Bowl #5
I'm not sure what to call this, exactly. I sort of set off on my own to use a partial can of diced tomatoes I had in my fridge, making something inspired by a recipe I made a very long time ago I found in some cookbook in my teenaged years called "Zippy Rice." It may have originated with some version of Taste of Home, but I genuinely don't know. More on that later. Alongside that, I have a tetela filled with mushroom carnitas (dough from this recipe at Hunt Gather Cook, and filling from this recipe by Connoisseurus Veg), more mushroom carnitas, some avocado, lime wedges, the last bit of some Tofutti sour cream, and a sprinkling of cilantro.
The Zippy Rice of yore was a seasoned mixture of vegetables cooked with rice, tomato, and ground beef. I think it came with cheese; I didn't use any here, though I originally thought I might. It was flavorful enough without it. I used TVP for the ground beef and, as for the vegetables, seemed to just chuck just about everything in there--some bell pepper, a jalapeno, onions, carrots, peas, and corn, along with the tomato.
Although I don't have a complete ban on buying tortillas, I am kind of trying to avoid it until I make it through my bag of masa harina (which I have to say has been a bargain--it seems to last forever and I've used it a lot!). I think in this case I made my masa too dry, because it was really hard to shape the tetelas. I may try this again, though, because I liked the idea and it was far simpler than making tamales.
The mushroom carnitas were fine, nothing special. I probably wouldn't make them again, but I'm still glad I tried them. I was intrigued by the recipe's use of orange juice.
This meal ran me entirely out of cumin, but that's the way things go sometimes. I try not to run out of some spices, and that would be one of them.
I may not really know how much use-it-up progress I've been making, but at least I know that the effort is consistent, and I do, at least, pretty consistently find I am buying fewer pantry goods. Somehow or other at some point I'll find a balance.
Maybe.
... I had never met tetelas, so I thought "savory hamantaschen?" but! one google search later! tetelas! Also, sounds delicious. But also yes, masa harina needs adequate hydration or it cracks everywhere, sigh.
ReplyDelete(I do think that if you keep using things up, especially working on the forever-but-you-won't-restock-immediately things like masa harina [yes, one bag makes... a lot] and especially working on the esoteric things, you'll make good progress in a number of ways, including budget and cupboard space and ability to choose when to buy an esoteric cupboard ingredient and when to refrain, although that last skill is probably a permanent Work In Progress for the intellectually and culinarily curious...)(but also yes, definitely restock that cumin!!!)
Yeah, they are kind of like savory hamantaschen, I suppose! I know, I know, I can't collect all the possible fun ingredients, and it's not sensible to do even if I could, and yet things do call to me on occasion. I'm trying to channel these impulses toward highly perishable stuff like interestingly colored cauliflower, and for now, that's helpful.
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