Favorite recipes you've come up with
Hi all. I'm interested on hearing about recipes you've come up with yourself, whether completely from scratch or variation on an existing one. Maybe you were lacking an ingredient one day, and subbed one that changed the recipe in a good way. Maybe you tried a dish at a restaurant that you love and attempted to recreate it at home. Maybe you had a bunch of leftover ingredients you didn't know what to do with, so decided to throw them all together and pray for the best. Or maybe inspiration struck suddenly one day for a perfect dish, and you gave it a shot. Would love to hear the backstory of the recipe if you have it. I'll start.
Cincinnati style daal. The family chili recipe growing up was cincinatti/skyline style chili. I've thus always preferred my chili without beans, and I love the depth of flavor cincinnati style chili has. My family even likes to use ground turkey meat because we think it absorbs the flavors of the spices better than beef does. When I moved to the UK, I suddenly had access to excellent Indian food, daals now being one of my favorites. One thing that immediately struck me about daals was the depth of flavor in them. The lentils serve to add texture and some creaminess, but the spices in it are the highlight of the dish. In fact, this kinda reminded me of my family chili. I began wondering, could I make a daal but with the spices from my family chili? This would be pretty nice, as turkey is kinda hard to find outside of christmas time here and lentils are a good low-cost protein. Well, it turns out the cooking process for daal and my family's chili are pretty similar, so I took a black daal recipe from dishoom and tried subbing the cincinatti chili spices for the spices in the daal. Many of the other ingredients between the two recipes are similar. And it's come out pretty good! I'm still refining it, it lacks some umami without the meat, but I think the next batch will be great. Serving it with naan and cilantro, instead of spaghetti. Always with shredded cheese and chopped onions of course.
Filipino Dip. One of my favorite recipes to make is chicken adobo, so easy to make and it's delicious. I usually have some chicken and sauce left after making a batch, and one day it occurred to me that there was enough sauce left I could dip a sandwich in it. Huh, that's kinda similar to a french dip. So I shredded up the remaining chicken, toasted a baguette, and sauteed a bunch of onions to add to the sandwich. It was absolutely delicious, and what I will be doing with my leftover chicken adobo from now on.
St Patrick's Day Ramen. So, this year I decided to make my family's St Patrick's Day meal. Kinda hard to do in the UK, as corned beef is really not a big thing. (Yes, I know they have the tinned version, no, it's nothing like the real deal). But I corned my own beef, and then braised it in red wine, and invited friends over to share. Afterwards, with all the corned beef gone, a friend and I were looking at the braising liquid. There was a ton of it left, and it tasted frankly delicious. My friend pointed out that it reminded him of a ramen broth, and so an idea was born. I bought some thinly sliced beef from the local asian grocery store, and assembled the ramen with it, the noodles, cabbage, thinly sliced green apples (I know it seems weird, but it's used in the family cabbage recipe), and pickled garlic/cucumbers made from the leftover corned beef brine. It came out delicious, and will definitely be doing it next year.
Oven roasted brussel sprouts and carrots. This came from a restaurant near me that unfortunately closed. They would make the most amazing, crispy, roast brussel sprouts and carrots served with a tangy, smokey dressing. After it closed, I would dream of these brussel sprouts, and I tried googling recipes to find something similar with no luck. I knew only a couple of things: that the head chef was Peruvian and said on the menu it had inspired this dish; there was mezcal in the dressing, likely providing the smokey component. So after researching Peruvian recipes, I've come up with a vinaigrette that's as close as I can remember: bragg's cider vinegar, juice from one lime, olive oil, salt and black pepper, and a splash of mezcal. If available, add a touch of aji amarillo paste. May need to add a little sugar for a hint of sweetness. It took some time to figure out a crispy brussel sprout too, as home ovens can't get as hot as a commercial kitchen, but also finally found an oven roasting recipe I was happy with.
Looking forward to hearing everyone elses recipes!
I've independently come up with a few things through experimentation that I subsequently learned were actually pretty well established things. The two that come to mind (since I've made both fairly recently) are pineapple fried rice and tuna fried rice. Both times I was like "I bet this could be pretty good..." and then was blown away, thought I was a master chef genius for around 5-10 minutes, then discovered I'm still just a pleb after a web search or two.
You still came up with a successful combination based strictly on your knowledge and skill. Whether that already existed or not is irrelevant, as you didn’t know. I’d personally still qualify it as pretty impressive.
I have to agree with Narry. An original recipe can be a variation on something that exists, and I'd argue that's what much of food recipe innovation actually is. There are I'm sure thousands of fried rice recipes out there in the world, but it means something special when you come up with one of your own, based on your past knowledge and experience. No one told you how to make the pineapple friend rice, that recipe is still unique to you. Same with the tuna fried rice.
Both sound good, by the way. Do you make the pineapple fried rice with ham? Those two go so well together. And any other flavorings you like to add to the tuna fried rice?
I think pineapple fried rice would probably be great with some ham or bacon in there. I lean pescatarian these days though so I've never tried it. Neither one is a completely fixed recipe when I make it. I'll scramble up some eggs first, set those aside, for pineapple I'll saute those next until they're a little caramelized and set those aside as well, then I'll fry up veggies and aromatics (usually at least onion, but I'll chop up and throw pretty much whatever we have left over from other meals like garlic, peppers, mushroom, whatever), and when those are done I'll add the rice and a soy sauce/vinegar/mirin mix (the proportions of which I've never quite nailed down and the flavor is usually a bit different each time), and eventually stir in the egg and either the pineapple or a drained can of tuna until everything's good and hot.
Rice and beans. An easy, solo-friendly "can't be bothered" recipe that has a million variations across the world, this one is what I like. At some point I've bought too much stuff and wanted to clean out the pantry with the least amount of ingredients that I know will get used up.
This recipe is sized for 2 cups of uncooked rice.
Fry up peppers and onion, add the seasoning and let it bloom a bit until you can smell it, add tomatoes, stock and bay leaves. Simmer for 10 minutes, add canned beans at the end since I like them intact.
Variations: add lime juice at the end, celery powder or using up leftover celery would be good as well, throw in more paprika or spice if you want. If a little more meat is needed then ground chicken or turkey.
Filipino sinigang. This version is westernized using ingredients you can find at most western grocery stores, the hardest part is basically sourcing the right tamarind mix from an Asian store. Indian tamarind paste (the one they mix into a drink) leans on sweet, Thai on sour. We want the sour one here. I like it with lots of soup and real sour as God intended, the sourness should evoke a similar face puckering reaction as drinking vinegar.
I don't like the use of bok choy as a sub on some recipes, it has a very different texture from the water spinach in the traditional recipe. Also not a fan of using sliced tomatoes to simmer down as they disintegrate into these thin chunks that get stuck between teeth.
If you can find them:
If you want: eggplant, same thick cuts. At some point you'll have too much vegetables and will overflow the pot, so pick and choose.
Choice of meat:
This recipe will nearly overflow a 5L stock pot once you put the vegetables in and 3-4 cups of uncooked rice.
If using pork or beef, fry them up separately. Heat up liquids in a stock pot, tamarind mix, tomatoes and onions in. Near the end, soften up the root vegetables, then greens, and finish with lime juice. Adjust saltiness with the fish sauce to taste.
This generates a soup that's a rich, bright red from the tomatoes, slightly thickened from the root crops without turning it into chili, balanced sourness and acidity, lots of small chunks of vegetables for easy eating, and paired with lots of rice.
Variations: thicken the soup with tapioca or arrowroot starch, put half the spinach in earlier then half at the end for a texture difference, or spice up the soup. Traditionally green long chili is used, but whatever for the soup to give it an extra kick.
Relatively simple thin crust pizza dough doable on a generic home oven, hand knead since I don't have the space for a stand mixer or a bread maker. I'm not cooking at an Italian embassy, nor I don't give one iota of neurotransmitter capacity to authenticity on something nobody else will care about except me, especially if it comes at the expense of convenience. I don't double or halve the recipe, I just make and knead a separate batch to make more. It's as foolproof as I can get, but like most yeast-based recipes it's dependent on ambient temperature and humidity that you have to adjust for. I generally care about making a consistent base over making the fanciest crust, so it's intentionally simple and conservative.
No preferments, no autolyse, no fancy techniques, just something I can crank out in less than an hour. Hardest part of the recipe was running out of cheese and learning the dangerous skill of being able to make lots of homemade pizza (and bread by proxy). You will know why flour comes in big bags.
This should get you around 60% hydration which is easy to knead by hand. If it's difficult or the ambient humidity isn't cooperating, add 1-2 tbsp of olive oil. Knead until it passes the window pane test, put in covered oiled bowl to proof for ~30 mins or double in size. Meanwhile crank up the home oven as high as it will go, convection on.
Flatten and circularize the dough, then get to the fun part of putting your toppings in. Less cheese and toppings than you want, home ovens are pretty weak and it might turn to a soggy mess. I aim to still see the sauce underneath. Shove in oven and it should be done in less than 12 minutes.
Variations: halve the yeast, optionally add a 1/2 tsp of sugar and store the dough in the refrigerator. Like chili or pasta in the fridge, by day 2-3 that dough is even more delicious. Or play around with broiling the cheese, or blind/par-baking the dough so the pizza sauce doesn't dry out by the time the crust is cooked. Use the usual tricks like a stone, steel plate, or an inverted cast iron pan for the bottom of the crust. Never tried it, but some people like to mix in sourdough starter as well. Another is brushing olive oil at the edges so they brown up, as this gives you a quite pale crust even when cooked.
Ooh, those all look super good. I'm a little anxious to try the pizza (me and baking don't generally mix well), but I'm especially curious to try the sinigang, sour soups are some of my favorites. How much tamarind paste do you generally use?
If it's the little jars from Asian stores, I start from 2 tbsp with 4L of soup and work my way up. I balance it with an acid like lime juice to brighten it up as adding more tamarind doesn't linearly make it more sour. The powder mixes are a lot more predictable and easier to dial in. Generally 1 pack is enough for the whole pot but I go with two. A good spot to hit is when the sourness of the tamarind smoothly blends in with the taste of the tomato in the soup and one doesn't overpower the other.
Pizza hot dish
I'm sure this isn't original, but I came up with this version independently. I'm allergic to wheat and eggs, but really enjoy pizza so I use gluten free noodles - Tinkyada are the best brand I've found. Take all the toppings you like on pizza and add them to noodles with a block of shredded cheese, Italian seasoning and a jar of pizza sauce. I usually do supreme with pineapple and jalapenos.
Could you use corn tortillas as a wheat and egg free mini-pizza base as well? I do a similar dish to yours but with wheat tortillas as a base for a quick and easy dinner and they're fantastic.
Yeah, that would work, I just haven't found any great corn tortillias that I like the flavor of and hold together well. Every once in a while I find a Mexican restaurant that makes their own that are pretty good, but none near me. I think I've just gotten to the point where if it's just going fall apart on me I can just mix it all together and eat it with a fork. Wheat just has that nice quality of holding together really well.
That's fair - I guess in my mind I had like fried tortillas like tostadas as a base instead of just pan cooked like wheat tortillas.
I feel you on the lack of good Mexican grocery staples - I grew up with abundant access to everything Mexican and now that I'm far up north, there's practically nothing :'(
At least I can grow my own peppers!
I usually make once or twice a month hummus. Depending on the time that I have sometimes I treat myself and even start from scratch (I start from dried chickpeas).
I do have a good blender, but it should also work in a food processor. But it doesn't have to be very smooth it can also be a bit chunky it still tastes excellent. If you like it very very smooth then I think a blender is almost essential.
And I don't have a set recipe I just throw whatever spices or ingredients that I have in there.
Usually my baseline recipe is this:
Hummus
Various Spices
You can also sub the water for the boil water if you boiled your own chickpeas or you could use the water in the can (aquafaba).
You can make many variations to this recipe. This week I made a "lemon" hummus with lemon zest and lemon juice and it tastes amazing.
You can also make it spicy with either a hot sauce or even throw in some whole peppers.
You could also use a spicy oil depending on how spicy you like your food. (I am very weak).
If you have a good blender you can also throw in nuts to make it a bit richer.
Also I've been experimenting with other legumes. I tried white beans and it tasted amazing. I also want to try it with black beans for example.
To serve, you can also put some olive oil on top and maybe some cumin and you can eat it with bread or flatbread or idk. You could even put it in a sandwich, make some sauce out of it and eat it with pasta or just spoon it straight up (that's what I usually do at 2am in front of the fridge).
It's not original, but I always dislike how restaurants charge so much for barbacoa but give so little. Now I just buy beef cheek, slow roast it for 8 hours with a jalapeno, and onion and a generous amount of salt and it's amazing for breakfast tacos and serves everyone.
On that same topic, I recently went to Louisville for the first time and got to try Skyline chili and loved it. I loved it so much, I recreated it down south using this recipe https://www.seriouseats.com/cincinnati-chili-recipe-8402230 and it's basically the 1:1 recreation. It tastes exactly how I remember. I don't think Skyline Chili would ever catch on down here though
Thanks for posting this concept! I have some cheapo adobo leftovers and next time I make this I will have to make sure there's enough extra broth to have some dip when I make some chicken or beyond meat sandwiches.
Do you have specific ingredients for your adobo broth that you think will work best for adobo and dip leftovers?
I have a handful of pretty basic recipes that I've posted about on my site, hope you don't mind me linking to it here! As a quick overview, you'll find the following recipes (ranked in order of how good I remember them being):
The chili won me a contest at my workplace!