Sunday Frugal Sunday

Hello, my neglected readers. When I started this blog I mentioned I had created this as a summer hobby (in lieu of getting a goldfish named Pushpanathan¹). Since that time the blog has gotten literally tens of hits²! While traffic has not been noticeably down during September, my posting has been. Whycome? I was really busy in September (September included the first couple weeks of October just as the 60s actually continued until 1975³). This not only meant that I didn't have time to post but also that I wasn't eating very interesting food: lots of pasta with tomato sauce and cans of chickpeas (that's not pasta with tomatoes and chickpeas, but two separate items: I actually more than once just had a can of chickpeas for dinner). However, things have calmed down a bit. So I'll resume blogging, but probably the once-every-day posts some periods of the summer had won't return. Here is what I will do: try to make sure to post every Sunday. That doesn't mean I won't post in the rest of the week necessarily, but that there will be a type to check and see new content.

In lieu of a recipe or restaurant review, here is fascinating look at the history of modern ketchup (via a comment thread on home-made ketchup at The Paupered Chef)

1 I have since found out that Pushpanathan is not pronounced Push-pan-a-than but Push-pa-NA-than. This disappointed me greatly and my hypothetical goldfish will need a new name.
2 Actually I've gotten over 1000 pageviews. But I like that expression.
3 Many decades are like this. For example, the 50s lasted from 1948-1963.

Ketchup Soup!

So all of my past entries have been about soup. This is not entirely a coincidence. I made a big pot of stock, so now I have ready-made broth for all kinds of different soups. Given that all of the soups have yielded leftovers, I suspect I'll be eating (or should that be drinking?) soup for quite some time. Today's meal sounds pretty ghetto*, even for me: especially given the story of how I acquired the ketchup. I wanted some ketchup to put on my veggie burgers so I asked a friend to give me some of her ketchup packages when she bought a lunch. She did, though I was roundly mocked for of it. Still, mockery is worth getting free food. Today's recipe is modified from Mark Bittman's Egg Noodles With Soy Broth so it was probably not entirely on the level for me to go with the title I picked. Still, ketchup is the most unusual ingredient in it. It adds a nice flavour to the soup, but is by no means as overpowering as I feared it might be when I was cooking.

Noodles with Soy-Ketchup Broth

3 cups water/stock

2 tbsp soy sauce

2 tbsp ketchup

1/2 tablespoon rice vinegar

A few drops sesame oil

1 chili, diced

1/2 pound noodles (but see below)

Bring a large pot of water to a boil and salt it. Bring 3 cups of liquid to a boil. I didn't want to go full on stock with this, so I cut 1c stock with 2 cups water. One the stock/water mixture is boiling turn the heat down so the water is only gently bubbling: add the soy sauce, ketchup, vinegar and diced chili. Stir and let simmer. Add the noodles to large pot and cook until they're done, so not yet mushy. Divide noodles into bowls and pour in the broth. Sprinkle with sesame oil.

Serves 2 but without adding something like tofu this isn't a very substantial meal (I had more food after). I'd recommend using this as a starter and serving more people with it.

I actually have no idea how much 1/2 lb of noodles is so I just eyeballed how much Bittman used, and used half that. I probably could've added more. In lieu of sriracha sauce or a dried chili, I used one from my garden.

*I use the term ghetto only in the most respectful sense, e.g. "When I was at Queen's I lived in the student ghetto".