Easy, inexpensive mabo

Yep, you are looking at the food blog named mmm-yoso!!!  Today, Cathy is 'cooking' a meal for two for less than $5.  It must be Friday.

Hi again.  Time to make some good food easily. OK, you could call the process lazy.  It still ends up being tasty and won't cost you much money.  

These three 'ingredients' are staples in my home.  The House brand mabo tofu sauce is regularly priced at $2.49 at 99Ranch Market.  Tofu can be on sale for as little as 79¢ and fresh thin egg noodles are at most $1.50 in the refrigerated section.  You'll only use 1/2 the package of tofu and noodles.  You'll also need one small handful (a little less than 1/2 pound) of ground pork, which is $1.69/lb at 99Ranch.

Brown the pork, don't drain off the grease.

Add 1/2 package of cubed tofu and brown it with the meat and grease.  This gives the tofu some flavor.

The sauce is in a tightly sealed foil packet (a good thing to keep in the earthquake kit, BTW) and can just be cut open and poured over all and heated through.  Set aside.

In the meantime, you should be bringing some water to a rolling boil.  Drop the thin egg noodles into the boiling water for about 20 seconds.  Rinse in cold water.

{I know this goes against what I told you about wheat and flour pasta, which you put into salted water and don't rinse.  This is a fresh egg noodle.  Different rules.}

Serve the warm sauce over the cooled noodles.

Viola!

Comments

[janfrederick]

Awesome. I actually have two of these ingredients right now. And I was wondering what I should do with them. Thanks for the idea.

[Carol]

Mmmm, mabo ramen...Cheap, easy, taste good. What else can we ask for? Well, maybe a trip to Thailand, but this will do for now. :-D

[foodhoe]

Yum that looks so easy and delicious!

[nhbilly]

Hey if you had miso already in the fridge you could make miso mabo. Just salt, pepper, garlic, and some shallot for the ground pork. To thicken up the mixture add a mixture of corn starch and chicken broth or water.

[Cathy]

Next Thursday, JF...send me a picture of your shelves and I'll make a meal....oooh another idea for a post... I know Carol, I have a few emails from Kirk and am *so* jealous.
Hey, FH- it is. Kind of lazy I suppose, but no need to overwork myself in the kitchen.
Great idea, Bill. Thanks. Always miso paste in the fridge...

[Derek]

Cathy,

I finally did that london broil you had up. It turned out very tender but was a bit of a pain to cook (because my steak was TOO big). I will defiantly be doing it again though this time with a more normal size of meat. I ate it the next day cold on a salad; very good stuff!

Keep up the fun "Five Buck Fridays!"

[cathy]

I'm glad it turned out tender for you, Derek. I am trying to show 'normal' size meals to keep within the $5 for everything part of it all, but I know people eat more or that there are more than two people in a family. I suppose a lot of the details are in how to cook the meal correctly...I just am glad to be able to share via this blog. ;)