Monday, March 9, 2009

Recession Cuisine


Not very often I gave myself a chuckle, but after what I saw in a banner, “Go and spend every last cent” printed in bold across two pages in our weekend’s papers. It was also followed by a message, “Treat yourself and save someone‘s job”. That’s the message from business as the first 4 billions of the $42 billion stimulus package by the Government, start flowing to bank accounts this week. And this is a financial lifeline meant to stave off a recession. I couldn't’t help but laughed at the thought that I might be guilty of feeding recession because I believe in frugality.
Frugality in this context is simply that I do not trust, or deeply wary of expert knowledge especially they are from commercial markets or corporate organisations, claiming what is the best economic interest s for me.Personally, I have always consider frugality to be a virtue through which people can make use of their inherited skills from their kampong ancestors, carrying little and needing little, their needs simple and their wants few and finding meaning in nature instead of man-made conventions or religion.



I 'm not going to go off on my introductory tangent of frugality living, but most people would agree that frugality is at least partially about saving money. Maybe I should start a collection of recession recipes that got our grandparents/great grandparents through the depression. Anybody have suggestions on recession cuisine?

11 comments:

  1. recession recipe? bring it on..!! I think i bought too many imported food...haha!

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  2. steam pork with dong chai

    wombok fry with ginger

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  3. Hi BY,
    You hor mia liao. Ah Kong & Ah Mah where got steam pork to eat. Most likely salted eggs and Kiam Chai. Maybe pig blood and intestine lah. :) Joke aside, I will post frugal cooking soon.

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  4. Hi Uncle Philip,

    Dad told me about your blog and I have been reading it quite regularly! You have some pretty interesting stuff.

    OK I have a recession recipe suggestion which was my childhood all time favourite dish called Ah Poh's Rice with Kiam Chye :-

    Ah Poh's Rice

    Mix steaming hot rice with lard and some pork crackling, Crack a fresh egg into rice. Stir well to coat rice with egg. Season with soya sauce and pepper.

    Kiam Chye Dish

    Fry garlic and add in the kiam chye (finely chopped). Add in some cut chilli and some sugar to taste.

    Try it out and let me know whether its yummy!

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  5. Hi Christine,
    Thanks for visiting. Unfortunately, some of the ingredients used for our traditional"farmer's food" or granny's special dishes are no longer cheap to buy. Salted egg is priced about $1-$1.20 each.in Sydney. We are still receiving emails on recipes for food and ingredient such as kiam chye, chye poh and even waxed duck and chinese sausages. All these goodies are "akan datang" on this blog :)

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  6. Hi Uncle Philip,

    I have a dish that I loves, French Beans with Egg. stir fry garlic till light brown, add chop french bean, beat eggs and add light soy sauce to taste to the egg mixture, add the egg mixture to the bean.Cook till it no longer wet. Serve with rice.

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  7. ya boi, asian imported goods like chinese sausages, kiam chye and even duck is a luxury..must ozified the recession meal..hehe!

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  8. Hi Megan,
    Thanks for the contribution. Do you add enough eggs to make it into an omellete?

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  9. Hi Danny,
    You are right to say they are considered luxuries and will definitely cost a bomb to buy them fronm the stores.But not necessary so, if you know how to make them from scratch.I am in the middle of making kiam chye, and will post its recipe once the photo shoots are completed.

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  10. Hi Uncle Philip,

    I normally add about one/two eggs depend on the qty of the french beans, do not have to make it into an omellete.

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  11. Thanks Megan,
    We will try your recipe tonight as we just bought a big bag of french beans for $1.99. It is on special at the Superfresh Market in Eastwood.

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