Cheap and Plentiful Ethnic Foods

[Lacykitten]

am planning my best friend's birthday and want to make it East Indian (ish) themed.. So I'm looking for recipes for Ethnic foods that wouldn't be too expensive to make a lot of.

For example, things like dahl or curry, that could make a fair number of servings (6-10+) without being too expensive to make.

And ideas for things to make that wouldn't be too expensive to buy or make.

Vegan, of course.

Quick and easy is preferred, but I'll take anything that makes a good sized amount of stuff.

(Please don't tell me to have a potluck. It's been done before and people either make a stink about having to bring vegan food, or just don't come. I want my Nefer to have an awesome birthday and that means a vegan birthday, which means doing it myself or enlisting a few friends to help with the actual making of food.)

[Dandelion]

funny, my coworker and i were JUST talking about how we're all into rice n beans now that we're dirt poor.
still i can't make a pot of rice to save my life.

[dviolet]

funny, my coworker and i were JUST talking about how we're all into rice n beans now that we're dirt poor.
still i can't make a pot of rice to save my life.

I would second that! Black beans and yellow rice is sooo good. And yeah, rice is really difficult to make. I used to be a pro - but eventually bought a rice cooker. The key to good rice is measuring, timing and trusting. You cannot lift the lid under any circumstance until the timer has gone off and you must measure very carefully.

Ok, back on subject...

A variation on the rice and beans would be couscous and lentils. Yummy!

[Dandelion]

*whew* i feel much better knowing i'm not the only rice challenged person.
i refuse to buy a rice cooker and be constrained by such strict guidlelines...
that's why i suck at rice i guess
(we need a rice thread)

I would second that! Black beans and yellow rice is sooo good. And yeah, rice is really difficult to make. I used to be a pro - but eventually bought a rice cooker. The key to good rice is measuring, timing and trusting. You cannot lift the lid under any circumstance until the timer has gone off and you must measure very carefully.

Ok, back on subject...

A variation on the rice and beans would be couscous and lentils. Yummy!

[herbi]

i refuse to buy a rice cooker and be constrained by such strict guidlelines...

Luckily, one person in this house knows how to cook rice without burning it.
Also, there was some rice-cookery discussion already here.

[spike003]

Couscous can be made a thousand ways, spice, sweet, whatever and can be bought in bulk so it costs next to nothing, takes a few minutes to make. hummus is easy to make and is cheap too. Get a vegan recipe book and just multiply. A friend made fresh hummus for a party of about 20 and it didn't cost much and everybody was satisfied.

[misanthropy]

Some ideas:

- chickpea and potato curry (with coconut milk)
- lentils & rice
- eggplant & tomato stew

Let me know if you'd like the recipes for these.

[ConsciousCuisine]

I think what misanthropy said is great...also with a Dahl to die for! Ask me for my recipe if you want to make it...

[shedonteatmeat]

Some ideas:

- chickpea and potato curry (with coconut milk)
- lentils & rice
- eggplant & tomato stew

Let me know if you'd like the recipes for these.

I'd love the eggplant & tomato stew recipe, if you don't mind

[FafaFrappy]

Hm... I wouldn't mind a chickpea and potato curry recipe myself.

[littleone]

I just found a Indian market near my uni and it is a veg Disneyland!!....you know, when you wander around that kind of small store for TOO LONG, you gotta buy something, even though you really don't know what's that stuff. OK, so I grabbed a bag of seeds-like thing called "Dhanadal Roasted", only 1.60 so who cares. The owner just kept on saying "just put on food, you know, food".......

The bag is still sealed.

Anyone had this "dhanadal" before?

[jagged-little-pill]

urm...I know it's middle eastern but falafel in pitta with either vegan hummus (I know sainsburys own make hummus is vegan) or vegan mayonaise mixed with lemon is damnnnnnnnnnnn tasty

[a_nnoyance]

funny, my coworker and i were JUST talking about how we're all into rice n beans now that we're dirt poor.
still i can't make a pot of rice to save my life.

Rice is so easy to make! Tell me what type of rice you are trying to make and I will let you know how to make it... Short grain white, medium grain white, basmati, etc. It's all easy...

[Kat]

I like this curry recipe. It's very mild and even people who normally don't like curry generally like this dish.

Make sure you make it in a large soup pot, because this recipe makes a lot. Add brown rice and bread and some other sort of side dish and you'll probably feed 6 comfortably.

http://vegweb.com/recipes/ethnic/chi...to-curry.shtml

[Kat]

Oh, that's a chickpea and potato curry recipe, by the way