These are some recipes I've learned during grad school. They're what I cook on the home at midnight days. But, they're growing on me, and so I thought I'd share. Enjoy!

Table of Contents

• Vegetarian
  • Avocado Slices in Vinagrette
  • Rice
• Meaty
  • Ramen
  • Coriander Chicken

Ramen

Thanks to the inimitable Rick for teaching this to me...

Ingredients:

• Ramen Noodles
• 1 Egg per noodle packet
• Green onions
• Kamaboku
• Shoyu
• Black Pepper
• Salt
• Spices

Ramen, that quintessential student food. I've grown to like this recipe very much.

First, boil enough water to cover half of your ramen. Add shoyu for the other half (Note: if you have any sort of sodium issue, you should probably lay off ramen in general, and this ramen in particular).

While this is going on, mince a green onion stalk or two and cut 2-3 slices of kamaboku per person. When the water boils, add ramen, then turn down the heat to medium and add the egg. Stir well. Now, add everything else. You can add many additional spices. I tend to pour in chili oil, but my husband is a fan of dill and basil. It tastes fine without anything but salt and pepper, but there is plenty of room to experiment.

Coriander Pepper Chicken

Ingredients:

• Chicken bits
• Olive oil
• Whole Coriander
• Whole Black Pepper
• Salt
• Lemon Juice

Rub chicken inwith olive oil and cut into bite-sized chunks and set aside.
Grind pepper and coriander by hand. Grind as much pepper as you want, and then toss in an equal amount of coriander. Think "crusted" :-)


Add salt to taste. Combine spices with chicken. Place in a shallow bowl, and add a splash of lemon juice to keep the chicken moist.

Cook as you see fit. I tend to microwave, because the oven is wonky (nuke for 5 minutes, turn chicken over and move outer pieces to the center, cook for 3 minutes). Ymmv.

Rice

One of the easiest foods there are!

Ingredients:

• 1 part Basmati/Texmati Rice
• A bit of Ghee/Butter
• 3 parts Water
• cumin seeds
• salt

Add rice to a pot and wash it throughly. Drain, and then add 3 parts water and about a spoonful of ghee (this is to taste). If you want to make jeera rice, add a teaspoon of cumin seeds per about every 2 cups of rice, and salt to taste.

If you're using a pressure cooker, toss everything in, turn the stove to High, and wait for one whistle. After the whistle, take the cooker off of the stove and let it cool and depressurize.

On a stove, boil the water, then turn the heat to medium and check back in about a half hour to see how it looks.

In a microwave, cover and cook on Hi for 10 minutes. Remove, stir, and cook 5 more minutes. Repeat if still not done.

Avocado Slices in Vinagrette

Ingredients:

• 1 ripe avocado (squishy, but pre-goop stage)
• 1/4+ cup Balsamic vinegar (2/9)
• 2/3 cup olive oil
• Salt (to taste)
• Fresh coarse black pepper (to taste)
• Fresh fine black pepper (to taste)
• Dash of ground coriander
• 2 flour tortillas
• 1 tbsp fresh Parsley or Mint as garnish

Cut avocado into 1/4" slices. Mix oil, vinegar, salt, and coarse pepper in a bowl, and marinate the avocados in the mixture for at least 5 minutes.

While avocado is marinating, halve the tortillas and lay them to form a diamond on the serving tray. Remove the avocados and place 2-3 slices on each piece of tortilla. Sprinkle the finely ground pepper and coriander over the avocados. You should also taste for salt here.

Finally, drizzle a little of the vinagrette over the plate, and you're done!.

* Save the leftover vinagrette. With a bit of extra salt and pepper, it makes an excellent dipping sauce for bread!