Dirty Rice and it's Done Dirt Cheap. A $5 challenge.

Dirty Rice and It’s Done Dirt Cheap, with apologies to AC/DC!

Dirty rice is easy to make. The best part about the dish, to make it is dirt cheap and should easily come in at under $5 as per the challenge.

Dirty rice gets its’ name from the off white colour the rice assumes during cooking. Dirty rice is generally linked to creole cuisine and the deep South of the United States of America. However, there are versions of it in many cuisines.  

To make dirty rice with a tip of the hat towards the creole favourite, this is one way to do it. However like many good dishes it is open to creativity so can then add what you want or have on hand.  

Makes enough to serve six and prices are in Australian dollars and are current as of February, 2015.

Ingredients:

2 cups white rice, 450gms at $3.95/kg  equates to $2.00

200 grams chicken livers @3.98/kg      equates to $0.80

1 stalk of celery                                                      $0.10

1 onion                             $0.99/kg                         $0.20

½ a green capsicum         $3.98/kg                          $0.75

4 cloves of garlic              $6.99/kg                        $0.30

¼ tsp cayenne pepper

Tsp black pepper

4 cups chicken stock

Total basic cost $4 or thereabouts.

Notes:
Chicken stock. Cheapest is to make your own using chicken necks as these too are $3.98/kg. We make our own as we make our own dog food. We feed our chooks instant noodles but never use the flavour packet. You could use the flavour packets although they do contain a lot of sodium if that is a concern. Adjust your seasoning to allow for added salt from packets or prepared stocks.

How to make dirty rice:

• Prepare your ingredients first. It takes all the stress and strain out of preparing this dish and any stir fry.
• Chop the chicken livers into about 5mm cubes. A fine chop but not pureed!
• Chop the onion finely.
• Chop the celery and capsicum reasonably small.
• Chop the garlic.

You are ready to go.

• In a good sized pan heat some oil. Brown the chicken livers. Don’t burn them. You are really just getting the ink or redness out of them.  This takes about three minutes.
• Then add the onion and cook until the onion is translucent. Takes about two minutes.
• Add the celery, capsicum and garlic and any seasoning and cook stirring for another three minutes or so then add the rice. Stir to coat the rice well with the contents then add the stock.
• Bring to the boil then slowly simmer for twenty minutes with the lid on. Turn off the heat, lift the lid and fluff it all up with a fork.
• Put the lid back on and leave for ten minutes

You could  serve this version of dirty rice  as an entree, as a  side dish or as  a main course. A salad would certainly complete the meal

The ingredient list is basic. The idea was to make a cheap dish that would still satisfy the taste buds. 

To take Dirty Rice from the Economy section and move it up to Premium or even Business you could add a few extras such as some extra pieces of chicken or pieces of sausage. Smoked sausage would keep with the creole mood but really if you are making the dish more universal, almost any sausage would work. The well known Asian dish chop suey which does not exist as an authentic dish in China,  means a dish made with all the left-overs. Dirty rice is a dish that can be varied easily by what you have on hand. A little creativity and courage is all you need.