[mojo]

Rice and Gravy

"rice and gravy" is a staple in South Louisiana. It is one of the first things you learn to cook. Any meat including chicken can be used.

Ingredients

1 pound round steak or beef steak
1 large onion
1 bell pepper
 salt and pepper to taste
2 c rice

Directions

Prepare 2 cups of rice.

First you need a black iron pot (cast iron) or a Magnalite pot. Cut up the steak into bite size portions. Salt and pepper the meat. Put a small amount of oil in the bottom of the pot so that the meat will not stick. Heat the oil on medium heat and then add the meat. Stir while browning the meat. Don't be afraid to burn it; it will not burn if you keep turning it.

Once the meat is browning, add a little water at a time. Once the meat is really brown and the water has evaporated, add your onions and cook until the onions turn brown. Add the bell peppers and start to cook them. Add enough water to cover the meat let it cook until the meat is tender. Reduce the water to make thicker gravy. If the gravy is too thick, add more water. If too thin, cook down some more. The more onions you have, the thicker your gravy will be.
The browner your meat, the darker your gravy will be. Serve that wonderful gravy and meat over rice....hence rice and gravy!

In the last 15 minutes of cooking, you could add minced green onions and fresh minced garlic.

[MSL]

Simple, easy, delicious. I respect very much this kind of recipes (as a consumer; as a webmaster I do respect all of the recipes. ).

Approximately how long does it take? 1-2 hours? 2 and half? (Pls, share your experience, if you already prepared it at home.)

[SEO]

Right. Every recipe is welcome! But personally we may prefer more X than Z and B than C.

Hey, I guess 1 h. and half is enough. Mojo?

[mojo]

How long a recipe takes, especially this one more depends on your level of experience in doing it than anything else. Notice the recipe tells you how to adjust the thickness to your liking. The trial and error to learn exactly how much ingredient to use (water) consumes a lot of unnecessary time once you have become proficient at it. Once you know exactly how much water to use first time, you've knocked a lot of prep time off your cooking time.

Same with the heat of the cast iron pan. Once you know how hot you need your pan to do the sauteing, you no longer have to guess and adjust. You set the pan on the burner early and it's ready when you are. Each of these are one little trick you learn in the process.

The rice cooking normally takes 20 minutes. Nothing says you can't cook the rice at the same time on another burner. Making the gravy once you have it all down pat probably won't take more than 20 minutes so that about the time your rice is ready so is your gravy.

A lot times in the evening rather than munch on snack foods, we make grill cheese sandwiches. It takes me about 5 minutes from walking in the kitchen to first sandwich done. Mainly because of two things. Made so many of them, I have it down pat to a tee, knowing what to pull out first and what I need before I need it to have it on hand. The second item that speeds this process up, is there are two of us in the kitchen at the same time. While I am preparing the cooking utensils and gathering the other items, the lady is defrosting the bread, gathering the items I haven't gotten and by the time the sandwich is ready, everything unneeded has been put back up. You can't do this without the experience ahead of time of knowing what you need, when you need it, and how you need it on hand before you need it.

[mojo]

Right. Every recipe is welcome! But personally we may prefer more X than Z and B than C.

Hey, I guess 1 h. and half is enough. Mojo?

I will always go to my fall back that a recipe is not a blue print but rather a guideline. By the same token, it is your time, your taste buds, and your wallet, that sees the recipe chosen or not chosen according to your personal tastes and abilities. This is as it should be.

I am quite sure that many of these recipes will be totally strange to the culture being a more common food here and not so common elsewhere. I always by preference want to try things I've never tasted before. Cookbooks and recipes are how this knowledge is transferred when the cook can not be there leaning over your shoulder to say it should be done this way or that.

If you have no liking, aren't equipped with the necessary ingredients, or tools to cook with, all is good. You find one you do like. That's what choice is about. *winks*