It's here at last Day One of the Ration Challenge 2022.
My first job of the day in the absence of being able to make a coffee, was pour myself a cup of hot water and then set too to weigh out my days rice ration.
For day one I decided to see just how much one seventh of the rice allocation would make up. I could have this much every day if I wanted to ... or needed to.
I gave it a good soak and a rinse to remove excess starch, I wasn't in the mood for clumpy rice.
I added twice the weight of water to the rice in the pan, along with a good teaspoon of turmeric, and then brought it to a fast boil before turning the heat right down and setting the timer for 20 minutes. I then realised what I was about to eat and went and changed out of my white t-shirt!!
When the timer went off I turned off the heat, put a clean tea towel over the rice with the lid on top and left it to steam for five minutes.
The result ... perfectly fluffy yellow rice.
I got myself a good portion for my breakfast, and then put the rest into a cold container to cool quickly, before putting it into the fridge for later.
On the menu plan for lunch was Lentil Pancakes, nice and simple to ease me gently into this first day.
But as I put them to soak I crumbled at the first hurdle, and made myself two thirds of a cup of coffee with a quarter of my two teaspoon coffee ration.
Tip - If you want to soak anything in your Nutribullet cup leave it stood the right way up. I thought I was being clever soaking them this way, but I had a slow seepage of water onto the worktop.
Oops ... I knew I needed that coffee, it was a shame I didn't have it earlier!!
After about four hours I whizzed up the lentils in the soaking water.
And poured about a third of the mix into the oiled pan, sprinkled some of the spring onion on top and cooked it for about five minutes, before flipping it over and cooking the other side for another two minutes.
The second pancake turned out to be a lot bigger so I carefully cooked it for a bit longer, these are not nice when they are soggy in the middle, turning it was a problem and some of it broke off. Once it was cooked through I added the folded in half first one back to the pan to warm up a bit more.
And then settled down to a very messy looking but very tasty, and surprisingly filling lunch.
Then it was time to make my weeks supply of dahl.
Dahl is simple to make and with simple ingredients at the best of times, but this week it seems even more basic, so it was important to get the flavours right and take care with this. After all I was using up over half of my red lentils.
Sorry, but I don't know why I took a photo of the lentils on the scales and then didn't even get the weight of them in shot!! You'll have to take my word for it they weighed in at the 150g that was in the recipe.
I rinsed them well, and then while they drained a bit I chopped half of my one clove of garlic and about 30g of the spring onions, leaving some of the dark green ends to garnish tonight's meal.
An hour later and I had my tea for tonight.
Along with seven little pots of dahl, six of them for my breakfasts each day with one extra for emergencies or to add to the pasty I have planned later in the week.
And suddenly that empty shelf in the fridge was looking just a little bit healthier. That little blob of clingfilm contains the other half of the garlic clove which will be used for my hummus, and as you can see the rice I made first thing was far too much for one day ... so I have my breakfast all ready for tomorrow. 😀
Thank you for following along with my progress and for all the support and donations. My fundraising page is linked to from the top of the righthand sidebar ... and as you can see we have beaten my target and gone above what we raised between us last year.
A special mention and thank you to Carolyn from The 1940s Experiment who linked to me and the Challenge in THIS post.
See you tomorrow with all the food from Day Two ... and I think there might be a bit more rice involved. 🍚
Sue xx
Well done on your first day, Sue. Whilst you've been very inventive with the limited ingredients, doesn't it make you think (with a bit of horror if I'm honest) about the VERY limited diet refugees have, and just how bloody fortunate we are! xx
ReplyDeleteThank you. It really does make me realise how absolutely spoilt for choice we are in this country, whilst never being this meagre again in the future I have decided that my diet will be a lot more simple from now on.
DeleteI always admire your creativity, especially with such limited resources. Lentil pancakes are surprisingly nice, I think. xx
ReplyDeleteThey are really tasty aren't they, as long as you season them well. I don't know why I forget about such simple recipes in my 'normal' diet. I intend to start a little cookbook of my own with recipes such as this to use in future.
DeleteThe excellent tip about soaking in the Nutribullet deserves an extra round of applause!
ReplyDeleteGosh yes remember it. My poor camera was stood in a little puddle, I had to stand it on some paper towel in the sunshine to dry out.
DeleteA very inventive day foodwise Sue, but I agree with Sooze in that it does somehow fill me with horror at the limited diet of refugees. Well done you on day 1 and I can't say I blame you for giving in to a small coffee. I would crumble at the thought of no mug of tea first thing in a morning! 😳
ReplyDeleteThey do get slightly more variation in the larger 'family sized six week boxes', some stock powder and a few more tins of things like tomatoes ... but it's still not good is it.
DeleteNo, it's not nearly enough and a few tins of fruit for a family would make a huge difference to their diet. If they had a small sugar ration as well they could make biscuits for the children. A childhood with no treats fills me with sadness.
DeleteUnfortunately it all comes down to money and distribution ... which also costs money.
DeleteI love your challenges what ingredient have you crossed out on the Dahl recipe. Thanks Heather
ReplyDeleteI had to cross out the half tin of tomatoes that I was going to use after I earned it as a reward, but of course I gave it away to someone who needed it more than me.
DeleteThank you. Heather
DeleteSeeing the food like this shows that it's a " tummy filler " diet, thank goodness for salt and pepper. Did you feel hungry at the end of the day ?.It's not just the physical impact of this diet for refugees but the mental impact too as there is nothing much to look forward to, especially the living conditions being awful too ,it really isn't fair, I have just done my shopping list and it's not a long one but I am choosing what goes on it and I have compared the Aldi prices to Morrisons and my 12 items are £2 cheaper at Aldi so that's where I will go, we will have colour and variety on our plates, something we have always taken for granted , good luck for the rest of the week.
ReplyDeleteThe amount of rice is purely a tummy filler isn't it. I did feel slightly hungry last night when I went to bed, but I slept really well and woke up not hungry at all. In fact as you will see tomorrow, I didn't need all the rice that I had saved for my breakfast.
DeleteStepping into a supermarket for the first time after this Challenge is going to be a real eye-opener for me isn't it, I'm purposefully staying away all week to avoid temptation.
Great start and at the moment the dhal and rice look so appetising. I’m guessing they won’t be by day seven. Catriona
ReplyDeleteIt was really tasty, both last night and this morning. Funnily enough last time I did this I had one pot of dahl and some leftover rice in the fridge the day after the challenge ... so I had it for breakfast and really enjoyed it. :-)
DeleteThis makes me feel guilty for ever grumbling about what to cook or eat - hope you are feeling full enough Sue
ReplyDeleteAlison in Wales x
Suddenly even looking in the cupboard and seeing half a dozen cans of things to choose from or looking in the freezer drawer and seeing sausage rolls and ice-cream seems like a massive extravagance. I'm coping well, thank you.
DeleteCan you imagine being the one to sort out what to do with these meager ingredients to keep body and soul together? Quite honestly, when you began this, I kept thinking, "I wouldn't even know what to make from these ingredients!" I'm enjoying following along.
ReplyDeleteThe type of meals that I am coming up with are the sort that the refugees themselves eat and traditional to their countries. The recipes that we have in the booklet are half from refugees in the camps and half from previous years challenges. To be honest it is the type of food that I am very comfortable making as it's partly how I eat day to day, with some vegan junk food thrown in for good measure ... and chocolate, oh boy am I missing chocolate!!
DeleteI think it must have been your previous participation in the challenge which started me on making large batches of lentil dahl and freezing it in lunch-sized portions. I still do . . . thank you.
ReplyDeleteIt freezes so well doesn't it, and makes the perfect addition to any sort of rice dish, curry or pasty.
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