Frugal Feasts 3

Spiced Chicken Livers 

This won’t appeal to all, I know many people are put off by the mere mention of liver, indeed until recently I was one of those people. For the most part it was due to the cook rather than the foodstuff, cooked quickly on a high heat with a good hit of spice and herbs which manages to obliterate any negative childhood memories of rubber bullet-like  unpalatable weapons served up with the promise that they were full of goodness.

If you can bring yourself to try them and please do as I hope you too will be converted, the chicken livers themselves are roughly £0.50 per pack, so for 4 people £1.50 for a high protein source leaving plenty in our £5.00 budget to tart them up a bit. Unless you have a good local butcher you will probably find the chicken livers in the frozen food section of most supermarkets so defrost thoroughly before using.

This is delicious as a light lunch served on some nice toasted bread but I have chosen to serve this with simple lemon and coriander rice and a shredded carrot and onion salad as a main course. The cost excluding dried spices and seasonings came in at £4.84.

Ingredients

For the chicken livers

750g chicken livers
4 fat cloves garlic
Handful of coriander stalks, retain the leaves for later
4cm grated ginger
3 chillies (I used green medium heat Fresno chillies but use what you can find and vary the quantity if you don’t like it too hot)
1/2 tsp black peppercorns
1 lemon, zest and juice
1 tsp honey or agave syrup
Salt to taste
2 tbsp vegetable or olive oil

Method

• Make the marinade for the livers. Place all the ingredients apart from the oil and coriander leaves into a pestle and mortar or a food processor and bash or blitz to a fine paste.
• Although I call this a marinade you don’t need to wait too long, the marinade only needs about 20 minutes to 1 hour over the livers.
• Clean the livers, I don’t bother with soaking in milk but if you want to reduce the iron richness you can. Cut off any grubby bits or sinew and place in a dish, then pour over the marinade.
• Once marinaded heat a pan until searingly hot. Add a small amount of vegetable oil, about 2 tsp and brush off excess marinade before placing the livers in the pan. The livers will take 30 seconds a side so don’t leave them. Once turned, add remaining marinade to the pan along with the fresh coriander leaves, coat livers gently and serve.
• 

For the rice

Ingredients

200g basmati rice
1 tbsp mustard seeds
2 tbsp vegetable oil
1 lemon, zest and juice
1/2 tsp tumeric
Pinch sea salt
Fresh coriander, chopped

Method

• Wash rice and cook according to instructions. Once cooked set aside
• Heat oil in a frying pan. Add mustard seeds, when they start to pop add the tumeric. Pour oil and spices onto the rice.
• Add lemon zest and juice and fork through the rice, add chopped coriander and season with sea salt if needed. Serve

Nearly done folks
Finally the carrot and onion salad

Ingredients

2 carrots, grated
1 red onion, finely sliced
Juice of 1 lemon
1 tbsp natural yoghurt
Small handful of chopped coriander
Salt and pepper

Method

• Mix all ingredients together and allow to sit in the fridge for an hour before serving to allow flavours to develop.

Costings

Chicken Livers £1.50
Garlic £0.30
1 bunch coriander £0.99
Chillies £0.20
3 lemons £0.90
Basmati rice £0.60
Carrots £0.20
Red onion £0.15

Total £4.84