Marco Polo's Not-So-Chinese Delight

-or-

The Poor College Student's Hunter's Stew

If you are expecting a good recipe stop now.

Don't read any more.

What follows is an experiment with pseudo-Chinese cooking. It isn't one of the greatest dishes ever made. In fact, its not that good. But its cheap, and was a whole lot of fun to make. Consider yourself warned.

Ingredients

3/4 lb. ground beef
1 large onion, chopped
2-3 cloves of garlic
6-8 tsps. of Soy Sauce
1/2 tsp. pepper (or more to taste)
3/4 tsp. salt
6 cups cooked rice(hot)
1 can (19 oz.) cheap vegetable soup
1/4-1/2 cup of water
Several handfuls Chow Mein Noodles
A Variety of Chinese (or not-so-Chinese) vegetables. I used Chinese Veges in a can:)
Garlic Powder (optional)

Directions

Cook the ground beef, onions and garlic in a skillet or deep frying pan (like you would for tacos). You're done when the meat is cooked and the onions are tender. Add salt, pepper, soy sauce, vegetable soup and water. Cook until you start boiling off a fair amount of the water (10-12 minutes). Add vegetables, and cook until most of the fluid is boiled off. Serve over the hot rice, adding a sizable quantity of Chow Mein noodles. Season to taste with pepper, soy sauce and garlic powder. Approximately 8-10 servings. Approximate cost : $6.50

This dish, while perhaps not the most full of flavor, sure has a great variety of texture and color. Its also filling. REALLY filling, and stores well.

The Story of this Recipe

I'm a college student doing summer research, so instead of filling the pockets of the Fascist dining hall administrators, I decided to cook for myself. Having had enough pasta, I decided to try my hand at Chinese. I failed. A few weeks later, I tried again. I went to the grocery store and looked for something that would strike my fancy. I happened upon a recipe for "Hamburger Chow Mein" on a "Chun King Chow Mein Vegetables" can, and decided to experiment with the recipe. This is the result.

So why did I decided to put it on the web? I didn't stink outright, and was quite filling. And the name? It was a cross between Chinese (the recipe) and Italian (the garlic & onion), and Marco Polo seemed like the guy to name it after. Its also called the "Poor College Student's Hunter's Stew", because it had a lot in common with real Hunter's Stew. It was a thrown-together mish-mosh of ingredients of all kinds. So it would actually be Hunter's Stew, but I got most of it out of cans, and didn't kill the cow myself:) Anyway, thats about it, so enjoy, and please, please don't blame me if the recipe stinks. Ciao!

Page Created and Maintained by Chris Siefert

Last Edited on : 06/29/99