Where There Is No McDonald’s: More TEFL Recipes

I might have mentioned that I think one of the nicest things about living abroad is having the opportunity to sample and even learn to cook local cuisine. But let’s face it: when you’re immersed in another place 24-7, you have moments when you miss good ole comfort food from home. Maybe it’s a holiday, or maybe you’ve just had a bad day.

Even if you have a McDonald’s in your town, it’s far from certain that they’ll have the breakfast menu on offer, which I found out the hard way. Let me warn you: you may be shocked by the simplicity of the upcoming recipes, but in my experience they are worth sharing as many EFL teachers, myself included, come from cultures where cooking things from scratch is kind of not done.

Hashbrowns: Dice an onion or two and saute in oil. Dice several potatoes (overall cooking time will be shorter if you boil them first, but watch out, they’re hot!) and throw them in several minutes after the onions. You need to stir, but not too often, especially if you’re a fan of the more well-cooked hashbrown “skin.” I add salt and pepper about halfway through.

Coleslaw: slice up a cabbage finely (I like to use a grater if I can) and also a carrot or two. The dressing has mayonnaise (or plain yogurt which could even be low-fat) and vinegar in about a 4:1 ratio. Sometimes people add mustard, sugar, dill or basil. I find it funny that several of the coleslaw recipes at Allrecipe.com call for a “bag of coleslaw mix” which presumably consists of cut-up cabbage and a carrot.

And last but not least, how about cutting up some uneaten breadsticks or even day-old bread and cooking it with olive oil and seasoning to make your own croutons? I did this a few weeks ago after being inspired by The Daily Kimchi, and they were great. It’s not like you can’t buy croutons in a whole host of places…but why waste food when you can make something yummy out of it?

For more on this topic, check out Where There Is No McDonald’s: TEFL Recipes and Cooking Abroad. If you need to furnish your own kitchen abroad, be on the lookout for a TEFL Logue post on the Top 10 Kitchen Utensils and Accessories.