The joy of cooking quick meals
And 3 meals you can cook in 20 minutes or less.
There are days I’ll spend hours in the kitchen cooking something I love, taking no shortcuts. I’ll put on a show or podcast, chop everything by hand, slow cook everything and just enjoy the process of working with my hands.
Then there are days when I just need to get in and out of the kitchen stat. But that doesn’t mean I need to move at hyper speed just to get a meal ready. I still manage to enjoy my time in the kitchen, it’s just short.
Today I’m going to go over three of my favourite quick-meal recipes. Two of them require some prior work but one needs absolutely nothing. And I’m pretty sure you can cook them all in just about 20 minutes or even less.
Paneer Bhurji
Paneer bhurji is one of my all-time favourite paneer recipes. It takes me back to my childhood when Ma would make it every now and then as a little treat and we’d all sit around the table really excited and dig in with hot ghee-laced phulkas.
When I moved out of home a few years ago and found myself craving paneer bhurji, I tried ordering it from so many restaurants but all of them were disappointing and I couldn’t figure out why. So I did what every kid does when they’re away from home and are craving home food. I called Ma and asked her for her recipe.
Then I fast-fowarded it further by cooking it with my onion-tomato gravy base. Watch the recipe video below to see how. I usually eat this with phulkas, but it makes a great grilled sandwich stuffer too. Or just eat with buttered pav for a super-quick meal.
Cacio e Pepe - Cheese & Pepper Pasta
Cacio e pepe is a 3-ingredient pasta dish that hails from Rome. The name literally means cheese and pepper pasta, and that’s pretty much all the ingredients you need to make this dish.
What I love about Italian recipes is the way they celebrate a few ingredients to whip up something so delicious. Cheese and pepper is one of my favourite flavour combinations, so obviously I fell in love with Cacio e pepe right away. It hits the spot when I’m craving something cheesy and comforting, without being too heavy or labour-intensive.
A traditional Cacio e pepe is made with Pecorino Romano cheese. But I discovered this dish during the 2020 lockdown, when it was tricky to get fresh bread, let alone fancy cheese. So I tried making it with the good ol’ processed cheese I had in my fridge, and while it may not be traditional, it was still delicious.
The trick to getting this dish right, is the starchy pasta water. The starch helps the cheese emulsify with the water to make a nice, shiny sauce that clings delightfully to your pasta. Watch how I make it below.
Egg Fried Rice
I love a good fried rice. It’s a great way of using up leftover rice and when made with a bunch of veggies and protein, is a truly wholesome dish. This egg fried rice is brilliant because the only prep you need to do is crack eggs and chop up ginger, garlic and green onions.
Cooking fried rice is more a technique than a recipe. So once you get your technique sorted, you can experiment with the flavours till you discover the recipe you love. A good fried rice has the following components:
Oil of choice. I’ve been using homemade chilli oil and I love it. You can use plain vegetable oil.
Aromatics like garlic, ginger, spring onions. You use these to instantly flavour the oil and by extension, the fried rice.
Day-old rice is key. You need rice that’s cold and dry for it to fry well. That’s what makes good fried rice.
Umami. Fried rice is all about the umami. That’s why you can’t stop eating it. So you could choose to add it in the form of MSG, mushrooms, or soy sauce.
Watch this video below to see how I usually make my fried rice.
Apart from these recipes above, I also cook grilled chicken that I marinate the night before or a noodle bowl assembled with whatever odds and ends I can find in the fridge. Let me know if you’d like a part 2 of this post with these recipes and more.
What’s your go-to quick recipe? Tell me in the comments.