The last meal of the day needs to be comforting and delicious. Dinners can be really taxing at times when you run out of ideas and you are too tired to cook anything good. Cooking after returning home from work, or after a whole day managing home can be a nightmare on a few days. Although cooking when you have some time on hand and storing in an insulated casserole helps, still you are always looking for a meal that you can rustle up really fast, store on a hot case and get your dinner table ready.
Best Dinner Recipes
Given below is the list of recipes that can be cooked in a jiffy and stored in an insulated food jar, hot box, or a casserole
1. Chickpea Curry
Ultimate north Indian food which is super easy to make. Boil some chickpeas. For the gravy, you can take tomato and onion paste, fry it, add spices such as coriander, turmeric, and garam masala. When it’s done, add the boiled chickpeas. Garnish it with cilantro and serve it hot with roti or naan.
2. Spaghetti with Garlic and Olive Oil
It’s an Italian classic. Spaghetti is comfort food for so many and it’s embarrassingly easy to make. It is the perfect recipe when you don’t have any ingredients you require to make a fancy spaghetti dish and you want to get over with dinner quickly. All you require for this recipe are – crushed garlic, pepper, unsalted butter, olive oil, cheese, and spaghetti. Sautee the garlic in butter, add pepper and chili flakes, toss the spaghetti in it. Serve it with grated cheese on top. Voila! Perfect simple garlic spaghetti is ready.
3. Shakshuka
The name sounds so fancy, doesn’t it? As fancy as the name gets, it’s a really easy dish to make. It’s a tangy dish best suited for those who love eggs. All you need for this dish are – sliced tomatoes, sliced onions, garlic, parsley, and eggs. You cook the onion, tomatoes with garlic for a few minutes. That is the base and the sauce. When the sauce is ready, you crack the egg on top of it. Lower the steam, let it cook for 10 minutes. While serving you can add parsley on top. Serve it hot with garlic bread. You can store it in an insulated food containers for having it the next day.
4. Chicken Curry
Being an Indian having curry is very normal but curry can be done in a variety of methods. Some curry takes a lot of time while the rest is easy. This particular recipe will take a maximum of 15 minutes. Surprising, right? You don’t need to chop any vegetables. You just need tomato paste, onion, coriander, cumin, paprika, curry powder, yogurt, and chicken thighs. Firstly, fry the thighs and keep them separately. Cook the tomato paste and onion with the spices and curry powder. When done, add the thigh and cook for few more minutes. Add the yogurt at the end. Your creamy and delicious chicken curry is ready!
5. Mac n Cheese
Talk about the cheap and easy recipe, mac and cheese it is. All you need for this recipe are – boiled macaroni, flour, milk, pepper, butter, and cheese. You make the sauce with flour, butter, pepper. When the mixture is soft without any lump, add milk to it. Bring it to boil, add the macaroni. Cook for 2-4 minutes. Add as much cheese as you want, it’s never enough cheese. Your creamy bowl of mac n cheese is ready!
6. Masala Dosa
What can be better than quick and crispy masala dosa with coconut chutney on a lazy dinner night? You need besan, flour, masala of your choice. Add the flour, baking soda, and besan in a bowl and keep the batter runny. The texture of the batter is very important, shouldn’t be too thick or too thin. Heat the pan in medium heat. Put a ladle of the batter in the middle of the pan and spread it outwards in a circular motion, with few drops of oil on the edges. Let it cook till the edges are crispy and brown. Your masala dosa is ready to be served hot with coconut chutney and sambar.
7. Garlic Fried Rice
You have leftover rice but no idea what to do with it? Garlic fried rice is just the recipe that is made out of leftover rice. You need a lot of garlic, sesame sauce, veggies of your choice, soy sauce. Sauté the garlic in sesame sauce, soy sauce and add the veggies. After that, add the leftover rice and toss it. Before taking it off the pan, add grated garlic and your garlic fried rice is ready. Could fried rice be easier than this?
8. Roasted Eggplant Mash
Also goes by the name “baingan bharta”. All you need is eggplant, tomato, garlic, onion, and spices of your choice. The eggplant is grilled at first. Then tomato, onion, and garlic are fried. Spices such as cumin and coriander can be added according to the taste. It’s really easy and has a roasted taste. It tastes heavenly with roti, naan, or bread. For extra flavor, you can sprinkle garam masala at the end.
9. Roasted Cauliflower
Don’t feel like cooking any nonveg recipe but want something roasted? Roasted cauliflower is a savior. You just have to roast the cauliflower with a bit of garlic, thyme, rosemary, and pepper. Roast until it’s golden brown. You can store it in a hot box or casserole.
10. Instant Ramen
We all have this kind of day where a bowl of ramen is exactly what we need for dinner. No judgment there. The best part of ramen is that you don’t need to do much. You can have it just with the tastemaker. You can add bacon, egg, veggies if you want to. It is a universal comfort dinner recipe ranging from school going kids, students living in a hostel, or someone who had a rough day at the office, and too tired to cook anything fancy.
Conclusion
There goes the list of 10 quick dinner recipes but it doesn’t mean you can’t experiment with it. Mothers come to rescue when you have to cook something quick and delicious so don’t forget that.