Here to introduce you some of the easiest comfort Korean food: Kimchi Fried Rice!
Stir fry some leftover kimchi with some salt and some soy sauce and some olive oil(you can skip that tho). Put cooked rice after 1-2min and cook for another 3 min.
If you don't like Kimchi's strong flavor this is definitely the way to try. There's plenty of recipies online and honestly it's a recipie that just couldn't go wrong.
In winter I find soups are great dishes with minimal effort. I chop up some root veg, roast it in the oven until it's soft then mix it with some liquid and blend it. You can use whatever you have on hand (carrots, squash, pumpkin, sweet potatoes) and you can vary the liquid as well. I usually use vegetable stock but coconut milk works well. Add some spices to the vegetables when roasting or just stick with some salt. Then just serve with the nicest bread you can get hold of and eat!
In summer, I always enjoy pasta dishes with some kind of pesto. All you need for a normal pesto is garlic, toasted nuts, oil, an Italian hard cheese and basil. Pine nuts are traditional but cashews are more readily available (and cheaper where I live). If you've got a lemon, squeeze some juice in as well. The last month or so has been wild garlic season so I've foraged for the leaves and used it in place of both the basil and garlic. Carrot, beetroot and radish leaves are good too (plus others I haven't tried that I'm sure will also work) or you can roast beetroot or pepper and blend them into the mixture.
I just serve this with some pasta, vegetables and cheese (normally feta) and you can make the pesto quite quickly while the pasta is cooking.
Yeah, like @[email protected] said, the maillard reaction makes stuff taste nice! Compare a boiled potato to a roast potato and see which is better - it usually takes more time to roast over boiling but it's worth it.
Chilli is maybe not super super easy to make, but you can make a ton of it, freeze the rest and eat it every day / every other day in a different style, one day burrito, one day nachos, one day with rice, etc etc.
Just crack an egg or two on a pan. Grate some cheese on it (not sure on the English name of the cheese I use, but not all of them will work as well). Depending on how I'm feeling that day I might cut up some sausage on top as well. Season with a fuck ton of salt and black pepper.
You can either eat it directly off the pan with slices of bread or throw it inside two large slices of bread and eat it like a sandwich. If you're going for the second approach make sure you cook the egg well, otherwise you're gonna be making a mess.
quarter brussel sprouts until you have enough to cover the bottom of a cast iron or carbon steel oven safe pan without crowding; a glass casserole dish will also work
toss in cooking oil of choice, salt, pepper, herbs of choice, e.g. herbs de provence
420F for 30 minutes, stirring at 10 and 20 minutes, optionally sprinkling with shredded parmesan at 20 minutes
End result should be crisped on edges. Probably the side dish I've made more than than any other.
This is a bit extra effort, but the brussel sprouts marinade outline in the link is very good. The link says to grill them on skewers, but I have also baked them and air fried them using the same marinade and it was always good. If you're opposed to grilling them or don't have access to a grill, the air fryer is the next best option for sure
Add everything to the crock pot, with 6 cups of water. Cook for 5 hours on high. Once it's done, add 2 teaspoons of salt and mix well.
I make this every Sunday, and eat throughout the week with fresh rice, salad, nuts, and some protein (tofu or soy in my case). It's delicious and nutritious.
Fried rice. It takes a good bit of technique, but I was able to practice a lot and get good at it while living somewhere where I had a high temperature wok burner. Now that I have the technique down, I can manage pretty well in an ordinary skillet on an electric stove, and it's super easy and quick once you know what' you're doing.
Beer cheese Mac and cheese
no measuring required (all ingredients are sold/packaged in the exact amounts needed for this recipe)
Ingredients :
12oz can/bottle of beer (lagers or ales work best, avoid dark beers)
8oz package of cream cheese
1lb bag of shredded cheddar
1lb box of elbows or whatever pasta you want
Steps:
Cook the pasta (I'm assuming most people already know how to cook pasta) and perform the rest of the steps at the same time while the pasta is cooking
Pour entire bottle/can of beer into a large pot and bring to a boil.
Turn heat down to medium-high and wait for the foam (if any) to settle a little bit
Put entire package of cream cheese into the beer, use a wooden spoon/spatula to break it into smaller chunks as it melts, until it is mostly melted
Add the shredded cheddar a little bit at a time until the entire bag is in the pot
Continue to stir and break up chunks until all the cheese and cream cheese is melted
Turn heat to low for the beer cheese, and finish cooking the pasta if not already
Mix in cooked pasta into beer cheese pot
This serves 4-5 people, but it leftovers pretty well so don't be afraid of having extra
As this is sort of a basic recipe, its easy to add optional extras too it as well. Some of my favorites are diced jalapeno, crumbled bacon, bits of steak, or broccoli
I made coffee jelly recently. It was really easy to do, the hardest part being the whipped cream (my arms 😭). And when I finally got to eat it I'd realised that I found my favourite dessert. Thank you Saiki K for introducing me to this heavenly flavour 🙏 (even though it took me over a year to finally get around to making it).
Yogurt dill dip. I use this recipe. It's an incredibly flavorful dip, sauce, or salad dressing. I made a batch of six cups recently for a family & friends dinner where it worked as dip for pita chips, topping for meat, dressing for salad, and topping for broccoli.
I've gone vegetarian, but my old go to for a special meal that took basically no effort? Boiled pot roast.
You take a pot. Any kind as long as it fits the roast. You put the roast in. Add seasoning. Add water. Let it boil for a few hours. When you're ready to eat it it's probably long since finished. Yeah, you can put it in a crock pot or an oven pan or whatever but I didn't have those. Used this method to make corned beef brisket as a Christmas thing for awhile.
Now that I'm vegetarian? Hamburger helper. Fry some vegetarian hamburger. Add pasta. Add water and seasoning. Let simmer til done.
i've been making this one for years and it's actually really easy to make and without any "real" egg replacement. certainly not very healthy, but really good!