Stuff I cooked at home recently
In which I try to diversify from my usual noodle dinners
Last week, Mark and I catsat Frank and Beans for two weeks. The flat was a four-minute walk to a McDonald’s and we only got had it three times, which to be honest, is a feat. Whenever I’m at Mark’s, we either get takeaway (because it’s more convenient and it’s a little weird to be using the kitchen for elaborate meals when you live with your landlady, who is well-meaning but seems inherently quite hover-y). Whenever we are at mine, I tend to cook some noodles, which are great, but a little boring.
Because we were at an unfamiliar kitchen, which is well-stocked with crockery and everything else, it somehow ended up being an opportunity to make things — different things — together.
Here are a few things that we ended up making. They’re fairly easy, and although I often prefer that we tag-team with the cooking and the cleaning, they’re not too hard to prepare on your own. Perhaps it will inspire you, or encourage you to close that app and make some food.
All the food is vegan unless otherwise stated!
Garlic rice + Fable Food Co.
This doesn’t come with photos because it’s something I often make. I learned how to make garlic rice from my mother, and it is honestly one of the most satisfying and easiest things to make.
I start off by cooking way too much rice so we have leftover day-old rice to make a respectable sinangag. Here’s what you do:
Mince a bunch of garlic. I err towards about six or so cloves, but it’s very hard to mince too much, trust me. Never less than that, at least.
Heat some oil up in a pan (medium heat) and add the garlic. Salt to taste, but I usually add about two pinches. Fry until fragrant.
Add your rice. Make sure to break it up really well. If I can be bothered, I break them apart with my hands or a spoon before hand. Fry with the garlic until heated through and thoroughly mix.
In a separate pan (or the same, if you’re like me and hate cleanup), heat a bit of oil — high heat — and add your protein. Here, we used Fable Food Co.’s Red Miso and Soy variant. I like to break it up really well, so the pieces are quite small, so that it crisps up a bit more.
Cook that for like five minutes, and add the sauce on a lower heat. I keep it there for like two minutes or until I feel like it.
You could also: fry up some minced garlic and sliced onions or shallots until fragrant. Season with salt and heat through a can of tuna, which is what I ate before Mark arrived.
Garlic and tomato pasta with salad greens
This is a mainstay in Mark’s repertoire. It’s stupid easy, but very satisfying.
Boil your pasta in salted water. Mark is very precise and sets a timer. I am stupid and keep track arbitrarily, tasting the pasta as I go along, to see if I like the texture, lol. This is why he is in charge of the pasta.
Slice up some onions and let it sit in a pan with a bit of oil while you slice your cherry tomatoes in half. Fry them up until the tomatoes look kinda like Salvador Dali’s melting clocks.
Mark drains the pasta but reserves a bit of the pasta water to emulsify the sauce. I don’t understand this step, but I think it makes the sauce a bit creamier and stick to the pasta. He adds the cooked pasta into the pan with the sauce, and a bit of sliced basil at the end.
For my part, I open a bag of salad greens (I like the ones with rocket, but Mark prefers the bistro salad mix) and put in some sliced cucumber.
The salad dressing, I mix about 1-ish part of balsamic vinegar with about 3 parts of olive oil and a teaspoon of dijon or wholegrain mustard.
Soft taco day!
We used this recipe from Fable Food Co., but we used the BBQ flavour, not the plain one.
Prep work for this is kind of annoying, but worth doing. Mark sliced up some red cabbage and dressed it with a bit of lemon juice and a bit of salt.
He also did the guacamole, which involves avocado, lime juice, red onion, salt, coriander and a bit of olive oil. We ate most of this with nachos.
I made the Fable, which is basically the same method as meal one. I toasted the soft taco shells on a dry pan with no oil.
For the salsa, I chopped up some tomatoes, red onion, spring onions, and coriander and mixed with lime juice, and salt.
Mark charred some corn in olive oil, some vegan butter, and salt.
Random vegan bowl
Mark made this dish because I was depressed. We had some plant-based sausage rolls and breaded “chicken”.
He heat up some baked beans, served our leftover cabbage, and made mash from Maris Piper potatoes, which are unreal. I’m not sure how he makes these potatoes, but he adds spring onions and does not peel them.
Random vegan bowl pt. 2
I cubed the butternut squash and bathed them in olive oil, with a bit of salt and pepper. Roasted them in 200ºC for about 20 minutes. I used this recipe, but omitted the garlic.
I put some vegan chorizo (no comparison to real chorizo, but still good) in the oven, too.
In one pan, I fried a can of chickpeas and tenderstem broccoli with olive oil, some cayenne pepper, chipotle pepper, salt and pepper.
And that’s it! Not the most mindblowing of meal plans, but I’m just happy we a) did not fall back to our noodle default, and b) did not cave into a McDonald’s order as much as I thought we would.
Hope this is helpful. I find that although I am often tempted to just not cook and dig into a pack of instant ramen (or just, eating them raw like a snack, lol), but I do feel much better when I cook food that makes me feel like I am taking care of myself.
Wishing you all a good week. I had a black garlic ramen for lunch myself, but I’m going to make a version of this pantry pasta involving tinned mackerel, because I love eating it, and it is easy.
Take care of yourself, it’ll be okay. x