Last night I made dinner in nine minutes - a new record!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Thanksgiving food is not appealing to me either. I think it's probably the case for most immigrants. The turkey is the only nod to Thanksgiving, the rest is a variety of West African foods. Egusi soup, Cassava leaf, tomatoe stew, pepper soup, jolof rice and so on. My in-laws host and we all leave with containers of food.

NP

I can totally see the connection with immigrants and unfamiliarity with “blander” Thanksgiving foods. However, some people act as if food is terrible if it’s not intensely spiced and seasoned at all times. I love curries, spicy Latin foods, spicy Korean foods, etc. But I can equally appreciate food that is seasoned more subtly. One is not inherently better than the other. French, British, Japanese, Eastern European cuisines are not aggressively spiced, but still enjoyable on their own merits. In fact, if I could only choose one spice to use for the rest of my life, it would be salt. Thankfully, I don’t have to so I can enjoy it all!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Well that menu doesn’t sound good to me but I regularly make dinner in 15–roasted fresh vegetables, broiled salmon or children thighs, bread, rice, or roasted potatoes. Lots of “sheet” meals are fast and broiling proteins can also be fast. Or pan-seared shrimp, also lightening fast.

What vegetables roast in 15 minutes, including prep time? I imagine children thighs are small enough to cook quickly.

Love your typo I buy pre-cut broccoli and cauliflower florets which I usually halve, halve baby carrots, halve baby potatoes. I don’t pre-heat the oven, I find letting them cook in a heating oven crisps things up.

They’re not really roasted in 15 min.

They sure are. Convection oven at a high heat.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I do this often. Today I made rice, dal, fish curry, fried spicy potatoes, and butter-paneer in less than 15 minutes. Fed 6 adults and 2 kids

1) Rice and daal was cooked together in my pressure cooker. Daal was tempered with cumin seeds, ghee, asoephotida powder and garlic slices.

2) Spicy potatoes - sizzled some dry ground spices in a pan with ghee, (coriander, cumin seeds, turmeric, red chilly powder and salt) with boiled peeled small potatoes. Served with squeeze of lemon and chopped coriander leaves.

3) Butter paneer - Simmered cooked pureed onion-garlic paste with organic home-made creamy tomato soup. Dunked frozen fried paneer in it, 2 heapng tbsn of MDH butter chicken masala, dried fenugreek leaves and a generous pour of heavy cream.

4) Fish curry - Fried fish steaks added to frozen premade mustard-onion masala. Add a little water and simmer for 4-5 minutes to make a thin curry. Add a bit of sour tamarind paste (from concentrate) in water and add to the curry to give the tangy taste.

Kept the salad simple - just sliced cucumber sprinkled with salt. And I nuked pre-made rotis and spread some kerrygold butter on it to keep it soft and delicious. All of this in 15 minutes.

I do most of my prep work for food during the weekend and every month I make huge amounts of premade sauces and masalas so that every meal is under 10 minutes. Te best part is that I can cook up a feast to feed any guest who comes to our house unexpectedly because I have the building blocks ready.

This is similar to what the OP did, in that she used a lot of prepped food to make dinner. I don't buy prepped food from the store. I prep the food myself so that I can control the quantity, menu, cost, quality of ingredients etc.

The pressure cooker wizardry among South Asian home cooks is simply amazing to me. I thought about wading in and figuring it out but there was so much info it was overwhelming and the learning curve seemed intense. I would love to take a series of classes to learn these techniques. You might consider teaching if you find yourself with extra time on your hands as an empty nester. I know I would pay good money to attend.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Well that menu doesn’t sound good to me but I regularly make dinner in 15–roasted fresh vegetables, broiled salmon or children thighs, bread, rice, or roasted potatoes. Lots of “sheet” meals are fast and broiling proteins can also be fast. Or pan-seared shrimp, also lightening fast.

I’m not OP, but pretentious people like you just set my eyes a-rolling.

You are such a superior diner!! Ha.

Sorry frozen vegetables are disgusting!

Also I didn’t even realize it was my typo hahaha

If you don’t know how to cook, sure.

They’re also more nutritious and more accessible for people with less money and time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Thanksgiving food is not appealing to me either. I think it's probably the case for most immigrants. The turkey is the only nod to Thanksgiving, the rest is a variety of West African foods. Egusi soup, Cassava leaf, tomatoe stew, pepper soup, jolof rice and so on. My in-laws host and we all leave with containers of food.

NP

I can totally see the connection with immigrants and unfamiliarity with “blander” Thanksgiving foods. However, some people act as if food is terrible if it’s not intensely spiced and seasoned at all times. I love curries, spicy Latin foods, spicy Korean foods, etc. But I can equally appreciate food that is seasoned more subtly. One is not inherently better than the other. French, British, Japanese, Eastern European cuisines are not aggressively spiced, but still enjoyable on their own merits. In fact, if I could only choose one spice to use for the rest of my life, it would be salt. Thankfully, I don’t have to so I can enjoy it all!

+1
Less spiced doesn’t mean bad. You’re just tasting the food vs the seasonings put on it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Thanksgiving food is not appealing to me either. I think it's probably the case for most immigrants. The turkey is the only nod to Thanksgiving, the rest is a variety of West African foods. Egusi soup, Cassava leaf, tomatoe stew, pepper soup, jolof rice and so on. My in-laws host and we all leave with containers of food.

NP

I can totally see the connection with immigrants and unfamiliarity with “blander” Thanksgiving foods. However, some people act as if food is terrible if it’s not intensely spiced and seasoned at all times. I love curries, spicy Latin foods, spicy Korean foods, etc. But I can equally appreciate food that is seasoned more subtly. One is not inherently better than the other. French, British, Japanese, Eastern European cuisines are not aggressively spiced, but still enjoyable on their own merits. In fact, if I could only choose one spice to use for the rest of my life, it would be salt. Thankfully, I don’t have to so I can enjoy it all!

Agree, but those foods need to be perfectly cooked to retain their taste and also seasoned in a balanced way, even if it's subtle. For example, green beans can be delicious or horrible depending on how it is cooked. My mom is a terrible cook and doesn't know to use anything else than salt and pepper to season her food. She also boils vegetables to death. Some people's palate is just not developed enough to appreciate a variety of flavors because they've been eating bland food their whole life.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Op I am grateful for your advice! Working mom of two pre schoolers who does not have time or desire to spend weekends prepping like an empty nester might (spin-off maybe for that advice?). NOr the money to spend on factor. Need to know which tj preps and sauces are best, so thank you!

any more suggestions on tj or even weg frozen shortcuts? I will say I find any precooked chicken I’ve tried pretty bad and rubbery. Almost prefer to get rotisserie and shred it.

OP here. The chicken was not precooked. It was raw. I marinated it, then cooked it for 3-4 minutes on each side in a frying pan. While that was happening I heated frozen rice and frozen vegetables. The amount of time I spent working on making dinner was nine minutes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So, you didn't really make dinner. You just microwaved different pkgs. I could do that in 8 min but that's like making dog food.

I DID make dinner. There was none before I walked into the kitchen, and then there was dinner when I walked out. And I didn't microwave the chicken - that was cooked on the stove.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I do this often. Today I made rice, dal, fish curry, fried spicy potatoes, and butter-paneer in less than 15 minutes. Fed 6 adults and 2 kids

1) Rice and daal was cooked together in my pressure cooker. Daal was tempered with cumin seeds, ghee, asoephotida powder and garlic slices.

2) Spicy potatoes - sizzled some dry ground spices in a pan with ghee, (coriander, cumin seeds, turmeric, red chilly powder and salt) with boiled peeled small potatoes. Served with squeeze of lemon and chopped coriander leaves.

3) Butter paneer - Simmered cooked pureed onion-garlic paste with organic home-made creamy tomato soup. Dunked frozen fried paneer in it, 2 heapng tbsn of MDH butter chicken masala, dried fenugreek leaves and a generous pour of heavy cream.

4) Fish curry - Fried fish steaks added to frozen premade mustard-onion masala. Add a little water and simmer for 4-5 minutes to make a thin curry. Add a bit of sour tamarind paste (from concentrate) in water and add to the curry to give the tangy taste.

Kept the salad simple - just sliced cucumber sprinkled with salt. And I nuked pre-made rotis and spread some kerrygold butter on it to keep it soft and delicious. All of this in 15 minutes.

I do most of my prep work for food during the weekend and every month I make huge amounts of premade sauces and masalas so that every meal is under 10 minutes. Te best part is that I can cook up a feast to feed any guest who comes to our house unexpectedly because I have the building blocks ready.

This is similar to what the OP did, in that she used a lot of prepped food to make dinner. I don't buy prepped food from the store. I prep the food myself so that I can control the quantity, menu, cost, quality of ingredients etc.

This sounds great to me. And similar to what I do a few times a week. I do buy the frozen stuffed paratha and breads though - I find them time consuming to make and they don't taste as good as the ones I can buy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Well that menu doesn’t sound good to me but I regularly make dinner in 15–roasted fresh vegetables, broiled salmon or children thighs, bread, rice, or roasted potatoes. Lots of “sheet” meals are fast and broiling proteins can also be fast. Or pan-seared shrimp, also lightening fast.

What vegetables roast in 15 minutes, including prep time? I imagine children thighs are small enough to cook quickly.

Love your typo I buy pre-cut broccoli and cauliflower florets which I usually halve, halve baby carrots, halve baby potatoes. I don’t pre-heat the oven, I find letting them cook in a heating oven crisps things up.

They’re not really roasted in 15 min.

They sure are. Convection oven at a high heat.

My airfryer is great for roasting veg and making quick baked potatoes. If you have one of those two-compartment airfryers, you could definitely cook fish or chicken and roasted veg in 15 minutes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So, you didn't really make dinner. You just microwaved different pkgs. I could do that in 8 min but that's like making dog food.

I DID make dinner. There was none before I walked into the kitchen, and then there was dinner when I walked out. And I didn't microwave the chicken - that was cooked on the stove.

Keep digging yourself deeper, OP.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I do this often. Today I made rice, dal, fish curry, fried spicy potatoes, and butter-paneer in less than 15 minutes. Fed 6 adults and 2 kids

1) Rice and daal was cooked together in my pressure cooker. Daal was tempered with cumin seeds, ghee, asoephotida powder and garlic slices.

2) Spicy potatoes - sizzled some dry ground spices in a pan with ghee, (coriander, cumin seeds, turmeric, red chilly powder and salt) with boiled peeled small potatoes. Served with squeeze of lemon and chopped coriander leaves.

3) Butter paneer - Simmered cooked pureed onion-garlic paste with organic home-made creamy tomato soup. Dunked frozen fried paneer in it, 2 heapng tbsn of MDH butter chicken masala, dried fenugreek leaves and a generous pour of heavy cream.

4) Fish curry - Fried fish steaks added to frozen premade mustard-onion masala. Add a little water and simmer for 4-5 minutes to make a thin curry. Add a bit of sour tamarind paste (from concentrate) in water and add to the curry to give the tangy taste.

Kept the salad simple - just sliced cucumber sprinkled with salt. And I nuked pre-made rotis and spread some kerrygold butter on it to keep it soft and delicious. All of this in 15 minutes.

I do most of my prep work for food during the weekend and every month I make huge amounts of premade sauces and masalas so that every meal is under 10 minutes. Te best part is that I can cook up a feast to feed any guest who comes to our house unexpectedly because I have the building blocks ready.

This is similar to what the OP did, in that she used a lot of prepped food to make dinner. I don't buy prepped food from the store. I prep the food myself so that I can control the quantity, menu, cost, quality of ingredients etc.

I could never eat that much curry and spices in a given week. I like more variety in flavors.

These all have different spices and flavors. Not a good look for you.

That said, if 10 minutes doesn't include hours spent prepping components on a previous day, yeah, I make tons of 10 minute meals too. Like tonight I made homemade pizza and creamed spinach by warming up the leftover homemade pizza I made Monday and spinach from yesterday.

Same here. I routinely make meals to keep in the freezer - black bean soup, meatballs and gravy, ropa vieja, pork and black beans, mapo tofu - and can heat them up in 10 minutes. But that's not what anyone means when they refer to a 10 minute meal.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Well that menu doesn’t sound good to me but I regularly make dinner in 15–roasted fresh vegetables, broiled salmon or children thighs, bread, rice, or roasted potatoes. Lots of “sheet” meals are fast and broiling proteins can also be fast. Or pan-seared shrimp, also lightening fast.

I’m not OP, but pretentious people like you just set my eyes a-rolling.

You are such a superior diner!! Ha.

Sorry frozen vegetables are disgusting!

Also I didn’t even realize it was my typo hahaha

If you don’t know how to cook, sure.

They’re also more nutritious and more accessible for people with less money and time.

Agree. Frozen-vegetables-are-disgusting poster is pretty ignorant. Frozen vegetables are often fresher that those found in the produce section because they are frozen immediately.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Op I am grateful for your advice! Working mom of two pre schoolers who does not have time or desire to spend weekends prepping like an empty nester might (spin-off maybe for that advice?). NOr the money to spend on factor. Need to know which tj preps and sauces are best, so thank you!

any more suggestions on tj or even weg frozen shortcuts? I will say I find any precooked chicken I’ve tried pretty bad and rubbery. Almost prefer to get rotisserie and shred it.

I find that I have to do a certain amount of prepping at the weekends. So, I might cook a batch of rice in the Instant pot and then freeze in portions. Or make something like pulled pork, again in the Instant pot and freeze in portions. I like the Frontera sauces with meat. IKEA meatballs are also good. I just dump them in the Instant pot with a can or two of tomatoes, then add some chopped veg at the end.

Take a look at the Batch Lady on YouTube. She's got lots of ideas on how to prep foods for busy weekdays.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Well that menu doesn’t sound good to me but I regularly make dinner in 15–roasted fresh vegetables, broiled salmon or children thighs, bread, rice, or roasted potatoes. Lots of “sheet” meals are fast and broiling proteins can also be fast. Or pan-seared shrimp, also lightening fast.

What vegetables roast in 15 minutes, including prep time? I imagine children thighs are small enough to cook quickly.

Love your typo I buy pre-cut broccoli and cauliflower florets which I usually halve, halve baby carrots, halve baby potatoes. I don’t pre-heat the oven, I find letting them cook in a heating oven crisps things up.

They’re not really roasted in 15 min.

They sure are. Convection oven at a high heat.

+1 in my air fryer I charred my broccoli florets to powdery shrivels a few times before realizing how much less time they need than regular oven.