Note: Seamless refers to seamless.com, a food delivery service operated By GrubHub.
Over the last few years, we have tried to cut back on Seamless, and one of the tools we have found invaluable is having a variety of recipes that we can throw together on those days when we can’t even.
In order to help us resist the temptation of Seamless, these meals need to require minimal prep work and can’t require a trip to the grocery store. Instead, they rely heavily on canned, frozen, and otherwise shelf-stable ingredients. But, of course, they also need to be delicious. So today, I want to share a couple of the meals that we keep in the permanent rotation for those occasions.
First up, we have:
Mung Bean and Coconut Curry
This recipe is our number one go-to. In addition to the shelf-stable ingredients, you need fresh ginger, garlic, cilantro, and lime plus. All the work is grating ginger and crushing garlic; the instant pot does the work after that. I have slightly modified these ingredients and instructions from the original, but please click through to see this and other tasty vegetarian recipes.
INGREDIENTS
-
4 Olive oil
-
1 tablespoon whole cumin seeds
-
9 cloves garlic crushed (about 3 tablespoons crushed garlic)
-
28 oz can crushed tomatoes
-
2 tablespoon freshly grated ginger
-
2 tablespoon ground coriander
-
1 teaspoon turmeric
-
1 teaspoon sea salt
-
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
-
3 cups water (or chicken stock)
-
1 cup mung beans picked over for stones and well rinsed
-
14 oz can coconut milk
-
1-2 medium limes juiced
-
½ cup fresh cilantro chopped + more for serving
INSTRUCTIONS
-
Add oil to the instant pot
-
Toast cumin seeds until fragrant, ~ 1 minute
-
Saute garlic until just starting to brown 3-4 minutes
-
Add all other ingredients except coconut milk, lime, and cilantro
-
Cook on high pressure for 15 minutes; allow pressure to release naturally. About 40 minutes total cook time
-
Add coconut milk, lime juice, and cilantro
-
Serve with rice and garnish with more cilantro and lime wedges
Second, we have:
The Best Moroccan Fish Recipe
While this recipe calls for fresh tomatoes and peppers and benefits from them, canned tomatoes are fine, and roast red peppers out of a jar do in a pinch. We keep the fresh ingredients, cilantro, lemon, and garlic, on hand. If using canned tomatoes/peppers, there is virtually no prep work other than dealing with the garlic and defrosting fish fillets out of the freezer. The ingredients and instructions are tweaked slightly from the original to make it easier, but check out the original.
INGREDIENTS
-
Extra Virgin Olive Oil
-
6-8 garlic cloves, minced
-
2 tbsp tomato paste
-
14oz can crushed tomatoes
-
1 canned roasted red pepper, drained, rinsed, and chopped
-
1 15-oz can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
-
1 ½ cup water
-
Large handful of fresh cilantro (about 1 cup fresh cilantro)
-
Kosher salt and black pepper
-
2 tsp Ras El Hanout, divided
-
1 ½ lb cod fillet pieces (about ½ inch in thickness)
-
¾ tsp Paprika
-
½ tsp Ground Cumin
-
Juice of ½ lemon
-
½ lemon, sliced into thin rounds
INSTRUCTIONS
-
Add oil to dutch oven
-
Saute garlic until just starting to brown, 3-4 minutes
-
Add tomato paste, tomatoes, peppers, chickpeas, water, and 1 tsp Ras El Hanout
-
Simmer, mostly covered, until chickpeas have mostly softened, ~ 20 minutes
-
While your base is simmering, coat your fish fillets in remaining Ras El Hanout, paprika, and cumin
-
Immediately before adding fish, adjust the seasoning and consistency of your base
-
Add fish filets and continue to braise until fish is just cooked through ~10 minutes
-
Serve with crusty bread (or rice) and garnish with cilantro
If you want this to eat more like a stew, you can add more tomatoes or water at the end.
So there you have it, a couple of easy dishes you can mostly make out of the pantry/freezer. What are some of your favorites?
What’s for Dinner? is a Saturday evening get-together where friends share recipes, talk about good food and help others answer culinary questions.
We welcome you to our virtual table every Saturday evening 4:30 PT/7:30 ET. If you would like to write a post for an upcoming date just send a message to ninkasi23!