5 Easy Recipes for When You're Too Lazy to Cook
Five recipes that are delicious and easy to put together for when you're too lazy to cook. Yes, it happens to me as well sometimes. They all need little effort from your end, some barely need a knife. The times above are per dish; most of these land on the table in 30 to 45 minutes, the gyudon in 15 if you're smart about it.
Ingredients
- 150 g long grain sushi rice (I do 75 g per person), washed three times
- 150 ml water (1:1 ratio rice to water)
- 1 celery stick
- 1/2 carrot
- 5 mushrooms
- 1 tomato, with an X cut in the bottom
- tofu, cubed (or cooked ham, frozen peas, or corn from a can)
- 2 tbsp soy sauce
- 1 tsp garlic powder (we're too lazy to mince a garlic)
- 1 tsp onion powder (we're too lazy to shred half an onion)
- 1 tbsp sesame oil
- 1 tbsp oyster sauce
- black pepper; scallion for garnish
- 1 tsp cumin
- 1 tsp chili powder
- 2 tsp paprika powder
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- 1 tsp onion powder
- 1 onion, thinly sliced
- olive oil
- young Gouda cheese ('jonge kaas' as we say in the Netherlands), shredded
- sour cream; wraps or homemade flatbread; half a lime
- 10 cracks of salt, 10 cracks of pepper, and MSG if you have it
- 2 bell peppers, in strips
- 2 chicken thighs (one per bell pepper), in strips
- 300 g steak (flat iron works), thinly sliced
- 150 g rice, washed
- 50 g frozen peas
- 100 ml water
- 1 onion, sliced
- 2 tbsp soy sauce
- 2 tbsp sake
- 2 tbsp mirin (a sweetened rice wine)
- 1 tbsp sugar
- sesame oil; scallion and sesame seeds for garnish
- 150 g rice
- 140 g broccoli florets, cut small and equal
- 3 eggs
- 1/2 tsp sugar, preferably brown
- 1/2 tsp vinegar
- 3 tsp fish sauce
- 3 tbsp vegetable oil, for frying
- 2 tbsp sweet chili sauce (for the cucumber side)
- 1 tbsp sriracha (for the cucumber side)
- black pepper; scallion
- cucumber in wedges; cilantro, crushed unsalted peanuts and 1 tsp chili flakes for optional garnish
- 3 eggs
- leftover veggies, cut in small chunks
- cheese to grate over (optional)
- a knob of butter; splash of milk or cream; salt and pepper
Method
1. Rice cooker tofu and veg bowl
- 1
Prep the vegetables. You can cut everything with a knife, but who are we kidding, I shred the celery, carrot and mushrooms in a hand-powered food processor. Not optimal cuts, but fast, and that's what we care about here. Pre-cut vegetable mixes are also allowed.
- 2
Cut an X in the bottom of the tomato so the peel comes off nicely after steaming. Cube the tofu.
- 3
Rice and water into the rice cooker. Place the tomato in the center, X up, lay the vegetables and tofu around it, then add the soy sauce, garlic powder, onion powder, black pepper, sesame oil and oyster sauce.
- 4
Lid on, steam 15 to 20 minutes. Slice a scallion while you wait.
- 5
Stir it all through, taste, adjust the seasoning, top with scallions. Back to the couch.
2. Sheet pan chicken fajita wraps
- 6
Preheat the oven to 200 °C (400 °F). Mix the fajita spice mix: cumin, chili powder, paprika, garlic powder, onion powder, salt, pepper and MSG.
- 7
Slice the onion and bell peppers into strips (keep a waste bowl next to you so you're not walking to the bin all the time). Toss with olive oil.
- 8
Slice the chicken thighs into strips, coat with a little olive oil, and spread everything on a parchment-lined sheet pan. Coat with the spice mix.
- 9
Bake 15 to 20 minutes. Meanwhile shred the cheese and set out the sour cream, go wild with whatever is in your fridge.
- 10
Add the wraps to the sheet pan for the last 5 minutes to warm up. Check the chicken for doneness.
- 11
Assemble: cheese, a smear of sour cream, the chicken fajita mix, and finish with a squeeze of lime. That acidity is what pulls all the spices together, when a dish feels like something's missing, it's usually acid.
3. Gyudon
- 12
Freeze the steak 30 to 60 minutes first, semi-frozen beef is far easier to slice thin. Skip it if you couldn't care less; it's just harder.
- 13
Rice, peas and water into the rice cooker. Start it.
- 14
Slice the onion, and slice the steak thin against the grain, follow the lines in the meat and cut straight through them, so it separates naturally when you bite into it.
- 15
Mix the sauce: soy sauce, sake, mirin, sugar.
- 16
Heat some sesame oil in a pan, cook the onion and steak 1 to 2 minutes, add the sauce and simmer until the rice is ready.
- 17
Fluff the rice into a bowl, beef mixture on top, scallions and (optionally) sesame seeds to finish.
4. Thai fried egg with rice and veg
- 18
Cook the rice, you get the drill by now.
- 19
Stick the cucumber wedges in the sweet chili + sriracha mixture. Prep the cilantro, crushed peanuts and chili flakes for garnish. Optional, but actually not optional, because it's so good as a side.
- 20
Add the broccoli florets to the rice cooker for the last 6 or so minutes, tender from the steam but still with some crunch. Put them in at the start and they turn mushy.
- 21
Heat the wok with the vegetable oil to about 180 °C (355 °F). We are frying here.
- 22
Whisk the eggs with black pepper, sugar, vinegar and fish sauce.
- 23
Pour the egg into the hot oil, stir a few seconds, then leave it. Don't flip it, spoon hot oil over the top instead. Fry about 10 seconds more and take it off the heat.
- 24
Plate broccoli on one side, rice on the other, the fried egg over the rice, it's there to flavor the rice. Scallions over everything, garnish if you've been productive.
5. Leftover frittata
- 25
Oven on at 200 °C (400 °F). Cut your leftover veggies into small chunks. (Tip: get a bench scraper, easiest way to pick everything up off the cutting board.)
- 26
Melt a knob of butter in an oven-safe pan like a cast iron, add the vegetables, season with salt and pepper, cook a minute or so.
- 27
Whisk the eggs with a splash of milk or cream, pour straight into the pan, and grate some cheese over it if you want extra saltiness.
- 28
Bake about 25 minutes, until the frittata is set and the top is golden brown.
- 29
Eat straight from the pan, or slice and freeze the rest with parchment paper between the pieces.
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