Alright, I know I'm not the only one who cooks here so lets get right into it. (We have an older cooking thread but it's ancient and filled with junk so let's start a new one)

When it comes to cooking, I focus on 4 things: Easy, Quick, Healthy, and Inexpensive.
Unless if it's something broth-based, none of the food I make takes more than 20 minutes from start to finish, and they're less expensive AND more healthy than the stuff you eat in restaurants.

Note that taste isn't on that list, but they taste good, and you wouldn't turn away from my food.


Here's two easy breakfast recipes to get things started:

Zero Salad

Heat a frying pan to medium (use olive oil).
Cut cucumber and bell pepper into 1 cm blocks/pieces. Throw in bowl. (The bell pepper can be any color, but yellow makes it look better)
Pour oregano (spice) in the bowl.
Cut tomato into small pieces and throw it in the pan until it becomes soft and mushy. Pour in bowl.
Then dress it with either Greek dressing or Balsamic Vinaigrette and you're good to go. (Note it's Vinaigrette, NOT Vinegar)


Omelette Rice (assumes you already have cooked rice in a rice cooker)

Heat a frying pan to medium (use olive oil or grapeseed oil)
Beat 2 eggs per person (optional: add a little salt and soy sauce)
Crush and cut garlic cloves (as many as you like, and it doesn't matter how you cut them as long as they're crushed)
Cut an onion into small pieces by first cutting it in half, placing them face down, then cutting each half into grids)
Turn the heat to high and throw the garlic and onion into the pan.
Wait until garlic just barely begins to yellow, then pour the eggs into the pan.
Half-fill bowl(s) with rice. I prefer brown.
Back to the pan. Flip it, cook it till it's cooked, then shred it to bits and pour it over the rice and you're good to go.

Well, since I know cooking is a valuable skill for any person, especially someone who is planning to go to school in the coming months, I've started getting into it within the last few days. Anyway, without further adieu, here's something I made for breakfast/lunch today on a whim...which really isn't hard at all to make (and it takes just about 10 minutes...which I'm all about speed!)

Fried Curry Eggs (on Toasted Bagel)

Ingredients:

2 Eggs
2 Bagels
Sweet Curry Powder (I used a "western blend" ... not a very strong spice)
Salt
Pepper
Butter (I used margarine)
Pan and Cover (that can fit two eggs at once inside of it)
Spatula (for butter/flipping)

How to:

1. Heat up a part of your stove-top to a "medium" heat, with your pan on it.
2. When the pan starts to get hot, put some butter (or margarine) in it, and spread it around.
*Make sure the butter doesn't sit in the pan by itself and turn brown
3. Break open the eggs into your pan. And let them start to cook for a few seconds.
4. Season the eggs with a little salt and pepper and then add as much curry powder as you want (really, it's all up to your own taste).
5. Let the eggs cook for a few minutes; if you wish, while the eggs are cooking, start to toast your bagels.
*You want to be able to toast your bagels, butter them and have them ready for the eggs to be put on them when the eggs are finished.
6. Before the edges of the eggs turn light brown, add 1/2 tablespoon of water, and flip them after they turn brown (or whenever you want, really).
7. Let them cook for a little while longer (until you see the yolks are a "solid, yellowy" color) and then put them on your bagels. Done!

P.S. I know it may seem like a lot...but I just wanted to spell out how to make them with detail. I'm that kind of person when it comes to things like this.

Hmmm. I'll post up some of my recipes.

Dissolve a tablespoon of instant coffee in a tiny bit of hot water.
Add one tablespoon of nuttella or other chocolate spread.
Add 2 tins of condensed milk.
Whisk together.
Then a bottle (~750ml) Irish whiskey
Stir.

Enjoy your bayleys.
Replace chocolate with other flavours/extracts to make the other flavours.

Go go scrummy vegetarian recipes!

Im a good cook, but am fairly lacklustre in ideas. As I'll be in my own house next year, it would be cool to build up a bank of yummy things- any ideas gladly apprecaited ^^

It's all been meat free so far. Mother has far too many vegetarian cook books hidden away.
Just live on baked potatoes and lasagne like the other moneyless sudents...

Naw, I like creating nice foods. The omlette rice sounds good..

Eggs are A-OK for vegan diets?

You can throw chopped cilantro leaves (Chinese parsley) into the mix for a fresher taste especially if you're not using much salt and soy sauce. If you use more salt and soy sauce, it comes out as a heavier tasting dish, like in Chinese restaurants.


My staple veggie recipes follow a basic sequence:
1. Fry chopped garlic over a little oil
2. Throw in vegetables
3. ???
4. Profit!
(I took this from eating at Mongolian BBQ restaurants, and modified it for smaller frying pans.)

The variations depend on how you want to season it and which vegetables you're using.
Garlic can be used in everything, and there's not much reason not to given its low cost, good taste, and health benefits.
For onion, I find that it gives it a thicker taste that you may or may not want. The only reason I use it is because like garlic, it's ultra low cost and healthy.
Grated ginger adds a distinct taste to the dish that might be a bit strong for some people. The way to dampen its taste is to add soy sauce while it's being fried with the garlic. It's the third of the spices I use for its low cost and health benefits. It's also good to have around if you're making any kind of soup, or just steep it as ginger tea.

For seasoning... I either add soy sauce to the garlic mix, or add salt after you throw the vegetables in.

Most of the dishes that come out of these aren't exactly restaurant-grade in terms of taste, but my goal is to keep things simple and inexpensive while eating well. (If you wanted it to taste more like Mongolian BBQ, you'd have to turn the heat way up in a giant frying pan, which I don't like doing)

From there you can try experimenting with other taste-altering ingredients like throwing chopped Shiitake mushrooms to the garlic mix, or adding cilantro leaves to the vegetables while you're stir-frying or after everything's cooked.

vegetarian, not vegan :P but yes are okay.

thanks <3

Fried Curry Eggs (on Toasted Bagel)

Tried this, and made it into my own variation...

I now use curry as my main seasoning.

So, I fry (melt) a few small blocks of solid curry together with garlic & onion. Throw in the eggs (adding fresh chopped cilantro when everything's done cooking), or the vegetables. Might want to add a little water so the curry doesn't stick to the pan. Then top it all off with black pepper.

Swap soy sauce for curry for my previous two recipes, and you have dishes that are heathier and taste better. Really good!

Quick Japanese Custard (for 1 or 2)

Here's something I came up with from screwing around. I used to make the real Japanese Custard the proper way, but that takes too long for me to care. So here's the short and quick version of getting the same taste. Cheap, healthy, and delicious.

Crush and chop some garlic cloves
Chop a Shiitake Mushroom into small pieces
Pour about a cup of water into a small pot
Throw the garlic and mushrooms in
Add around a teaspoon of oil (I use either olive or grapeseed)
Add around a tablespoon of soy sauce
Salt optional.
Turn the stove on medium until it begins to simmer, then turn it down to low.
Beat 2 eggs and pour it into the pot. Stir it around till its even.
Cover the pot and wait for the eggs to expand (around 5 minutes).
When it's done (the mix will expand and if you poke it, it has a jello/tofu-ey texture), pour it into a bowl and enjoy.

Note: If you used more water and some extra soup resulted, try having the whole thing on white rice.

Broast chicken with onion:

Take a whole chicken...clean it...fill the abdomen with green onion, garlic, black pepper, salt, lemon juice, red chili, and bit flour...now cover it with wet clay...and bake in oven...when clay will ripe and become red...consider the prepared chicken...taste it with bread